lol..thank you so much!! You have no idea how much this is helping me.
Chpsta- Getting my own iguana would not be a bad idea. Perhaps my first rescue might be a good idea. If nothing else I can give him/her a nice home, even if I'm never successful in getting him/her to appreciate human company. Definately something I'll think about. As for the plexiglass: I think I'll keep the glass and just cover it with something. Perhapes paint that can later be removed. Or perhapes a picture divider in between 2 pieces of glass with a forest picture. I need it to be plexiglass because I want to have sliding doors in between the cages. This would be so that I could open up the enclosures to make them bigger if there were no iguanas in the ajoining one.
Question: would this be bad for their physical/mental health/temperment? Going from an extra large to cage to one that is a bit smaller? If two enclosures are joined it would make it 30ft x 15ft vs one that would be 15ft x 15ft.
If it wouldn't be good for them then I can definately just keep the doors locked and only use them when I need to go through to another enclosure. There will be other doors that will lead into all the enclosures (2 doors per enclosure) and one would be through another enclosure and one would be from the outside. But I figured that if I see an iguana with something serously wrong, it would just be easier to be able to go straight through.In essance, an emergancy door.

Moshpitrockchick:
Thank you for all the advice and direct answers to my questions. I was really curious about the breeding habits of iguanas. And it's interesting that it's not at a specific time of year. I always assumed that it would be, but hey, now I know.
Questions: How would you know that a female is getting ready to lay eggs? How long before she does should you start with the calcium? I understand what eggbinding is, but how would you prevent it or deal with it if it does happen? When should the laying box be provided and how big would it need to be? What would need to be in it (substrate?) and how deep?
One more. At what age do iguanas reach sexual maturity and what should I look for to indicate this?

Thank you all SOOO much for all this information. What could take me years to discover on my own I'm learning in days with you guys. I know I have a long road ahead of me. I know it's going to be tough. But rescuing is the most rewarding thing in the world and I'm gonna do my absolute best to do whatever I can for those neglected animals.
Thank you
Denikka

To answer the question sent my way.....

I keep my male in the other room because he would just sit there and bob at the girls all day long so its to keep the stress off of him. He is pretty subdued for a male (he is aprrox. 14 yrs old) but I dont want him to suffer undue breeding stress, and besides, he fits better in the living room...lol...

Good luck!

__________________
Warmest Regards from Lyn

You are intending on rescuing iguanas correct? The reason I ask is that you are also inquiring about breeding and it seems to be a bad idea to rescue so many unwanted, neglected animals and then add to the problem by hatching more.

I am not trying to discourage you from so noble a task but I feel that you are defeating the purpose if you breed more. This is my opinion only and you may take it or leave it as you see fit. No offense is intended.

__________________
~Chris

It is better I think to reach for the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them, at least he who reaches will get a good view, a good stretch and perhaps even a low hanging apple for the effort.
-R.A. Salvatore

Spindlehead
oh no...lol...I absolutely do NOT intend on breeding. My questions are purely from a *what if* stand point. What if I happen to get in a pregnant female. What if someone gives me 2 iguanas and one's male, one's female, in the same enclosure. What if on the less than .1% chance one of my iguanas escapes and gets into the enclosure with one of the opposite sex. I'd rather be fully prepared in EVERYTHING-feeding, general care, housing, what to look for with illnesses, and what to look for in rutting/breeding/and egglaying. Just to be on the safe side.
For a long while I wanted to breed rats as a hobby. To sell to other people. Now I realize that it would hurt the rats to do so. There are too many unwanteds already. I won't let my line die, but I'll only be breeding enough to ensure their survival. For me only. I feel the same way about lizards and snakes. Especially iguanas. I went through a rescue site yesterday (just the lizard section) and out of about 300 or so different lizards and snakes, I would easily say that about 65%-70% of them were igaunas. I WILL NOT be producing more little ones. If it comes down to egg laying, I believe I will destroy the eggs. If anyone can give me a good reason not to, I'd like to hear it. But not only would I not be worsening the problem in the species, I'd also not be defeating myself and the rescue as we would easily be overrun. I greatly appreciate your concern though, it's completely understandable. Absolutely no offence taken.

Lyn
Thank you for answering my question. I was curious about that.

There's nothing wrong with being prepared, good for you! I should have guessed that was the motivation for your questions. I will admit I was a little concerned that you were going to take in rescues and breed them to sell the offspring. It's just my untrusting nature I guess and not a reflection on you.

I hope that this works out for you, it is quite the undertaking but if you are educated on the subject and financially prepared to give your rescues the care they may require I say go for it.

__________________
~Chris

It is better I think to reach for the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them, at least he who reaches will get a good view, a good stretch and perhaps even a low hanging apple for the effort.
-R.A. Salvatore

Thank you for the support.
Does anyone know anything about transporting iguanas?? Does it stress them out?? How can I do it safely and how big would the enclosure have to be?

This is more of a whimsical idea...and it just randomly popped into my head. But I was thinking..if I can make a trip around Canada, and perhaps to a few places in the USA..then I could service a lot more animals. I could customize a large trailer to hold tanks and have air conditioning and heating and whatnot and I could drop off the animals to people I had screened, and pick up others along the way. Just an idea I'm playing around with. The animals at home definately wouldn't be left alone (although I have taken precautions if they NEED to be for even a little while) but I have a support team who would be working with me, so one (probably 2) of us could go on the trip and whatnot. I think it's a good idea. If anyone has any experiance with transporting reptiles especially, please, let me know.
All the animals needs would still be met, including humidity, it would just be done on the move. I'm thinking only once a year. Anyways give me any input you can think of, this part is definately not thought through and I just want to know if it's possible and would be ok for the animals health.
Thank you
Denikka

For transporting animals a smaller shipping type container would be better. This lessens the potential for them to slide around banging around inside it during the move. Your idea of a mobile pick up service is not without merit but is not going to be practical. The people who decide to give up their animals do so sporadically and generally are not going to wait to meet a pickup schedule. Also moving the animals back and forth across the borders of different countries is going to entail a huge amount of red tape and bureaucratic paperwork, particularly since many times animals being given up are not in the best of health. And some species may be illegal even to bring across the borders.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I hadn't thought of that. Like I said, it was purely a whimsical idea that just randomly popped into my head. I had planned on welding/otherwise securing the eclosures to shelves that would also be secured to the walls. I didn't mean that I would have people calling me to pick up their animals, but was thinking more of an agreement with SPCA services to pick up reptiles/rodents that they aren't really equipped to deal with.
The only reason I thought of going through the states is because I live in BC which is right next to Alberta (duh..lol) and Alberta doesn't allow rats across its borders.
Perhaps sticking to just BC would be a better idea because, like you said, the idea does have its merits. That way there are no border crossing and such. I suppose it will be a wait and see thing.
Thank you for pointing out the flaws. If anyone can find any others (with the revised idea) I'd be glad to hear of them.
Thank you
Denikka