Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ive been searching the web and i cant seem to find anything that says if iguanas are messy or not. by that i mean do they poop and pee alot? for the bottom of my cage i was gonna get astro turf. if they dont poop alot then ill staple it down and just wipe it over once a week and replace it when it gets old. would that work or do they go to the bathroom alot? im guessing they dont but can someone tell me for sure.

also what do you use to cover the bottom?

thanx
madelon
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these are my babies

1 cat, nilla
2 rats, sofie & bridget
2 cockatiels, sugar & sammy
1 betta fish, beefy
tank full of other fish

rest in peace doshia (cat) and mary (rat) i love you both and will never forget you

Hi Madelon,

To sum it up -- YES!!! Iguanas are VERY messy! LOL Maybe not as babies, but they will VERY quickly put out huge amounts of poop and urates. Please do not staple the carpet to the floor, you will rip it up within a few months! LOL

I'm assuming you have basking ledges and/or branches in your terrarium so that your iguana spends most of its time off the floor. In this case, leave the floor bare and provide a large shallow container filled with water -- such as a baby tub or litter pan -- so that your iguana can defecate in it. Makes cleanup extremely clean and easy if you can do it every day! If you can manage it, another convenient trick is to take your iguana out in the morning (say, before you go to work), have him poop in a baby tub, dump the water in the toilet and put the iguana back in his terrarium. Placing an iguana in shallow warm water makes them poop 95% of the time.

Hope this helps!
Julie

Make sure the floor is completely spill-proof, sometimes iguanas have "accidents"! Moreover, you will need to be able to wipe the surface clean very easily to pick up any spilled poop, dropped food, spilled water, bits of shed, etc. Because iguanas become large and can cause quite a bit of damage with their scales and claws, make sure to use a finish that will withstand to a lot of use!

Hope this helps!
Julie