The fluffiness of pets has recently ceased to be a matter of prestige. In addition, the environment, thanks to the fruits of our activities, began to take revenge by allergies to the coat. In the cat world, long-haired Persians give primacy to smooth-skinned sphinxes. And in the world of dogs, small individuals have become fashionable. After all, with a big dog, you will not get around to hassle. And brush, and walk, and give me meat. Whether it's the herbivorous lizard iguana! It is a worthy alternative! Do not know how to keep an iguana at home and how to care for this exotic animal? - Now we will reveal all the secrets.
Terrarium
To comb the iguana is not necessary - the skin is smooth to the touch, like cool silk, and remarkable bright colors: green, blue, purple, red, pink! Walk it is also not necessary - iguana will be comfortable in the terrarium, where you can adapt an inclined branch for it to climb up and a small pool with warm water. This can be a pelvis or a deep cuvette. The terrarium should take into account the size of the adult iguana, approximately equal to the size of a cat weighing 5-6 kilograms and to be quite spacious. But for a healthy and comfortable stay of your tropical animal, the terrarium should be equipped with heating lamps to create the right temperature, thermometers for its control, a source of ultraviolet radiation for assimilation of iguanic calcium, and holes in the side walls to avoid stagnation of air.
Feed
Meat iguanas do not need: she is a vegetarian, but she does not refuse to treat insects or a small mouse. Its main food is leaves, shoots, flowers and fruits of plants. The diet can be supplemented with cabbage, carrots, sweet pepper. She does not chew food, but only cuts her sharp, flat teeth, which, when you look into her mouth, you do not immediately see: they are located on the inside of the jaws and also transparent in young iguanas.
Daily regime
The iguana is calm and accommodating. The regime of the day is almost the same as that of a person: sleeps at night, active during the day. If you want to keep a healthy animal at home, it's better not to disturb your favorite lizard at night with loud music or an included TV: she needs silence and darkness. You can set the timer to comply with the 12:12 mode.
Moulting
Your iguana will shed, like all pets. It can last a month, or even two. And molting does not occur immediately over the entire surface of its body, but in separate areas, beginning with the head, ending with the tail.
Bathing
The house contains the iguana, it must be bathed once a week, especially during the moult period. You can swim in your bathroom, preheating it and filling with warm (30-35 ะก) water. Try to make the iguana swim more: this is useful for her. In order for your lizard during the bathing to periodically get out of the water and rest, put a piece of foam or wood in the bathroom. And watch to sit on the plastic, it is not supercooled. Bathe the animal for more than 30 minutes - during this time the water in the bathroom will not have time to cool down. After bathing and rest in the terrarium, it is also good to perform hygienic procedures.
Claws
Cutting the claws of a lizard is not easy: it has a hard claw. It is necessary to do this very carefully, so as not to cut the blood vessel passing through the claw. If you do this inaccurately, the iguana will experience considerable pain. Therefore, for cutting, you need to use special tools, rather than improvised tools such as garden or manicure scissors. There are different opinions as to the need to cut the claws. But one is indisputable: clipped claws in a conflict situation will do less harm to your hands.
And now it's time to talk with your well-groomed and fed pet.
Iguana - a beautiful exotic animal with a delicate, delicate and long, brightly colored body. The iguana has good eyesight, very delicate hearing. She is the owner of the third (parietal) eye, which helps her to notice the opponent from above. She has a small, like a faceted head with a large bag on her throat for thermoregulation, which passes into the trunk. The trunk with transverse rows of scales ends with a very long, flattened tail, which helps her to swim well. In case of danger by the tail, it can strike a strong blow to the enemy, or drop the tail if she needs to flee. Along the back and tail is a prickly comb, performing the function of protecting against attackers on it.
How to take an iguana in hand
You will certainly want to take the iguana! Just do it carefully, do not squeeze it. Take it with one hand in the place of the forearms, and the other support the trunk, pressing the hind legs and not touching the tail. Until you tame it, it will run away from you. Just let go of her, so as not to hurt her! Do not try to keep her by force, as this can harm not only her health, but also your safety. Nothing terrible will happen, but you will be scratched and, worse, bitten. Do not hold it by force with your tail, so that it does not throw it off. In young lizards, the tail partially grows. And adult animals remain without a tail, which makes their movement difficult.
It will be very short time and she will get used to you and will be happy to travel on your arm, shoulders, back. She will, to your delight, amuse herself with her short paws with long fingers on the floor in the room.
What if the iguana grabs you with teeth?
And while you make friends with your favorite, while you learn to understand each other, there may be unpleasant moments in your relationship. To minimize them, you should use some guidelines.
If the iguana grabs you with your teeth, do not try to force it away, pull it away from your body, hands or feet. It must be remembered that the teeth of the iguana can inflict serious damage to you, up to suturing the wound or even surgery.
Your right action will be in any way to force her to unclench the jaw.
You can try to turn it into another position, or close her nostrils, which can cause her to unclench jaws unexpectedly. Perhaps, it will be affected by a strong smell and it will open the jaws. Either way, do not lose the presence of the spirit and act reasonably and carefully so as not to harm yourself and damage the jaw of the lizard. Do not rule out the probability of getting an infection through a bite and be sure to treat the wound with an antiseptic.
If you remember that the most important thing in the relationship of man and animal - attention, patience and love, you will be able to support the iguana and, in addition, educate yourself a good friend of this exotic animal!