Owning a green iguana as a pet can b great fun and a very interesting adventure. The green iguana is a very intriguing, interesting, beautiful reptile that makes a great pet. But owning a green iguana is going to require some specialized knowledge and it has special needs and can grow to be quite large.
In order to own one of these wonderful reptiles you do need to know how to house it, what climate it will need, what are the correct foods for the green iguana (a lot of people get this very wrong). You will need to know about what disease it may get, the temperament of the lizard, the young green iguana can be feisty and a bit aggressive
You will need to consider and find a vet that has a good knowledge about reptiles. This is important you do not want to wait until your pet lizard is in dire need or very ill to start looking for one.
There are some very interesting facts about the green iguana you may like to know. For instants, Green iguanas have three eyelids, they have a upper eyelid, a lower eyelid, and a third transparent eyelid that closes from the bottom up and aids in in keeping its eyes lubricated. When owning a green iguana'as a pet you find that the tail is another interesting part of its body. Its tail is quite long, usually about three times the length of the body and helps to provide balance when walking along branches in the forest and additional power when an iguana is swimming, and can be used as a a defensive weapon when it feels threatened by whipping and slashing its tail st the the would predator. And if the tail gets caught or the is grabbed it can release or drop the end of its tail in order to escape.
The mouth of the iguana is fairly large and contains dozens of tiny, shaped teeth. Each tooth is serrated and extremely sharp. A bite from a green iguana can easily cut deep into your skin so beware.
Pet Iguanas need love, just like a dog or a cat would. They are not creatures happy to be stuck in a cage, fed, cleaned and ignored. They need contact, interaction, the more you interact and show your lizard some love the better you and your pet lizard will bond.
There are cost when owning an iguana as a pet, the housing enclosure alone can be very costly. You will have vet costs, feeding cost, you need to purchase gauges for the enclosure to maintain the correct temperatures in its housing and there a host of other costs when owning a iguana.
Learning the correct things to feed a iguana is important and you must research anything you plan on feeding your lizard before you feed that food to it. I have herd of people feeding their pet green iguanas cat food and this is very wrong! Green iguanas are strict herbivores, they only eat plants and do not require animal proteins in their diets.
There are many other things you need to know before owning a green iguana as a pet, but if you do decide to get one, and you educate yourself and are willing to put in the time and effort they make unique, interesting and fun pets!
When my little daughter first wanted a green iguana as a pet I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but after doing major research I decided to dive and find there is so much to learn about the green iguana as a pet. http://www.squidoo.com/pet_green_iguanas
