i have one but how do you keep more than one iguana

You can keep a male and female if you want but you can't have two males or they will fight. Welcome to HC.

I currently have 3 iguanas. I keep the 2.5-3 year old male by himself completely in a spare room. I have two 13 year old females who have been housed together 10 years now. The dominant female is deformed from a bout with severe Metabolic Bone Disease she had before I got her. She can not climb steep ramps or ladders. Baby is very submissive. Normally they get along great and will bask side by side even though I provide seperate basking spots. I provide seperate feeding but they eat from each others. But Dragon does have her moments when she feels she has to assert her dominance and when that happens Baby will just climb up to her top shelf where Dragon can't bother her--in other words she is able to escape easily. During those times I feed Baby there. Normally it lasts no more than a day and Baby comes back down. In their new enclosure though I am having built I will have a third basking light on Baby's shelf. In the evening Baby will move to her shelf and when night comes sleep up there.

In the 16 months that I've been on the forums I have come to realize that it is not normally a good idea to keep iguanas together and all interaction should be supervised. There have been so many cases of serious injuries and death due to keeping iguanas together or not supervising their interaction. It has happened among babies, juveniles, adults and combinations of the different ages. Some have even had them together for many years and say that they got along together well. Iguanas are not social animals though that need or normally want companionship. In the wild they do get together for potection (safety in numbers) and mating. But in the wild if there is aggression a weaker or a submissive iguana can very easily escape by leaving. That is not the case in an enclosure. Even the best of friends human or iguana can have arguments that lead into violence. With humans and iguanas in the wild there is a possibility of one walking away. That is not so with captive iguanas kept in an enclosure no matter how large it is--even a house is not big enough to compare to the openess of the wild. It takes only one argument for one to snap. So I do not brag about keeping iguanas together and now never recommend that it be done especially by inexperienced keepers. I do feel that yes they can be socialized to us, other iguanas and other animals. But just like they can suddenly turn on us they can turn on other animals and that can and has led to tragedy.

I know that even though they have been together over 10 years that one day Baby may decide not to be dominated and attack Dragon or that Baby won't get away quickly enough from Dragon. I am taking a risk I know even with their special circumstances. I know though also they have been very socialized to each other and want each others company. They even look for the other when one is gone for some reason. I believe after 10 years they may make themselves sick if seperated. So at this point in time I feel that the risk of stress is the higher and more likely of the two. I may in the future put a divider up if there are signs of the situation changing or their special circumstances changing though. Many experienced (a lot more than me) keepers have and do keep iguanas together (so far) successfully. They like me take a risk no matter how very very slight. But each must decide if that risk can or should be made.

And also even if aggression or dominance never happens, accidents do happen. Iguanas have a tendency to just walk over something in their path even another iguana. The one being walked on could move causing the other to fall or the iguana could stick it's claw in the others eye. Dragon has a scarred eyelid from a time when Baby just walked over her. But accidents happen without housing them together.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

Breeding can be a very violent event among iguanas. I kept my previous male Sampson with my females but I always had to allow Sampson to free roam during breeding season for that reason. But I did not always catch his seasons on time. I had several very very expensive vet bills. And it wasn't always the female that got injured. Once Dragon was not receptive and Sampson went to grab her neck and she turned and sunk her teeth into his mouth and took a big hunk out that never grew back. She was a lot smaller than him too so size doesn't make a difference. In hindsight I feel I probably lost my 3rd female because of him going into breeding season and me not catching it. She got an abcess from an injury to the eye. She died after removal of the abcess. Even if she had lived she had loss the eye. I believe she wasn't receptive and banged her eye against the wall trying to get away. And she was the biggest iguana I had. So again size doesn't matter. So male/female combination is not good either because you may not catch his mating season in time. Also I believe his death was caused indirectly to him being and wanting to be with the females. He always was very stressed when not able to be with them. Well when my circumstances changed and I had to move them to a garage he was in season so I couldn't move him at the same time. He was by himself in the apartment when the girls and the enclosure disappeared. He got very depressed and wouldn't eat or drink. He died of kidney failure probably brought on directly from the dehydration. I know he had mourned the previous female even though he was indirectly the cause of her death. So I feel he thought the other two were gone for good also. Also I believe (don't know) that Huff was one cause of Baby's back fracture. I had him in a cage inside their enclosure. I got him when he was about 1.5 years. Well some how he was able to squeeze through the 1" bars. During the first week (until he fattened up) I kept finding him out. He'd be lying on either Baby or Dragons back--not next to them or leaning on them but directly on (dominance). Baby probably tried to climb away with him on her back and she fell. The one good thing is I discovered that the UVB setup I had sucked. I had a Powersun that said it gave good UVB at 6'. It didn't. If Baby's bone density was like it should have been then the fall would most likely have not factued her back. I had just started to post to the GIS and had learned of the MegaRay. The people at GIS and Reptile UV got me through Baby's back fracture and Dragon's kidney problems for which I am extremely grateful to them. I regret keeping iguanas together now but I did not know back when I got my iguanas the risks. This is the first time I have admitted it openly though.


Female/female is more likely to succeed but they also get territorial too like the males. My Dragon girl is territorial at times. Sorry for the long posts.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

I currently have 6 adult iguanas. My 3 girls share the same enclosure (not something I suggest) and each of my boys has his own enclosure. They are a load of work, but very fulfilling for me. I rescued/adopted all of them. I have one smaller male whom I have used in my reptile awareness demos and when I get a crate big enough, my big boy Chester will go with me (4 1/2 ft and 11lbs LOL) He is very serene and loves to be the center of attention. And when I can I attend the White Plains Reptile Expo and help rehome the many iguanas that are dropped off there. Lyn

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Marie thank you for that post. It was very well said.
Some people have been successful at housing multiple iguanas together, but that is not the norm and it cannot be depended upon to last.
There was a lady on another forum I used to visit who constantly argued that iguanas were social animals and needed to have companionship. She pointed out the fact that she had housed 5 adults together for several years without a sign of any problem.

Until the day she come home to a blood spattered enclosure and 2 dead iguanas!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Nor is it a function of "how the iguana is raised". In their minds iguanas are wild animals even if they may be many generations removed from having lived in the wild.

In keeping an iguana you are more or less fighting and working against natural instincts. One such instinct is their territorial nature toward other lizards and even other distant species (eg humans, cats, small dogs). Iguanas are the first level of animal on the food chain and when young they may in fact group for safety but this is not long term or something to be tried when living in a cracker box cage, and by cracker-box I mean anything smaller than like 30' x 30' or any cage that people may have.

If it is even possible to tame and domesticate an iguana it is still hundreds, if not thousands, of generations off.

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~ Mark