Iguana Care

I recently took in a young adult iguana and have no idea how to care for him/her. I have a 20 gallon long with branches but i know its not big enough i will fix that today. I can handle the food and humidity and temps, I guess the big question is, how do I tame this little bugger. Everytime I open it up hes out running around the house at full speed running head first into walls. He won't even let me touch him with out freaking out? HELP

Heh. Good luck. The two that I provided temporary homes for never approached "tame" and the bigger one I had to handle with teflon gloves after I learned he had no problem slicing me open with that tail of his.

yeah i heard their tails can get pretty viscous.

A ticked off adult male iguana iguana is not something I care to tangle with. :)

Rusty may have some good advice for you when she sees this. I don't know for sure, but I imagine she's taken in a few wild iquanas.

We had an iguana for a little while, and I've known people who kept them for quite a while, and from my experience, I don't know that they ever enjoy being handled or petted, but like Judy said, Rusty would know far better than us.

One thing I do know is that they must have UVB lighting, which an ordinary basking bulb doesn't provide. Without UVB lighting, they will develop metabolic bone disease which will kill them if not treated promptly.

Here's a webpage I found that seems to have a good deal of information about iguana care: http://www.iguanaanswers.co.uk/

I've heard of iguanas that are very gentle and social and seem to greatly enjoy human interaction....but those are only ones that have been hand-raised in the same loving home from little babies. I've never heard of a large juvie or adult that was made tame. Of course, I haven't exactly heard every story out there! LOL

i used to have a green iguana. he was very friendly. he never once showed any signs of aggression. he was about 4 feet. and he was a male. i had to sell him though because we built his cage into our wall, and then we moved and we had no more room. it was very sad but i was only about 5 when this happend so i dont remember too much