Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Might be a little lengthy so bear with me, thanks

I had an iggy about 10 years ago and due to improper care advice from the local pet store I understand now why he did not last long, I now know otherwise.

Picked up a new iggy from the local petstore and I know I shouldnt have BUT they were definitly looking like they were minimumally taken care of so I wanted to give at least one of them a shot at a better life. Now:

My new lil guy is about a foot from head to tail. I have the 65 gallon reptarium (17" x 30" x 28". Lighting and heating wise I have a 24" combo hood mounted an inch above the cage so he cannot get to it with the high intensity full spectrum flourscent, 100watt blue bulb (both 12 hours daily), and 100watt red bulb for nighttime. The room (upstairs in my house) runs around 82-85 degrees pretty steady. I have a reptile hammock in the cage about 7-8" below the lights to bask on as well as several shady hiding areas. I also have some volcano thing that the webiste I bought from threw in for free, it makes fog out of the top and says in the website is good for added humidity. Now minus the fact that he will outgrow the size of the cage in a year or two (which I am prepared for moving up to bigger) how do you feel he is set up? Is there something more I should add for him?

Now onto feedings.... I know what he should be fed and pretty much in what ratio. My question, how small should it be chopped? I used a small food processor for his first meal in my home yesterday. Mixed dandelion greens, collards, two small carrots for color, and added a small amount of cut up kiwi with it. It is pretty small almost like a person chewed it up and spit it out. Is that too small or should I be leaving it in bigger pieces? Also he has not ate as of yet but I think it may be nerves, he is VERY jumpy and active so I think he is healthy, his color also looks vibrant and I know thats another sign.

Finally, should I be picking him up and taming him now or wait a period of time to let him become accostumed to his new home? In addition to that, should I be wearing gloves in the beginning, at that size I cant imagine they can inflict too much damage if he gets a little nippy but I want to be sure.

Thank you in advance for any info you can give.

I noticed that you don't have a UVB producing lamp. "Full spectrum" is just a bogus sales pitch. But even if you get an IguanaLight (Reptisun) 5.0, it's position up in the hood will decrease the UVB so much that it will not do your iguana any good.

I use fixtures as long as possible that will fit down inside my hbitats, and position them about 8 inches or less (I use six inches) to the iguana's skin. In the one glass tank I have I used coat-hanger wire to make hooks to hang the fixture down into the tank. The top of the fluorecsent fixture has convienient little holes that I used for inserting bent wire to hold it up. The other end of the coat hanger wire hooks over the rim of the tank.

I hope this helps,

Roger