Reptile & Amphibian Forums

that an ig will only grow according to how much space it is given???

not true

It's a horrible myth.

It's a horrible myth.

but keeping an iguana in too small of a cage will eventually stunt its growth which isnt healthy and can shorten their life span!!!!!

Keeping a lizard in a small cage will only stunt its growth if it can't thermoregulate properly, eat properly, or if it is physically hitting the sides of its enclosure when it turns around. These are all quite possible, of course. The stress of a small enclosure would probably make it sick and shorten its lifespan, too. But it's really hard to seperate the risks of small enclosures from those of owners who are probably not taking care of the animal correctly in other ways, especially complicated ones like iguanas.

>>Keeping a lizard in a small cage will only stunt its growth if it can't thermoregulate properly, eat properly,

Correct. Plus, the stress of being in too small an enclosure, on top of the malnutrition and inability to thermoregulate, let alone move around normally, will burn calories faster, leaving few left over for normal growth and development.

But what will develop is the increasing territoriality - so long as the iguana remains strong enough to act on that whenever their human ventures into, or even close to the enclosure. Eventually, either the human gets rid of the iguana because "it won't get tame", or the iguana sickens and dies, or sickens and is dumped on someone else, so weak that the person who ends up with it has to fight to keep it alive.

Unfortunately, many weak and malnourished igs are thought to be tame; once rescued by someone who cares for them properly, it doesn't take long for the wild iguana behaviors to appear as the iguana regains strength.

My Iguana Age and Expected Size article has a table of normal growth rate, and a list of iguanas that displays the range of stunting that can happen when igs aren't cared for properly. Typically, the longer it was cared for incorrectly, the more likely that full growth will not be attained, though such iguanas may significantly increase in size from the time/size they were when rescued.
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Melissk
anapsid.org
Iguanas for Dummies