Desert Iguana Care info needed

[repti-mon]

Hi can anyone tell me some basic care needs of the desert iguana?
Viv size? UV requirements? Supplements? etc etc some pictures would be nice

Cheers

[Catherine896]

I used to have one. He was kept in a 3x18x18 viv, a 4ft would be better as an adult though. Basking temp of around 120f + as they like it very hot.
I had a 10.0 UV.
Sand substrate, rocks and wood to climb over.
They really only eat greens etc so can be fed in a bowl or you can leave some around the viv on the rocks.

[repti-mon]

are they quite active?

[Catherine896]

Umm, they dont jump or anything really. The climb over everything in the viv and dig a bit too.

[Johelian]

Mine are quite active until it hits about 4pm when they all bed down for the night. After that you cant wake them for love nor money Great little guys, not especially good for handling though as they are so small and speedy.

[repti-mon]

thanks for the help

[Cyberlizard]

The other thing to remember is very low (practically no) humidity. I would like Johelian's input on how she offers them moisture, but they hail from very arid areas. In a way they are almost an iguanid counterpart to Uromastyx (albeit a more streamlined shape!).

[athy59]

I have a desert iguana.
He is in a 4ft by 15x18 viv. Heating is 120, 2 uvb lights. they like to have high uvb. 12 is great.
i have sand and some eco earth in his viv so he can dig and bury himself.
Make a cool end for him/her, i have put a wooden log tunnel in at the cool end and he goes into there when he wants to cool down.
They dont drink much water as , stated they are from very hot climates, what i do, on his 2nd feed of veggies/salads is to spray some very fine water over it. with the heat of the viv, (i do this twice a week.) it dont take long to dry out.
Mine starts to go to bed around about 3-ish to 4ish, but last few days cos weather got warmer, he been staying out more.I also put some rocks in , as they do need to keep claws down.
They extremly fast movers, so the best time to pick them up, is when they are sleeping, if they do wake up, put a finger over the top of their head. They do have a 3rd eye and covering this makes them sleepy. Mine loves this and does the dead iguana act. this gives me an oppotunity to check him over. At night he as a hide with heat mat on at nights.
All iguanas same as with any animal, behave differently. Mine loves to climb., so also made him a platform out of bamboo branches out of my garden and also have plastic plants for him to climb all over.

[Johelian]

Hiya,
As stated, these very rarely come across any bodies of water where they originate - the closest they get to water is damp soil underground between the roots of bushes. All moisture is obtained from the diet; I tend to put their greens in wet after washing them so that there are a few drops of moisture on them. The same goes for my chuckwallas.

I have left a water-dish in the coolest part of the enclosure before, but it was never used and the risk of raising the humidity this way is quite high, so I wouldnt advise using a water bowl.

Originally Posted by Cyberlizard

The other thing to remember is very low (practically no) humidity. I would like Johelian's input on how she offers them moisture, but they hail from very arid areas. In a way they are almost an iguanid counterpart to Uromastyx (albeit a more streamlined shape!).