First Time With Just A Few Questions?

Hey all, I'm new here, and was looking for a good, busy forum to join with some "smart" people that new alot about iguana and I hope I've found it. I don't have an iguana yet, but I should have one this coming sunday, 1/22/06. I'm buying it from my nephew and a reasonable price.

I saw a scaled down photo of him (Kato) and fell in love with him!! I want him bad, I have been reading up on the care of iguana's the last two days and have learned alot, but it leads to me just a few questions. I first started drilling my nephew for more information on the care given to Kato (the iguana). In the email to me he stated..

1. One of the bulbs burnt out and his cage is at 77 degrees. (this of course upset me)
2. I asked him what he feeds him and he says he feeds him iguana pellets or food. (this upset me as well, because I read where they need veggies.

I know the iguana that he has doesn't like to be picked up and we will work on that in time. I also learned that he's in sort of a small cage. This will change payday when I can get him a larger one, and then will change again when I get him a "real big" home.

My questions are:

Should I be concerned that he has kept Kato at 77 degrees? Should I feed extra calcium to help with the bones? I'm working on getting the rooms ready for him now..

What do you guys/girls think for the iguana "food pellets?"

Also, I read in a book that they suggestion you give them vitamins along with their viggies and calcium as well?

I did get an updated picture of Kato, he looks healthy, I'll try to post a pic. From what my Nephew says.. it's 18" and about a year and a half old. I asked him about that too.. why is he only 18" long at that age. The Nephew told me that at a young age, part of Kato's tail just fell off for no reason. I wonder why?? But he is real green, and looks healthy to me from the picture. The tail seems to have brown on it, I guess because some of it fell off. He did say he treated it, when it did fall off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Come Sunday, I'll try to take a few pics of Kato


Kato

I also wanted to ask.. I plan on getting an open air cage.. What is a good way of maintaning the heat needed for the iguana?? Or are open air cages a bad idea?

77 degrees is a bit cold for proper food digestion, short term did it harm the IG, probably not, long term it would..Pellets are not choice for the IG but on the bright side it will be easier to feed your IG when you leave on Vacation..I use the ZooMed Iguana Pellets, for him it would be the Juv. ones.. These are by far some of the best available, notice not the best food but best choice outta the pellets..For leafy greens a good staple is Collard Greens.. And then mix in Dandelion Greens Turnip Greens a little carrot, Yellow Squash..And I have found I like to mix in some alfalfa pellets or the ZooMed Pellets, only because they contain Alfalfa also..18 inches isn't too bad. Especially if he dropped part of his tail which could have gotten caught on something and he dropped it..If the enclosure is twice his length right now he is OK, IGs love to climb..ANd they do a great job regulating there body temp if different temps are available in the enclosure so as long as you have areas were your Ig can go to warm up and areas it feels safe that are 75-80 degrees to go Hide you are set.. But he needs to be able to get up around 92-95 degrees to digest his food..The biggest issue with open air is keeping it humid enough.. Misting daily or a couple times a day helps that..The only thing I add is a calcium Supplement every other day..But the best thing you can do for your IG is good diet, and PROPER LIGHTING, with a timer that turns off the UV lights.

I don't know too much about iguanas, but there are many books and other literature that can guide you. Welcome to Fauna and good luck.

Thanks for all your help into this matter. I now have him.. He's very cute and smaller then what I thought I was getting. From what I was told.. he was born in the Summer of 2004, was bought December 2004. So I think he's still a juvenile. I'm very happy right now. He's sleeping in his cage right now as I type this, so I hope I don't wake him up. I do have one question. I have a "getting" started book.. I thought Humitidy was suppose to be watched on Iguana's? The book says nothing about it. What should I keep it at? Thanks Also, I'll be posting some pics of him.

Humidity can be somewhere around 60%, higher is better but winter is a tough one.. Misting with a spray bottle a couple times a day will get the Humidity up good enough..

Humidity is very important to igs, if you look at the places they are from(South America) and were they thrive(Florida) the area are very humid. Spraying them every day will be benificial if you cannot keep humidity in the cage. These thread cover a lot about iguana care with links to some iguana care sites:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73945
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72204

Got it.. well, I just misted a little and could see it go up a little. Temperature is finally getting to be in the 90's. I'll be buying him a bigger cage this week end. I'm starting to get confused on the lights.... Right now I have a red light (I'm sure this is just a heat light or lamp) and a white light (bulb) I'm sure thats the one for basking, so I'm assuming its the Full Spectrum Fluorescent light. Now.. the Heat lamp stays on all the time, and how long do you recommend the basking light be on?

I personally use a heat lamp at all times and my iguana can be in the sun during the morning light, so she can get about 5 hours of sun if she wants. You can use a basking light for 8 hours, just figure the amount of light is available outside from the sun. I do recommend finding out if your basking light is a UVB light, iguanas need the UVB rays. If not, pet stores sell fluorescent UVB bulbs in many diffrent sizes.