Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last week i just got a new baby iguana and i live in a very cold part of northwestern b.c. I am having alot of trouble keeping its cage above 80 degrees, i was wondering since your not supposed to have hot rocks in there if i could just cover it with a towel so that my iguana does not burn itself to help regulate the temperature. also ive been reading alot about lighting requirements and whatnot and i read that it is neccessary to have a UV light but you cant have it outside of the cage because then the glass just filters out the UV rays so its pretty much pointless and your not supposed to have lights inside the cage because the iguana will lay right beside it and burn itself. could someone please answer this because all i want is the best for my new baby. Thankyou

The UV light is a fluorscent light which produces very very little if any heat, certianly not enough to cause a burn to anyone. Glass will filter the UV out of the light but if it is a glass tank you are using as his home you can put the UV light on top of a screen on the top of it, the screening will let the UV through. Try to make sure his basking area is within 10 or so inches from the UV light, the further away from the UV bulb the less strong the UV becomes once again making it useless if he is too far away from the light source. Keeping the enclosure around 80 is fine but his basking area should run around 95 degrees, you might have to add another basking light or CHE.

As far as using a hot rock, most if not all on here will tell you to stray away from them even if you put a towel around it a inquisitive ig will surely find a way to get in or under it. If it is that much of an issue heating his enviroment I would look into some heat tape or a human heating pad placed under the enclosure to up the temperature.

Heat Rock Towel = Fire Hazard. Don't do it.

UV lamps do not burn with heat, but can give sun-burns.

Make sure the enclosure is ventilated enough to avoid cooking the animal witihn, but not too breezy to lose all your heat. Plus, proper ventilation minimizes smell (you can further eliminate that by cleaning it daily, as one should).

-IJ

what would be the most efficient method to heat the tank because i cannot get the temperature above 78 degrees, i also live in the middle of no where and i am only a teenager and have no job or money so do you think they would actually have the heat tape in petstore here or the heating pad and how expensive would the be?? If i ordered heating things off of the internet do you think I would be ripped off, the closest pet store is 45 minutse away from here and the next decent one is 7 hours away.

I order products for my iggy off the internet all the time. I can actually get most of the stuff cheaper that way, even after shipping.

Can I suggest a heat panel or a CHE (ceramic heat emitter)? Heat panels put of a crap load of heat, but they are supposed to be safe enough for the critter to cozy up to. We just bought a few for our birds at work to test out, but I know snake people who use them and love them. They're not ridiculously expensive and will last if you take care of them.

The CHE also puts out ridiculous amounts of heat, depending on the wattage you go with. Just make sure you use it in a fixture with a ceramic/porcelain socket or it will melt and cause a fire hazard. I use CHEs with both my iggy and my snake and I love them.
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha

Try LLLreptile.com They are a very reputable company and have ceramic heat emitters by exo-terra for around $20 bucks. They are also offering a free tee-shirt with every order right now. I've ordered from them before and they always come through just fine. JN