OEFVet
New member
Hello everyone! I am new to this forum but it came highly recommended so I thought I would give it a go here.
I grew up with all sorts of different kinds of reptiles (beardeds, basilisks, various geckos, etc.) until I left for the military. Now that I have the time to get back into caring for reptiles again, I thought I'd go for it.
I don't have an exotic pet store where I am so I opted to go to PetCo rather than looking for an online site that would work for me (I'd rather see what I am buying).
I purchased 2 (male and female) "Ornate Club Tail Iguana"s which I knew ahead of time were mislabeled. I have done hours of looking and it looks like they are "Ctenosaura Oaxacana" A.K.A. Oaxacan Spiny-Tailed Iguana. This species of Iguana is "Critically Endangered" which would make sense why PetCo mislabeled them. They are Endangered because of pet poaching and I am sure PetCo would not want to be known for supporting that. I have compared my 2, to many different pictures of the Oaxacan Spiny-Tailed and they are very similar and in some cases a perfect match.
Can anyone here help me identify the kinds of Iguanas I have? In all my looking, people have said that the "Ornate Club Tail Iguana" could be a number of kinds actually ranging from Black Iguana, a kind of uromastix, Cape Spiny Tail, Etc.
A little about my two. One of them (female) is a complete spaz and won't let me hold her. She is extremely quick. The male is very friendly and he lets me hold him for about 5 minutes before he wants to explore the house. They both love to jump and flip upside down so that they can walk on the ceiling of their habitat. To eat, they have the options of crickets, diced greens, and feeder fish. Feeder fish was not my choice, the wife wanted to see if they could eat them and from what I've read, it is ok. By the looks of it, they only eat crickets right now. I am going to try fruits here shortly. Any recommendations?
I don't know how old they are. PetCo had them for well over a month. They are roughly 8-10 inches including tail. From What I have read, these are a smaller Iguana and max out at 18-24 inches-ish. I can't get the exact measurement of them because they are really really really quick and I don't want to risk them escaping because my house is large.
I have attached photos of them. Their habitat is a work in progress as I don't know what exactly they want since I am not 100% sure what they are.
Some websites I have used are here:
http://tesa.proboards.com/thread/712/ornate-club-tail-iguana
http://iguanafoundation.org/information-by-species/oaxaca-spiny-tailed-iguana/
http://eol.org/pages/289273/overview
I grew up with all sorts of different kinds of reptiles (beardeds, basilisks, various geckos, etc.) until I left for the military. Now that I have the time to get back into caring for reptiles again, I thought I'd go for it.
I don't have an exotic pet store where I am so I opted to go to PetCo rather than looking for an online site that would work for me (I'd rather see what I am buying).
I purchased 2 (male and female) "Ornate Club Tail Iguana"s which I knew ahead of time were mislabeled. I have done hours of looking and it looks like they are "Ctenosaura Oaxacana" A.K.A. Oaxacan Spiny-Tailed Iguana. This species of Iguana is "Critically Endangered" which would make sense why PetCo mislabeled them. They are Endangered because of pet poaching and I am sure PetCo would not want to be known for supporting that. I have compared my 2, to many different pictures of the Oaxacan Spiny-Tailed and they are very similar and in some cases a perfect match.
Can anyone here help me identify the kinds of Iguanas I have? In all my looking, people have said that the "Ornate Club Tail Iguana" could be a number of kinds actually ranging from Black Iguana, a kind of uromastix, Cape Spiny Tail, Etc.
A little about my two. One of them (female) is a complete spaz and won't let me hold her. She is extremely quick. The male is very friendly and he lets me hold him for about 5 minutes before he wants to explore the house. They both love to jump and flip upside down so that they can walk on the ceiling of their habitat. To eat, they have the options of crickets, diced greens, and feeder fish. Feeder fish was not my choice, the wife wanted to see if they could eat them and from what I've read, it is ok. By the looks of it, they only eat crickets right now. I am going to try fruits here shortly. Any recommendations?
I don't know how old they are. PetCo had them for well over a month. They are roughly 8-10 inches including tail. From What I have read, these are a smaller Iguana and max out at 18-24 inches-ish. I can't get the exact measurement of them because they are really really really quick and I don't want to risk them escaping because my house is large.
I have attached photos of them. Their habitat is a work in progress as I don't know what exactly they want since I am not 100% sure what they are.
Some websites I have used are here:
http://tesa.proboards.com/thread/712/ornate-club-tail-iguana
http://iguanafoundation.org/information-by-species/oaxaca-spiny-tailed-iguana/
http://eol.org/pages/289273/overview
