Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can someone describe in detail how to keep rhinos indoors.....I know ideally they are best outdoors but wanted to know if keeping them indoors is an option.

You keep them like you would a green iguana. Just remember that they get much beefier and will need more floor space as they get bigger (as aposed to climbing branches like a green).

I live in New England so I made a little Summer cage for my rhino and he was outdoors for most of the summer. He took some very cool weather with no ill affects (50's). Obviously he couldn't live in that weather for too long but 24-48 did not harm. I also took him out for some of the warm Fall days we had.

Anyway...keep him like a green. Buy the Green Iguana Manual if you are not sure of the care of a green. It is a very thick book with a photo of a man holding a green ig on the cover.

Good luck,

Brian

lots of floor space. In my opinion temps should be a bit higher than for greens. I think cyclura do better with a hide of some sort, a place they can retreat to, where as a green doesnt really need that as long as they can go "up". Provide some UV light and heat and they do pretty well. There a lot of people who keep them indoors.

Hi, I keep a Rhino indoors and altho she is a recent rescue I have been keeping cyclura nubila species in the house for over 2 years now. I agree with the others about keeping them like greens with more floor space. They WILL climb however.

Things I have noticed:
They like to bask hotter than greens.
They will eat virtually anything that fits in their mouths so be careful
When they get bigger (which is faster than you think)they will need either a walk in sort of enclosure or a guest room. Think floor space. While a green iguana might be relatively ok in a cage 5 feet long by 6 feet high by 3 feet deep a rhino will need way more floor space and less height. Consider the spare bedroom.
While they LOVE insects you have to control yourself and feed a vegetarian diet. Altho when I got my first cyclura I was told I could feed a small amount of insects now I am thinking (especially after seeing the rescue rhino here) that the diet should be strict vegetarian with bugs offered maybe on a monthly basis.

This is all merely my opinion and there are lots of people that have been doing this way longer than me here on the list. They taught me much of what I know tho!

Read about greens, up the temps, dont worry as much about humidity and there you...

Carole
Cyclura at my Webshots album

Hello,

i keep my cycluras since more then 15 years indoor (middleeurope), only in the summer they can go out and bask in the sun. They do perfect and they are breeding too. I keep one pair on 10-15 Squaremeter with Rocks and some branches inside, and sand as Substrate. You should have one UV-basking side (40-50 degree celsius) for each animal. Maybe they do better outside but I have also good experience indoor.
bye
schmidt j.