Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a heat lamp on top of the cage along with a long uv tube. if im correct you shut off the uv lamp at night and switch out the heat lamp bulb for a night time bulb? i bought an exo terra night glo. its purple. let me know thanks

also, the iguana keeps trying to climb up towards the light... even though on the cooler half of his tank its almost 80 deg... he also sort of walks and sniffs around with his tongue, normal?

ps, he hasnt eaten since i got him about 8 hours ago... sniffed his food with his tongue (i think) and walked off. no drink either.

next day: he took a sip of water and about three bites of grated butternut squash... shold the food be in the cooler end or the end with the heat lamp?

I would highly suggest you do as much research on these
guys as possible. Many of the questions you have will be
addressed. Melissa Kaplan's "Iguanas for Dummies" is an excellent source for information.

Make sure the temps are correct. The basking area should
be 95-100 with other areas dropping down to the high 70's
to 80 degrees. Don't guess, make sure you test them. In
my opinion, red bulbs for nighttime are less obtrusive then
the purple or black ones.

Good luck and hang on for the ride

Linda

its really weird actually, when i shut the uv bulb off and switch his heating lamp bulb for the night time purple one, he falls asleep within three minutes. its actually pretty funny.

i would use a red bulb for night ..

good luck

yes it is normal for them to smell with there tongue. and you can get a heat glo infrared red bulb for night it gives heat and and red light that dont bother igs sleep they dont see red. iggirl1

I do not know what size tank you are using (looks like a smaller one) but that will only last for a short period of time. I just got a new ig and I am currently housing him in a 55 gallon tall aquarium (more appropriatly sized) and I am also in the process of building an enclosure because a 55 gallon will only last so long also. As far as care of the iguana it seems like you have a lot of questions still...my only suggestion...DO MORE RESEARCH! I mean that in the kindest words because it will only improve the quality of life for your ig. I found this next website tremendously helpful to me since it is my first ig too...www.greenigsociety.org copy and paste that link and read away. It lays out almost every aspect of ig care in an easy to follow format...it will even help with constructing a larger ig habitat. One last thing, you do know that your young ig does a heat source on him during the day so he can properly digest his food? Anyways I hope this helped...please do some more reading, the internet is a great resource.