My parents have decided to let me have a lizard at last. However, I would really like a green iguana but Mum thinks I would be better off starting with a Leopard Gecko. What do you experienced people think? Any comments/advise would be welcome. Switching off for now as we have a thunderstorm on it's way! Thanks, Darra.

Well Darra, I think your parents are right. Iguanas are very difficult and expensive to care for and they get quite large and sometimes very hard to handle. I have 5 iguanas, both male and female and they all have their "bad" days. I have never been bitten luckily, but I know from pictures that they can cause some real damage sometimes requireing plastic surgery.

I also own leopard geckos, which are very easy to care for and are quite handleable. Of course you have to watch for their tails so they dont drop them but it takes a lot to have them drop a tail and they grow back in a few months.

Another idea of course is a bearded dragon...another great "pet" lizard...

I would check out the care sheets for each of these lizards and then make your decision.

A leopard gecko is by far the cheapest to keep. Bearded Dragons and Iguanas need specific lighting and foods etc making them difficult and kinda pricey. Good luck with your decision and I hope I gave you a little help. Lyn

__________________
Warmest Regards from Lyn

I think everyones going to agree that an iguana is not a beginers lizard.
I have both a Iguana and a leopard gecko

The Leo is definatly easier to handle,I can just reach in an pick him up he doesnt try to get away. He lays in my hand and sometimes crawls up my arm, his little claws dont scratch. i think he bit me once when I was feeding him but it was only becuase he jumped at teh cricket I was holding for him and he missed it and got me.

Handling my Iguana is work, first I have to catch him and he doesnt like geting caught, he's getting better but its still not easy. alot of teh time he runs cirles around the top shelves of his cage and I have to be careful that he doesnt run onto me and the other half of the time when he's calm about it he still walks away from me when I get my hand under him he just steps off and when I dont keep his nails trimmed even just walking over my hand leaves small nicks and scratches on my hand.
when I do get him out I keep him on a hip leash incase he decides to jump off and everywher I walk he's always reaching out towards chairs,doors,banisters, testing everything to see if he can reach or climb it. He also enjoys sitting on my head which im trying to teach him not to do becuase while its fine now I dont want him trying to sit up there when he's full grown and might be 6ft long and heavy.
he's bitten me once from me not paying attention while feeding him and him not knowing that my finger wasnt part of the food I was handing to him and another time he tryed to bite me for apparently no reason when he was starting his first breeding season.

For food the Leo is simple I give him as many crickets as he'll eat and remove the ones he didnt eat, I leave he dish of calcium for him to use, he has a water dish and I mist the tank at night.

The Iguanas food isnt to bad I already buy what he needs for the other lizards I just had to start getting more of it when I adopted him. some of the things I feed him are collard greens,turnip greens,dandelion green, mustard greens, butternut squash,spaggetti squash,acorn squash, red or orange bell peppers for color, strawberrys, melon, apple, grapes, ect not all at ocne but I try to get about three good foods in when I pre-make the food everyweek I printed out a list of good everyday food for him and have it hung up in the lizard room so I know what I can get him when I go out.

cageing, The leopard geckos home is a ten gallon long tank,non adhesive shelf liner for the floor,two hides made from tile and a moist hide made from a plastic container witha hole cut into it, he has a plastic water dish and a small jar cap for his calcium and he has a 75 watt basking light for heat I had most of these things already when I got him but im thinking the tank would have cost around $20 the lamp and bulb would have been $20-30, the shelf liner is $5 and I had the tiles and other things around the house already , i dont know how much this stuff is in hte UK though

The iguana lives in a 6x4x4 cage for now, building it cost me just under $300
He's only 3ft long and if he doesnt calm down enough to free roam a room in the house when he's bigger then im going to end up spending about another $300 to make the cage twice as large for him. building the cage was a pain to but I like it alot now that its done. im useing 2 150watt lights to heat the cage (aswell as a space heat set on 65-70 that keeps the room warm for all the cages) and a uvb light that needs to be changed about twice a year, i think they cost about $20-30 in the petstore but I get mine online for about $14. the basking lights are outdoor halogens that I get for about $5 at the dollar store there $10 most stores

cant think of anything thing else to compare them with right now
I love them both but a leopard gecko is definatly better for a beginner
bearded dragons and blue-tounge skinks are other options for a beginner though i've never had a blue-tounge skink, i have 4 bearded dragons and their great

__________________
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.3.0 Nigerian Uromastyx
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.0.0 Green Iguana
1.0.1 American Toads
2.0.1 African Clawed frog
0.1.0 Dune Gecko Steno Petrii
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.1.1 Red Spotted Newts
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider
0.1.0 Box Turtle

I would agree, a leo or Bearded Dragon would be your best first time lizard, I have been keeping Bearded Dragons Leopard Geckos, I have a cham and a collared lizard, for a while now, and snakes too.

This week I am getting an iguana, I am quite worried about his arrival even though im quite experienced with reptiles, but the current owners are not caring for him properly and asked if I would take him, after much persuasion I agreed.

I have three igs and two Leopard Geckos, I've been keeping Leopard Geckos much longer than the igs, they are much easier to care for as well. My igs are all male (one is 14 inces one is 26 inches and the third one is 48 inches) they are a real handful. They are very picky eaters, they need a ton of room (they all have their own cage that is 8ft long, 5 tall and 4 deep) Just last week I spent $150 on special UV lighting! They eat like pigs! I love them to death, but the leo is a much better choce for a beginner. I'd actually recommend a Bearded Dragon as a first pet, Leopard Geckos are very tame and nice, but they can get boring. I don't know, its up to you, and I wish you luck, but I hope you don't choose the ig, i've seen so many sick ones, just because people didnt know better. :-( good luck

As you can tell the overwhelming response is to not get the iguana! contrary to what some may tell you an iguana is NOT a beginner's lizard. Keep in mind that the little green cutie has the capacity to be 4 ft long in the first year! Can eventually get 6-7 ft long and weigh 15-20 lbs. You will need an enclosure the size of a small room with expensive lighting and heating devices. People that keep Iguanas are a unique (insane?) breed. You have to be to keep something that takes over a good chunk of your living quarters and can easily put you in the hospital if it wakes up grumpy that day! And please don't make the mistake of thinking that you can keep it till it starts to get big and then get rid of it. There is way too much of that problem already!
Stick to some of the easier lizards like the gecko or bearded dragon until you have a bit more experience.
When you do and then decide to go for it, there will still be an iguana waiting for you.

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

I agree with the others here. My Ig is 5 feet long and 18 pounds right now and still growing! It costs a lot to keep up with just the lights for him (they need to be replaced every 6 months) and heating the enclosure and keeping up the humidity is always a challenge in the winter for me.
Start out with a elo and work your way up the lizard scale from there. There will always be an Ig to rescue when you're ready for one.

__________________
Some think they can. Some wish they could. Some do.

Isn't that the truth.. winters are tough.

this is the way I think of it, when I got my iguana Louie I basically adopted a human child! I work around his schedule! Its like I dont even have a life lol when people are talking about what they did last weekend I am like this is what Louie did!

Leopard geckos are much more of a pet where as Iguanas are a child!

__________________
Love Always,
Audrey

Owned By,

1.0.0 Iguana Iguana -Louie
0.0.1 Avicularia avicularia (pink toe Trantula)-Muffy
0.1.0 Ceratophrys ornata (Pac Man Frog)-Sparticus
1.0.0 Albino Rat -conspericy
0.1.0 Betta-Alphie
0.0.1 Apple snail- Mr. Bubbles
1.1.0 Mutt puppy's- Socks & Meeko
1.0.0 fieance-Brett

I would have to agree with everyone as well .

My Iggie, takes as much devotion, actually its probably more than my 16yr. old daughter.
My bedroom, is actually now Iggie's room, She shares it with me!

Yes they are totally worth it; however, it is not an easy pet to start with.
Merlin said it in a nut shell, "People that keep Iguanas are a unique (insane?) breed. "

__________________
Natalie & Iggie LaLa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0.1.0 Green Iguana ~ Iggie
0.1.0 Chow Dog ~ Kieko
1.0.0 Chow/Malamute Dog ~ Chubbers
0.1.0 Six toed Cat ~ Barbie,(decendent of Ernest Hemmingways cat)

Pic's of Iggie