When people ponder about a cage for an Iguana , unique questions come to mind. More often than not, one of these questions is: Where do I keep it? People then try to find out the elements of an iguana cage. If you are looking to find the best iguana enclosure for your pet, here’s a guide for you:
1) Size – The number one thing you want to know about is how big the iguana cage has to be. A number of people have the misconception that the cage will regulate the size of the iguana. This is far from true. An iguana under ideal circumstances will grow as much as 6 feet long. The iguana’s care and well being are very important to a long and healthy life . This means that you will need to have a big iguana cage in order to accommodate your pet. In fact, some people supply a whole room instead of an iguana cage for their pets!
Of course, if you are not yet ready to supply this space for your iguana, you could decide to postpone until your iguana grows to its full size. But nevertheless, the iguana cage that you supply should be large enough to contain the activities of your iguana. It shouldn’t cramp the animal in any way. If you want to wait until your iguana has grown to full size, you should at the very least prepare and make plans for the time when you are going to need a more suitable iguana cage.
2) Temperature – an iguana is cold blooded. This means that they need to regulate their body temperatures by making use of the habitat. What are the implications of this? This means that you need to supply different temperatures in the cage for iguana .
All of this is so that the iguana can move from different spots to properly regulate its body temperature. You should also try to include a source of heat without the need for light which will be used during the night time.
3) Humidity – iguanas require high levels of humidity to live successfully. They are quite simply dehydrated because of the fact that iguanas are usually not really inclined to drink a good deal. This is because the native habitats of iguanas have high humidity and this keeps them from really being dehydrated. Dehydration can lead to kidney failure. This means that not having sufficient humidity can shorten the life of your iguana.
An additional reason to keep your iguana cage humid is the reality that humidity helps loosen skin. This means that an iguana will have an easier time shedding skin if it is kept in a humid environment. If you want to keep your iguana well balanced, you should provide an iguana cage that has a humidity of 65 to 75 percent of the air.
4) Lighting – iguanas need a source of UVA and UVB light. Of course, the best source that you can make use of is the sun. This does not mean that you should position your iguana cage in a sunlit area. The glass or plastic of iguana cages filter out the UV light much needed by iguanas for production of vitamin D3. This vitamin helps in calcium consumption.
This means that you need to let your iguana bask in direct sunlight as much as possible. This helps in developing strong bones and preventing Metabolic Bone disease which is a very common cause of death among iguanas in captivity.
Other than the sun, your should also include an simulated source of UVA and UVB light. This is in order to make up for days when the sunlight is not enough for your iguana.