Desert Iguana

I have my female desert iguana housed in a 55gal is this big enough she is only 14"

can i buy a creosote bush and just trim it down so it fits or is that to much of a trim like i think

A 55 gallon is fine, she should be just fine in it. Is it a 55 tall? Or wide?

As for the creosote bush, I really doubt you can get it to live in the 55. How big is it now?

48x13x20 i figured it was big enough someone was telling me it was to small as for the creosote bush i read that they are good for a desert iguana habitat because they eat the flowers and burrow in the roots i didnt buy one though i figured that it was to tall but was wondering if i could possibly give it on heck of a hair cut and trim off a foot or 2

I have 1000's of them in my yard, and the ones close to the house or around my landscaping, i have trimmed way back and they do fine...You can also feed them Hibiscus leaves.. But they have to be very warm to digest the food!!! Mike

can i trim them down to about 20" or is that way to much

are 3-4 foot, but they can get to 10 foot!!! Just curious, where did you get a creosote bush in NY??? Mike

Creosote bushes can be difficult to cultivate / grow in pots. Trying to keep one alive in tank would probably be very difficult. Desert iguanas will eat a broad range of readily available veggies. Try something like dandelion flowers as a special treat, one of my friend's has one that goes nuts over yellow hibiscus flowers. Desert iguanas also like a fair amount of insects in their diet so you can feed these too. Try to get a hot basking site going. 120 degrees F would be a good surface temperature to shoot for, just make sure that the cool side is still in the low 80s. The easiest way to do this in a relatively small tank is to use a lower wattage basking bulb and an elevated basking site. Adjust the height of this basking site until it is at the proper distance to achieve the desired temperature. Some of my friends have DI's that start to brumate in the fall regardless of the light / temperature cycle they're on. I'm pretty sure they just turn out the lights etc. when this happens. I've kept the lights on my chucks with at least 12 hrs of daylight through the winter, and neither of them tried to brumate, but be prepared. Bellow is a link to a page with some really good nutrition info in terms of greens: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtrem...Nutrition.html If you really want a creosote bush, I'd recommend growing it outside the tank and harvesting portions for your DI.

-Alice

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

Creosote bushes can be difficult to cultivate / grow in pots. Trying to keep one alive in tank would probably be very difficult. Desert iguanas will eat a broad range of readily available veggies. Try something like dandelion flowers as a special treat, one of my friend's has one that goes nuts over yellow hibiscus flowers. Desert iguanas also like a fair amount of insects in their diet so you can feed these too. Try to get a hot basking site going. 120 degrees F would be a good surface temperature to shoot for, just make sure that the cool side is still in the low 80s. The easiest way to do this in a relatively small tank is to use a lower wattage basking bulb and an elevated basking site. Adjust the height of this basking site until it is at the proper distance to achieve the desired temperature. Some of my friends have DI's that start to brumate in the fall regardless of the light / temperature cycle they're on. I'm pretty sure they just turn out the lights etc. when this happens. I've kept the lights on my chucks with at least 12 hrs of daylight through the winter, and neither of them tried to brumate, but be prepared. Bellow is a link to a page with some really good nutrition info in terms of greens: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtrem...Nutrition.html If you really want a creosote bush, I'd recommend growing it outside the tank and harvesting portions for your DI.

-Alice

Sounds like great advice Alice!!

thanks for the advice