Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't know if this is the right place or not to express the joy i am feeling at the moment. I figure chuckwallas are similar to desert iguanas and unfortunately i don't see a forum specifically for desert iguanas so i suppose you guys will have to deal with me haha.

I am as excited as I can possibly be at the moment because I am about to receive two desert iguanas(presumably females). I am purchasing them from some guy named steve from Hardcore Herps, never heard of him prior to this but seeing that I have always had an interest in owning desert iguanas but never really had an opportunity to obtain any, i figured this was good.

My current collection is absolutely nothing(but I have kept reptiles before). I was wondering if anybody here may have any general comments about keeping desert iguanas. I have read probably every care sheet there is out there, however, I realize that care sheets aren't the holy books of keeping reptiles and would like to know if there is anything special about your desert iguana that those care sheets don't talk about.

I noticed just reading around that there are a few of you on this forum that do keep them. How do you keep your enclosure to the scorching 110/115F temps during the day? If I want live plants in my desert viv, are there any that you know of that I most definitely should NOT include for toxicity reasons? Any information that you think a new desert iguana keeper should know?

-matt

Hi Matt, the 115f temp is only the basking spot, the rest of the tank I keep at around 90f and a nice hide that is cooler, if they want to get out of the heat, I feed them mostly frozen vegies an fresh cut musterd and calard greens with some flowers, they are great lizards
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1.1 Desert Iguana(Dima, Dianne)
0.1.1 Chuckwalla (roxy,Little Chuckie)
2.4 Collared Lizard (Fred, Barny, Wilma, Betty, Pebbles and ?
1.1 Desert Leopard Lizard (Simba, Kimba)
0.1 AZ. MTN. Kingsnake (Nimo)
0.1 Hamster (Tofu)
1.1 Kids
0.1 Wife

oo I can feed them frozen veggies? awesome, that means they can just have their dinner when my girlfriend and I make ours.

Get that ... it's a joke... Welcome Mat, hehehhee, okay I know it was dumb Anyway yep we talk desert iggys here, and many of the deserty critters that hang out with the chucks.

I too have a desert iguana (Hershey) he free roams with a couple collared lizards in my reptile. They have a large pile of slate for a basking spot with a Mega Ray Mercury Vapor Bulb.

He loves small chunks of banana, collards, kale, shredded squash and carrot, shredded raw sweet potato, .... so many veggies, just try things. Dandilions, Flowers and green part, clover, rose pedals, day lily flowers, hybiscus, pansies,

I agree with Cecil , they are very COOL critters. And Steve their daddy that your getting them from is a very NICE guy, good friend, I have a few of Steves (Hardcore Herps) lizards , always love them. I got my first lovely yellow lady collared (Chinook) who I'm quite attached to, "many years" ago from Steve

Best wishes with your 2 new iggies. Sure hope ya stick around and let us know when they arrive and don't forget the pics, gotta show us pics
Suncharmers Critters

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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

cheesy joke.. yes very, but thats alright. I am sure that I dish out more than my fair share of cheese on most occasions.
I definitely wont forget the pics!

thanks for the welcome
-Matt

They should be here by tuesday(YEEEE!!)