Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my boyfriend and i both have green iguanas, he moved in and we let them meet, the mated, just wondering how long the gestation is, reallllly dont want her to get egg bound, not aiming for babie iggys, just want to keep my girl healthey!
thanks!

So you bred them, not wanting babys?

Did you skip sex class 101 in 6th grade?

just pray she doesnt have eggs. the best thing now is to have an experience vet check her out for eggs, and up her cal dose. healthy female igs assuming they arent spayed will hopefully develop eggs. unless theyre bred with a male! the eggs wont be fertile
Sarah

hehe.. ya know, i agree we dont need any more baby igs around, but why should you deny the animals the right to get it on.. i know i'd be a lonely iguana P

*this is mostly joking so ya know *

-Charlie

wow, ask a ? and get insulted, thanks....N/P

hey there,
everyone was mostly pretty polite about it, or tried to be.
like craig said, you can just let them breed, but i dunno, the issue of just letting the eggs not have a shot at life is kind of disturbing if you let them do it every year, on purpose.
either way make sure she's healthy enough to lay well.

didn't someone say something about giving iguana eggs to somebody w/ a monitor or snake? seems like a little more natural way of properly disposing of them than just the freezer and the trash can...

I really do not see why......EGGS DO NOT EQUAL BABIES!

There is then the simple choice of not incubating. Freeze the eggs, and no problem.

I pray that she DOES have eggs, healthy female iguanas SHOULD lay eggs every year, male or not.
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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

in my post, Craig, i wrote

"healthy female igs assuming they arent spayed will hopefully develop eggs. unless theyre bred with a male! the eggs wont be fertile"

Yes, I read that, however your other comments, I felt, still needed be adressed.

You also took a shot on sex ed class. Makes no difference. You do realise that a mammal getting pregnant is far removed from a lizard becoming gravid correct? Read my response to Cindy's post.
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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

hey cool down, its called sarcasm..

do you breed iguanas?

Sarah

Seemed like more of a cheap shot than sarcasm, but whatever, that's cool.

No, if you read my reply to Cindy, I do not "breed" iguanas. I let them do what is natural to them, and dispose of the eggs accordingly. (freeze and discard)

Cheers,
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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

I understand that you're being a responsible herper by freezing those fertilized eggs.

However, you should know that your messages about just freezing them, tossing them, and having no more worries about it are offensive and hard to stomach for those of us squeamish about killing things, especially killing baby creatures. I understand you don't believe the eggs contain life, but some of us do. This is no place to start something like an abortion debate, but hopefully this will explain to you some of the reaction to your posts.

Happy herping,
-Erin

I'm going to assume I understood Craig correctly that he doesn't let his girl mate with a male so they are infertile eggs anyway when he freezes them. It's sort of like the chicken eggs you buy and eat aren't fertile - you aren't killing a baby. however animal reproduction and human reproduction should be viewed a little differently. It's like humans kill animals for food etc but just becuase farmer joe kills a cow doesn't mean he thinks it's ok to go murder a human.

This is the post I read that led me to believe that:

Posted by: Craig Loose at Sun Jun 8 13:36:00 2003

Cindy, she already mnetioned that she does NOT want baby igs.

Breeding, really there is nothing wrong with. Incubating, that's where your future abused babies come from.

I have a male and a female that live together. Of course they mate. Every year, my female lays eggs, and every year I (properly) dispose of said eggs without any clue or care as to if they are fertile.

What is so wrong with that?

It is not about "letting" them mate, that is just what they do. It is a part of any animals life. My igs eat, bask, sleep, mate, roam, swim, etc, and live very comfortably.

Everyone is also jumping to the conclusion that any such eggs ARE fertile. Mating DOES NOT equal guaranteed fertalization. (As my wife would be the first to tell you lol) Are the igs fertile? Maybe, maybe not. Truth be told, I do not inspect them, nor do I care one way or the other.
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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

Give your head a shake and stop anthropomorphising. Nothing wrong with freezing the eggs even if they are fertile. We eat chicken eggs all the time on the farm. Even thse that have been fertilised only have a little bit of embryonic material in them and still fry up quite nicely. Don't even try and compare this to abortion You'd think you were a PETA supporter.

It's one of humankind's best beliefs, don't you think?
I like the solution of feeding the fertilized eggs to an egg-eater like a monitor. It does seem more natural, at least.

I'm not a PETA supporter, but my bad feeling from this comes from the fact that if the unfertilized eggs were layed in the wild, they would have at least a chance of making it. It's not like we're using them like chicken eggs, or cow meat, so to me, it seems, well, disrespectful to allow embryos to be created only to destroy them and not at least use them for some good.

Boy, talking about igs leads you to all sorts of topics, doesn't it?

NP

So you object to the eggs being frozen, but have no problems with them being fed to a monitor? Either way they're just as dead. All life is not sacred. It should be respected within bounds but it's not sacred. With the number of unwanted iguanas already in North America, it borders on criminal to breed more. As far as spaying goes, I've heard arguments both for and against. You could make the argument that having major surgery done on an animal for convenience sake shows lack of respect for that animal. Seems to me disposing of the eggs in the freezer is a good, humane way to go.

Which comes first; the iguana, or the egg?

That would work too.

>>my boyfriend and i both have green iguanas, he moved in and we let them meet, the mated, just wondering how long the gestation is, reallllly dont want her to get egg bound, not aiming for babie iggys, just want to keep my girl healthey!
>>thanks!

Breeding in iguanas is usually very looked down upon. They are so diposable right now, im sure with this post you will get a lot of flack. As for your girls health, the link below will help you out.

Please consider not incubating the eggs. If in fact she does have eggs, once she lays please freeze them.
Green Iguana Breeding info

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Cindy
PHFaust
Email Cindy
Land of the Outcasts!

Cindy, she already mnetioned that she does NOT want baby igs.

Breeding, really there is nothing wrong with. Incubating, that's where your future abused babies come from.

I have a male and a female that live together. Of course they mate. Every year, my female lays eggs, and every year I (properly) dispose of said eggs without any clue or care as to if they are fertile.

What is so wrong with that?
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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

ok, im sorry if i offended anyone

Craig i havnt seen you post before, are you new to the forum? do you have an iguana/s? what kind of enclosures

Sarah and Zeph

>>ok, im sorry if i offended anyone
>>
>>Craig i havnt seen you post before, are you new to the forum? do you have an iguana/s? what kind of enclosures
>>
>>
>>Sarah and Zeph

New to the forum? Hardly. Little over three years now, though I do not post resularly anymore....not a lot of us left from then.

have an iguana/s? Thought that was stated.(?) I have 2 iguanas. The male, Theseus, is 4.5 years old and a little over 5'. The female, Phaedra, is 9 years old and about 4'.

what kind of enclosures? Spare bedroom, basking and whatnot is set-up in the closet. They generally stay in the closet, but do come out to explore/stretch their legs a couple times a day.

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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

Well we were never introduced, how would i know how many igs and whatnot

<G>

Sarah

i just wanted to know how soon to put out a box for her to prevent her from becomming egg bound.
as for incubationg the eggs, i have heard its very hard to do, so i told my boyfrined he could try...i know the market is flooded with them so i dont think its a good idea, but hes kinda new to herping, and the incubator i have is for snake eggs right now. as for a more natural way to dispose of the eggs, my savnah would be a good idea, though kinda sad, he used to be best friends with my iggy.

Sorry you got that one nasty response, please don't feel it's indicative of all of us here. Good that you are trying to do the right thing for your girl. I'm no breeder, so my knowledge is limited on this subject, but so far as I know, here is the approximate time table for gravid females:

Weeks 1-4 Normal appetite, but she will start getting restless.

Weeks 4-5 Appetite decreases and water intake increases. Feces gets very small and urates get thicker and yellower. Energy decreases and sometimes personality changes. This is the time to build the nest box.

Weeks 5-6 Appetite very intermittent, water intake further increased, urates and feces continue to be increasingly affected. No apparant weight loss, but base of tail and hips may start to look thinner as eggs replace fat pads.

Weeks 6-7 You can feel the eggs when you pet her sides.

Weeks 7-8 Hips are bonier. You can see the eggs bulging at her sides. About a week after you can see the eggs like this, she will lay them.

Make sure you boost her calcium and give plenty of fresh water all along the way!

Good luck!
Wendy