Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a juvenile iguana that ive been keeping for about 3 months. She has a brownish tint to her, even days after shes shed. I am using a 100 watt esu reptile bright light, and a fifteen watt flourescent uvb iguana light. She is housed in a 25 gallon high tank, with repti bark as a substrate. She has plenty of branches and vines to climb on. I am wondering if it is too hot for her, the temp in her favorite basking spot is over 120 degrees. Is she cooking in the heat? or is color rubbing off of the bark? or does it have something to do with the diet (she is fed a mixture of dark greens, along with bananas and broccoli, with an occasional variety of fruit -- reptivite every other feeding.)
thanks

120* is definitly too hot..unless you are a uromastyx 8-)
Keep the basking spot about 93-97*. Also a 25gallon tank is too small, and you might see her spending a lot of time in the coolest part of the tank to escape from the heat.
Sarah

Yep, 120 definitely is too hot.

I'd also think twice about using Repti-bark as a substrate. They can and occasionally do eat that stuff, especially if some of their regular food spills onto it. Ingesting those pieces of bark can cause some potentially serious health problems for your ig.
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MichaelB

Does the temperature explain the brown color? Thats a big concern of mine... why does the iguana have a brown color to it???

You are slowly cooking your iguana. Temps should not get over 107 because that causes brain damage. 120? Good god I dont see how the little guy is still alive! Please Please adjust the heat because it is muchly stressing your baby and slowly killing him!!!

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

how about a 175 gallon reptarium?? is it big enough for an iguana?? its dimensions are 29" x 29" x 48"

It will be better and cheaper to just go with the adult enclosure (although for hatchlings and smaller 'uns, sometimes a smaller cage is better for heat regulating). I posted about buying a reptarium (260g) and stated it would be a temporary enclosure for my ig, and admist some flak I got over it were very good points:
Iguanas nose rub
It is hard to keep heat&humidity in
You need the UV lights inside, because otherwise you are blocking out about 50% of the rays

Anyway, my ig has been freeroaming for the past 2 months in our new house, and tomarrow we are going to buy mesh and tubes for his outdoor cage
Sarah

what would you suggest building an enclosure suitable for an iguana out of?

here is two starting guidlines

http://www.iguanaden.com/housing/index.htm

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/9008/pvccage.html

Sarah

thanks so much for the info

Brown can mean "I'm too hot", "I'm sick", "My diet is wrong", "I'm cold", "I'm going to shed" or just "I'm stressed from no room to roam/being looked at all the time. Give me a bigger enclosure and someplace to hide!"

> I am using a 100 watt esu reptile bright light, and a fifteen watt flourescent uvb iguana light. She is housed in a 25 gallon high tank, with repti bark as a substrate.

Others have given good advice about the lights and substrate; something else that will lower the temps is getting her a bigger enclosure. Honestly sounds like she needs it... I have an ig that's about half a year old, and he just outgrew a 40-gallon I temporarily kept him in.

>She has plenty of branches and vines to climb on.

Sounds like a fun iggy playground, with the vines and stuff! If you want to eliminate any factor that could negatively affect health, I would definately go to http://www.anapsid.org and read about cage accessories being possible harbors for bugs and about diet and everything else.

>Is she cooking in the heat? or is color rubbing off of the bark? or does it have something to do with the diet (she is fed a mixture of dark greens, along with bananas and broccoli, with an occasional variety of fruit -- reptivite every other feeding.)

Personally, I think that while the overheating is contributing to her brown color, the diet probably is, too. Broccoli isn't great for iguanas, and fruit doesn't do a whole lot nutritionally, especially if you're feeding sugary banana as a staple every day. Try some orange/yellow squash, parsnips, green beans or snow peas, and alfalfa pellets with a little tropical fruit like mango or papaya. Chop it up really small in the food processor, and keep giving a rotating variety of the greens.

Also, a few questions: Does she get baths? Have water to drink in the tank? How often does she eat and poop? Does she have a hiding place in the tank?

The iguana gets baths from time to time.... we put it in the tub and it swims around like a happy iguana.... There is, indeed, water in the tank, however, it gets browned quickly from the reptibark (which is, by the way, being changed to newspaper) There is no hiding spot in the tank, however, we have found it hiding under the food bowl... which is guess is a sign, yelling get me a hiding spot. It eats every other day, give or take... its offered food every day. We will definitely change the diet now, thanks to all the information. I thought i had done my research, but i guess theres always more to know. I feel it is very important to take pristine care of our animals, and thanks to you guys and this forum, i can just keep learning. Also. The 25 high is gonna be out of the picture, and for now it will go in 55 gallon. The iguana is 4 inches from snout to vent. Can you gimme an approximate age maybe???? And how do i sex it?
thanks

Well, you can get your iglet sexed at the vet, but it's kind of a stressful procedure for them, some vets even prefer to do it under sedation, which can be hard on cold-bloodeds. Time will tell, though! When s/he's around 18 months, he'll reach sexual maturity and go through mating season.

I would say your iguana is under a year old, but it's kind of hard to tell. It depends on how good his care was before he got to you, and if he's an alpha iguana (depends on whether you've got other iguanas/pets)... I would say probably even less than a half year. Others with baby igs they've had from birth might be better help, sorry!

-Erin