Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello! I am new to the forum! I have worked in two zoos with both cuban and rhino iggs and LOVED them. I also lived in Costa Rica for a summer with a host family and got to see, photograph, and interact with some really neat spinys (not sure what they were exactly. I have been wanting to get a iguana for a VERY long time now and am seriously thinking about a cuban. Any advice on getting one...where...hints that are not easily found on care sheets or in articles about their captive husbandry would be greatly appreciated! Also what are the banana iggs I have been seeing in the classifieds??? They look awesome? Any infor on them would be great too. Thanks so much in advance!!!

well hey the banana ig's are certanily cool indeed, but they aren yellow from the begging they take some time to turn yellow... as for husbandry you cant get better info than from Iguana spealist Group http://www.iucn-isg.org/actionplan/ch3/captivemanagement.php theres the link to the captive cyclura section... they are wonder animals cubans so are rhino's just take some time to tame... im sure as you know this... David blair is a great breeder to get from , i recomend thatyou go through him, he has osme of the best animlas out there, speallilly his big blue line... there are some classifieds ads out there with crazy prices, david's web page is crittercorner.com or cyclura.com which is another great site to visit, just go to captive bred on the lower left hand side...

Mike
Link

Thanks for the info and links! I have seen David Blair's website before but never heard any personal accounts about him or his animals. I understand that it will take some regular handling to calm one down, but I own 2.2 Jungle carpet pythons, and 1.2 brazilian rainbow boas, so I am used to being patient!

Right now I live in PA and was wondering if it would be detrimental if a Cuban were kept indoors (in a HUGE custom cage I will build)for the colder months? I would bring him/her outside to bask whenever weather permitted but do not want to get one if this would not be sufficient. Would most of the year under full spec lights and supplements w/ d3 be enough? I just want to make sure I will be able to properly care for a Cuban before I get one! Thanks again for all the help!

hey,

well houseing outside is better than houseing inside im not sure how cold PA gets ,

im here in FL and i have my out year round with a heated/ UVB setup in a moderate sized hide, this way if its cold outside like 30's - 60's and they feel lazy and dont want to leav ethe warm then they have the UVB in there as well so there really not missing out on the UVB,

but im sure in PA it snows and for the winter months id say keep him inside with the irght lighting a supplament's and 6-9 months keep him outdoors if temp's permit and surely if you have a heated hide then im sure he'd be fin for the 9 month of the year outside, but acutal winter months when it snows and drops down below 65's w/o right heating they could pass on ... so if you want to keep him outside have a nice size cage for him and have a heated hide, with the natural sun you wont need that many supplments, ive had my cyclura outdoors for about a year now with No supplaments, and get vet checked regularly all healthy and not one problem with the natural sun, the cyclura of your choice will get what he/ she needs... but i wouldnt keep him outside for all 12 months, if you start out witha baby keep him inside when temps hit lower than 65F with an adult ive heard of temps as low as 40's as long as they have a good basking day then they'll be fine but that's just a fine line between life and death....

inside 3-5 months of teh year and outside the rest ... pending on temps, you could keep him outside in the winter as long as its not cold , i find that low 70's is enough for them to warm up and eat there greens and move around with the sun ...pending how big your cage is... i have one that willbask for exactly 3 hours eat and then sleep the rest... she likes her heated hide...

Hpimichael02@aol.com is my email if you have any other question fell free to mail me ...

now if i said anything that anyone disagree's with me on please correct me....

I would DEFFINATLY need to keep him in in the winter. It gets REALLY cold here! We are expecting 6 in of show in the next day or so! My question is if I have good lighting, and supplement well, would it be OK to house a cyclura inside for the majority of the year? (When it gets to juvi/small adult size it would have its own closet/room, it would not be in cramped conditions!)

yes you could keep them indoors you just have to keep on top of changing out the UVB lights every 6-9 months and keep up there temps , its important tho that they do get there excersise so i would just suggest leash training so you can take him outside starting off when he is little, i walk some of my rhino's in the summer when the dandilions come in season and they just pull them out of the groud and eat them ... saves me some work lol ... yea just make sure you consukt with a vet to make sure he is getting all the nutrition he needs... reptile UV has some great UVB lights i suggest the non ballast UVB 60watts no heat external ballast bulbs the kit runs $80 but the extra bulbs run $30 and last allot longer than flouresent tubes...