Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Typically, all the iguanas available in the pet industry are the typical, green, GREEN iguanas. They all seem to hail from the same locales, they have similar scalation, nose horns, and are usually green. When I had iguanas, about 15 years ago, there was little good info, and both of them had calcium problmes, gout, etc. but looking back, they were different that the common ones seen nowadays. I think they are from a different region than the ones I have had. when they were older, they totally lost the green color, and had no hint of a nose horn. Although the lack of green could be due to no UVB light, their scalation was markedly dfferent.
The reason I ask this, is I am interested in other locales of Iguanas. When I get another one, I'd liek to get a more unusual type, and I have not seen any of them available.
Costa Rican Iguanas seem to be significantly different from most of the common iguanas. They have enormous dorsal spines, they are so long, in fact, that they almost form a sail on their back, I have seen them with so long it looked like a mane, nearley 5 inches long!
Are Iguanas from "alternate" locations available in the pet trade, or are the el salvador greens the only ones?
Eric A

I think most iguanas in the pet trade come from farms in El Salvador or Colombia. El Salvador and Costa Rica are not too far apart geographicaly speaking, so the igs look fairly similar. My two males are fairly typical of igs from that region - orange, impressive, nose horns, big dewlaps... To get 5" dorsal spines, you'd have to raise a male in ideal conditions (trees, proper temps, sunlight, high humidity), for 10+ years, with no handling. Pretty much impossible in captivity.

Colombian iguanas have no nose horns, rounder heads, tend to stay more greenish overall, and have medium to pale grey heads. A friend has one Colombian male - his face, and his bobbing pattern are very different from my igs.

If you really, REALLY need to know the locality your igs come from, make friends with an importer. They can tell you which countries currently export igs.

No rostral horns, no real orange. His spikes have are not huge yet, but he is still young at 4.5 years old. Granted 5 feet and 9 or so pounds doesn't feel young.. lol

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Craig Loose
The Blue Tongue Pages

WE WILL COMPARE AND CELEBRATE THE BEAUTY OF NATURAL SELECTION!!!!
I have noticed there seems to be a difference in locales, too.
Some iguanas have a lot of white, especially in the face, without rostral horns, and the rest of the body seems engulfed in the black striping. Some also have very dark or oddly shaped dewlaps, some have a brown labyrinth pattern on the spine, and some still retain a lot of blue or green. Here is a pic of my Edgar, nothing special, but I have seen few iguanas that resemble him (one of the reason I was so attracted to him before I adopted him). The portrait pic does not show his colours very well(and it shows his wierd overbite) which is why I have included the other!!
NOW LETS ALL COMPARE THEM!!!

>>Typically, all the iguanas available in the pet industry are the typical, green, GREEN iguanas. They all seem to hail from the same locales, they have similar scalation, nose horns, and are usually green. When I had iguanas, about 15 years ago, there was little good info, and both of them had calcium problmes, gout, etc. but looking back, they were different that the common ones seen nowadays. I think they are from a different region than the ones I have had. when they were older, they totally lost the green color, and had no hint of a nose horn. Although the lack of green could be due to no UVB light, their scalation was markedly dfferent.
>> The reason I ask this, is I am interested in other locales of Iguanas. When I get another one, I'd liek to get a more unusual type, and I have not seen any of them available.
>> Costa Rican Iguanas seem to be significantly different from most of the common iguanas. They have enormous dorsal spines, they are so long, in fact, that they almost form a sail on their back, I have seen them with so long it looked like a mane, nearley 5 inches long!
>>Are Iguanas from "alternate" locations available in the pet trade, or are the el salvador greens the only ones?
>>Eric A

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This is a slightly dated picture of Iggi, but it shows her face well.

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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

We've had a lot of iguanas come thru the rescue and it's always interesting to note the differences in appearance. One of my favorite rescues of all times was Mickey who was tourqoise all over with black edging on his scales. The only green on Mick was his belly. He was undoubtedly one of the prettiest iguanas I'd ever seen.

Squig was typical of most iguanas that we see. Lovely green body with a sky blue head, little body banding except for his belly, and wide tail banding. During breeding season he would turn orange, mostly on his legs and sides.

Then we've had a few males that were orange all of the time, all year long. Jonah was one such iguana and he was gorgeous! He showed some beautiful aqua blue color on his head but the rest of him was bright orange for as long as we had him.

Sam stays green with a grey head. Felix is orange.
Sam and Felix

Naturally I cannot resist the urge to show off my oranfe Dude!

hi, i was just curious what are some of the locations that iguanas are from where they have the nose horns and are orange? just curious because i know the most common are from el salvador? right? thanx
-Robert

This is my babey doll Ozzy, still a big baby.. but in real life that pic is a bit outdated. He's now about 4 ft. No horns, light face, and is a wimp. But the pic is close enough. Still the same exact face, dragon mixed with t-rex.

I'm not sure when Dexter was originally from, but he is 3 years old now and is starting to change from green to orange. His colors actually change a lot during the course of the day. Sometimes he is green, sometimes orange, and when I bring him outside he will turn brownish for about 20 minutes (I guess he is nervous with all of the stimuli). The photo below was taken about 5 minutes after I brought him back inside! His spines are about 1-1/4" and his "horns" are over 1/4" now...

Hmm... That didn't quite work right... Here is the other photo.

I think I have an odd ig. lol... He isnt really green. Most of the time even when he is warm. Hes grey and a greenish grey color with orange and aqua stripes when he is warm. his head stays this really great aqua color with a little teal and a purple like color. He also has no horns. In this color he is upset with me so he is a little more green than normal. My vet calls him a "blue diamond" any ideas? Is that a color?

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