Interesting Facts About Pet Iguanas

1) Iguanas are herbivores. Unlike other lizards and reptiles, Iguanas do not benefit from eating animal products because their digestive systems are not designed to break down and use such complex matter. All the unabsorbed protein will end up being stored as uric acid which can be very harmful to your pet. When uric acid builds up it can lead to gout which is dangerous. When your iguana’s kidney is exposed to animal protein it has to work very hard to try and get rid of it and this can cause serious kidney problems, which will ultimately shorten your pet’s life. So make sure that your pet is fed a strict vegetarian diet with no animal protein.

2) Iguanas are not as stupid as people may assume. They can be trained to do various things including toilet training, tricks, and finding their way home. This proves that these creatures are in fact smart and should not be judged so quickly. Taming should start when the iguana is at a young age because if left until later, the iguana will be more aggressive and restless in response to your training.

3) If you take care of your iguana properly it should reach 6 feet in length. This means that you need to either use a very large habitat from the beginning or you must prepare a new one for when it reaches maturity. If you cannot provide a large area from the start then this is fine, as long as you are planning ahead for the future.

4) Iguanas are arboreal – This means that in the wild, iguanas enjoy spending most of their time high up on tree tops. So, if you own an iguana make sure that you can mimic the height of the trees in the wild for your pet’s living area. You would require climbing materials for your pet as opposed to real trees. Shelves and artificial branches can work just fine.

5) Iguanas need sunlight – There are no good substitutes for direct sunlight when it comes to your iguana. Your pet requires UVA and UVB light rays in order to assist them to absorb certain nutrients like vitamin D3 which in turn will be used to process calcium in the bloodstream. Therefore don’t rely on artificial lighting for this purpose as they will not produce the much needed rays and this will affect your pet’s health.