Bubba and Tom are probably the most correct on this thread.
First off few if any green igs ever get 7 feet. 6 feet is a monster.
Some locals may have a little longer tails so bubba is correct we should only use SVL.
In captivity there are only 10s of thousands and most not in ideal environments and most don't live full lives. in the wild there are 10s of millions and there are more opportunities to live full lives.
Some of the biggest Igs I have ever seen come from Puerto Rico Tom use to get in 6 footers back in the day. I think they get so big because of several factors, they are not native and have few predictors so many live long lives and they are also from many different populations so they may have hybrid vigor.
Another reason many igs might not get as big in the long run is because in the wild a large iguana would eat several lbs of leaves, flowers, fruits and what ever else they come across with lots of roughage all day every day and get a huge amount of vitamins and nutrition. Most people would not feed there iguanas that much food and have to clean the cage so we feed smaller amounts of higher calorie food and less often.
I think the idea that iguanas get bigger in the wild is a matter of perception there are 500 6 foot iguanas in captivity and few people see them and there are 500,000 6 foot iguanas in the wild and those are the ones people see on golf coarses and other gardens and resorts where people have added to there food choices.
Rob

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