Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday, an aquaintance gave me 3 old neodesha cages that she said were originally used to transport monkeys for zoos. They are a little under 3 feet square at the bottom and 4 feet high. They are made of hard plastic and have a plexiglass door. A large vent on top can keep lighting and it has two closable vents on the sides. Seem perfect for keeping up humidity. I realize that this is totally inadequate for a medium to large Iguana but it is much better than the 60 gallon tanks we have at the humane society, so I was thinking I would set them up and foster the two Iguanas we have in until I can find them better homes. My plan is to have two opposite angled boards to make a ramp up to the heat lamp above. There is a metal grill on top to place a heat lamp; I have two extra 100w flood mercury vapor bulb I can place there. (Melissa, I know you question the use of these bulbs but the cages will be in my garage and I have had good success with them housing my Bearded Dragons and Uromastyx). Anyway, the question I have is what should I use to make the ramps easily climable? I was thinking of going to this dumpster behind a local carpeting store and picking up some pieces and attaching carpeting to the ramps but then realized just how hard they would be to clean off. Where do Iguanas generally defecate? Do you guys think this would be a problem? If so, any suggestions? (maybe velcro the carpeting on so I can wash it seperately?)

Peter

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hiya Peter (remember me from the uro board?? )

I just recently acquired an adult iguana from our humane society. what I did, was used a 2x4 scrap of wood from around my home, and put a throw rug (real cheap at this store by me) around it and stapled it down good. It has more of a texture like burlap of which my ig can climb it well.

Maybe you could also find a piece of artifical wood for reptiles somewhere to place in there for them to climb up onto. They love to climb (unlike the uro's).

Nice to see a familiar face over here
How's boulder doing?

Good luck!
Renee

Hey =)

A question about the rug idea: does your iguana ever poop on it? Seems like it would be hard to clean off. I actually have a lot of drift wood but I decided to go with thin boards as ramps to maximize space. Boulder's doing great...he's outside in the sun at this very moment.

Peter

No, she is very neat and tidy <G> lol She uses her "water box" to go to the bathroom so its always contained there. Usually when she eats, within about an hour after I put her in her box and she always goes potty in it. If not, then later in the day when I give her a warm bath she does. (gotta be warm water for either or she'll just crawl out).

Wondering if maybe you could post a tag on her cage to whomever is taking care of him/her (?) at the shelter to make sure he uses the potty while they are there. I just bought a cheap rectangular rubbermaid type container for her potty. Its not deep, just long.

hope that helps!
Renee

I've stapled bathmats (fold the excess width around the back) and non-skid mats that you would use under carpets. The bathmat lasts longer, in my opinion. It's fairly easy to clean (yes, my ig has pooped on it... what HASN'T he pooped on, even with the tub training...)

Thats another good idea! I would imagine they'd be much easier to clean as well. Guess I'm glad mine hasn't soiled these ones yet lol. (and they were cheap too!)

Thanks for the idea
Renee