Reptile care >> Lizards >> Iguanas as Pets

Keeping Iguanas as Pets

© 2019, Brandon Cornett | All rights reserved

The idea of keeping iguanas as pets has spawned a lot of discussion and debate over the years. In this article, I'm not going to explain why you should or shouldn't keep an iguana as a pet. That's your decision to make. Instead, I'll focus on the challenges these lizards can present, when kept in captivity. Then you can decide if you're up for the challenge and responsibility of keeping iguanas as pets.

Note: In this article, we will limit our discussion to the green iguana, which is the species most common in the pet trade.

Iguanas as Pets - 5 Things You Need to Know

Thinking about keeping iguanas as pets in your home? If so, you need to carefully consider the following points:

Iguanas are Big Lizards

A full-grown, healthy iguana can reach six feet in length -- or more. Sure, those baby iguanas at the pet store or reptile show are cute. But they won't stay that small for long. The lizard that sits in one hand today will need to be cradled in both arms a few years from now. This leads us to the next consideration, which has to do with housing.

They Need Large Cages

To meet its housing requirements, you'll have to give your full-grown iguana a cage that's at least twice the length of the animals. And it needs to be tall, as well. Most breeders recommend that the cage for an adult specimen be at least six feet tall. So you're looking at an enclosure that could be 6' x 10' in size, at the very least. That's a huge cage, and it's going to require a dedicated space in your home or apartment. Do you have that kind of space? If not, keeping iguanas as pets is probably not for you.

Iguana in Cage

They Need Special Lighting

If you don't provide the right kind of lighting for your green iguana, it will suffer and eventually die. That's the simple truth of the matter. Every year, thousands of iguanas die in captivity due to a lack of UV exposure. These are tropical lizards that, in the wild, spend much of their time basking in the sun. Like many lizards, green iguanas have a fairly high requirement for UVB light. When keeping them as pets, you need to take this into account. They need daily exposure to this kind of lighting, in order to properly absorb nutrients and vitamins from their food.

Obviously, natural sunlight is the best option. But it's not always practical to put your pet iguana outside during the day -- especially if you live in a colder climate. When they are kept indoors, iguanas will require daily exposure to a full-spectrum light source (one that gives off plenty of UVB rays). I've written an entire article on this subject, and you can read it here. But that article just scratches the surface. If you want to keep an iguana as a pet, you need to do a lot of research into their lighting requirements.

Iguanas Need a Varied Diet

Green IguanaThink you can feed your pet iguana lettuce every day? Think again. It's true that iguanas are herbivores, or plant eaters. But in the wild, they eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and other plant matter. You will need to duplicate this in captivity, as much as possible.

You must also feed your green iguana daily. You cannot feed them once a week, as you would a snake. They should be fed every day. This means you'll be rinsing and chopping a variety of fruits, vegetables and greens each and every day -- for ten years or more.

Here's the bottom line on maintenance. You will need to incorporate your pet lizard into your daily routine. If that appeals to you, then having iguanas as pets might be right up to your alley, But if you cringe at the idea of all that maintenance (and we haven't even discussed cage maintenance), then you might want to find an easier reptile to keep.

Other Lizards are Easier to Keep as Pets

If you just want to keep a lizard as a pet (and not necessarily an iguana), then you might want to consider a different species. There are several interesting lizards that are easier to care for than the green iguana. They also require daily feeding and special lighting, but their housing requirements are much easier.

For example, you could easily house a full-grown bearded dragon in a 55- to 75-gallon glass terrarium. This kind of habitat wouldn't take up much space at all. Compare that to the closet-sized cage you need for an adult iguana, and you can see my point.

Conclusion - Iguanas as Pets

As I stated earlier, this article is not meant to persuade you one way or the other. I just want you understand what all is involved with keeping iguana as pet, so you can make a well-informed decision. So, where to next? I recommend that you spend some more time reading care sheets for the green iguana (this article is clearly not a care sheet). Once you understand what it takes to keep these lizards as pets, you'll have an easier time making the decision.