I just bought a young Iguana and I'm wondering if I'm going Pet crazy.I now have seven tanks in my house. 2 with fish and 1 tank for the following: 1 Savannah Monitor,1 Veiled Chameleon(Screened tank), 1 Ball Python, 1 Goliath Tarantula, 1 White Knee Tarantula and now 1 Iguana. I also have a dog and a cat.
Actually It's going to be 2 Iguanas because I felt sorry for him being all alone after being in the pet store tank with with about six others.
I went back to the pet store(It's a "Mom and Pop" and I'm friends with "pop") I told him that the Iguana I bought is "Spastic". It was running back and forth really fast smacking into the glass each time. So he tells me to pick out another. We find one that seemed to be calm. So I tell him that I would like to wait untill monday to bring the other one back so the one will have a little company while getting used to it's new surroundings. This was Saturday.
So right now I have 2 young Iguanas in their tank and they huddle up together like it's for dear life! And now I don't have the heart to seperate them. So Tomorrow, I'll be back up at the pet store to pay for the second Iguana.
I forget what he called them but their suppose to be some kind of Blue Iguana.(It's more like an Aqua)

I'm Starting to feel like I'm running a zoo! I'm just glad Iguanas are not meat eaters!

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Git'er Done!

A blue iguana? A lot of hatchlings will have blue hues in them and as they grow they lose the majority of that.

The one thing you will need to keep in mind before you decide to keep the other one is that iguanas are not social animals with each other and the chances of you having to seperate them when they get older is pretty high. In the wild you will see them sleeping piled on top of each other, but that has nothing to do with being social,, There is safety in numbers.. In enclosures you will definately have some dominance issues, it does not matter whether they are male of females or male and female. So I guess the one thing you have to ask yourself is,,, do I have room for two HUGE enclosures that they will require when they get older,,, if so then hey,, go for it! I think you will be very happy with the iguana,, they are really magnificant creatures and they all have their own individual personalities.
However,, I am a little partial, lol, I have 10 in at the moment,, they are my favorite reptile ever

You are starting to feel like you are running a zoo??LOL, YOU ARE! I joke that I am going to start charging admission to come in to my house
Oh heres another one,,,, you know you have a zoo when you look around and notice that ALL YOUR stuff is now in storage and there are cages everywhere, you wont njotice it right off the bat,, you notice it when you go to get your grandmas china in the china cabinet and then realize the china cabinet is now in storage and in its place is some huge enclosure that holds some reptile that would just as soon rip your head off than deal with you,, lol Godd luck with everything!

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

I know that they will eventually need to be seperated. But right now as babies they seem to be happier. It's when they become sexually mature that they don't need to be together.

Now I've heard of blue iguanas but, they're not a true blue. They just have bluish highlights. I believe there is one called a Cayman Blue Iguana that are endangered. And there are other variations.
When I go to the pet shop, I'll ask again and let you know. They're not blue now(They're dark green) But he did have a larger one a few months back that was definetly Bluish. It was beautiful! Someone else bought it before I could! It was about 18 inches and was amazing!

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Git'er Done!

The "blue" iguana designation is a marketing scheme that Flukers came up with due to the presence of blue coloration in babies from certain locals. They are still just regular old green iguanas and will lose what little blue they have.

Not true. They don't need to be together and frequently, as they grow, one will begin to exert dominance over the other and can keep it from basking or feeding. Even the presence of the dominant one can cause stress which will lead to illness.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I got a herd in a while back,, there were eight very young iguanas, pretty much hatchlings.... They had been kept together since they hatched. Within 3 months they ALL had to be seperated into their own enclosures as I had severe dominance issues with them, 4 of them have already found fabulous homes, I still have the other 4. They were seperated well before I could tell wether they were male or female. Here is the kicker, the one thta was a huge problem and seperated the earliest turned out to be a very dominant female. Most people tell me females are not that way,, However they have obviously never lived with my resident witches(to put it politely) lol.

Now when the little one (not so little anymore) comes out for free roam time, she tries to attack some of my full grown very large males through their enclosures,, agressive, yes she is,,, very smart?? I would have to go with no, lol. She definately thinks she is tough.

Moral to my little story,, after many years of iguana rescue I ahve NEVER been able to keep any of them in the same enclosure for more than a couple months and only the hatchlings.

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

Hello,

I too don't believe what he sold were "true" blue iguanas, but the gimmick name that is out there.

As far as separation is concerned, it will likely be sooner than later that they will need separating. I personally would bring one back. There is no saying you have females or males, and if the later, there will be issues as time progresses.

Iguanas in the wild are not highly social animals. Males are very territorial and will stake claim to what they believe to be their "space". If you have 2 males, that will be an issue before they are sexually mature.

You also need to take into consideration socializing the iguanas. That is a long and tedious process. The more igs you have, the more difficult and time consuming it will be.

Then there is housing. As your iguanas mature and grow, they will need new residences that are large and space taking from your personal living space.

Basically, you will be saving yourself both time, money, and frustration by keeping the one. It will also allow you more time to dedicate to that one.

While it may seem that the iguana was lonely, that isn't the case. In fact, the only reason it even clusters with other iguanas in its enclosure is because there is strength in numbers. The odds of being eaten by a predator are lowered when he needs to pick from 2,3,etc.

The iguana wasn't lonely. His reaction was that of stress. A few days would have helped calm him down.

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Well, there's a new twist to my story. I had the two at my house over the weekend. I initially was going to take Nicoles advice and take one back.
To back up for a moment, I rejected the best looking one at the store because his nose was bruised. Looking at it from the profile, it's head was longer and wider and it's flap was much larger. It had more of those spikes on the back of the neck and were longer than what the other ones had. It had the same body length as the rest so I'm thinking this has got to be a male. I rejected it because I was afraid he might have some facial deformities because of the bruising.
So anyway, yesterday I take out the iguana that I'm going to take back and take it to the pet store. I start looking at the one I rejected. So I'm thinking it's not so bad, He's just has a little bruise. So I tell them that I'll get him instead and I'll be right back and return the other one I have at my house.
I get home and realize that I left the lid on the Iguana tank slightly open and the other one got out. It only took a moment to spot. I try to slowly reach down and grab it, but he runs.
To make a long story short, I broke it's tail off.
This is the first time that I have experienced,"If You break it, You buy it" with an animal! LOL
So now I have 2.
The one with the broke tail is in rehab at the pet store till tomorrow.

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Git'er Done!

OMG! Its a tail massacre now, lol. I just had tail incidents myself. So are you keeping them both or just the one with the broken tail?

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

Both I believe. Sorry to hear that OG. Hope they both get better.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Sorry, I should have been more empathetic to your situation Og, You are lucky though,, as babies it is real easy for them to heal. Things will be ok Just keep it dry and clean when you get it back.


I did love your statement "you break it, you buy it" that made me giggle

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead