An iguana habitat has four basic requirements: proper lighting, temperature and humidity, and of course it needs to be large enough for your iguana. While these basics are enough to keep your iguana healthy, there are a few other things that it needs to really thrive. For optimum health and happiness for your iguana, you should keep these following supplies in mind for your iguana habitat:
1) Substrates - are the material used to when covering the habitat floor and surface. When you choose a material for the substrate, your most important consideration should be your pet's safety. You don't want to use anything that the iguana might ingest and get sick from. Like snakes, iguana's use their tongue to test their surroundings by flicking it around them. Small particles of sand, gravel or wood chips can stick to the tongue and can be accidentally ingested, causing illness or death.
In choosing a substrate, you might want to try newspapers with non-toxic ink. You could also try to use other types of paper, as long as they are not toxic to animals when ingested. Some people prefer to use pieces of indoor and outdoor carpeting as substrates for their iguana habitat.
Basking and climbing supplies - your iguana is an arboreal creature, meaning that it lives most its life in the trees. A proper iguana habitat will provide plenty of branches and shelves to allow the iguana opportunities for climbing and give it space to lay out and bask in the sun or under heating lamps.
If you include branches in your iguana habitat, you should provide some that are big enough for your iguana to lie on comfortably. You should also cover them with some sort of material that will help them in climbing. One option is to cover the branches with carpeting. The branches will also serve as basking places for your iguana. These spots are where your iguana will go to in order to relax.
3) Water and food dishes - You should provide bowls for your iguana's food and water. Even though iguanas don't drink a lot of water, it's absolutely necessary that they be provided clean water each day.
Iguanas love to soak in a water dish, so you should provide one that's just the right size for your pet. It should be big enough so that the iguana won't tip it over when getting in and it should be shallow enough so that the iguana won't drown. You should also realize that after soaking, an iguana usually likes to poop in the water. This means that you will have the responsibility to change the water in the dish and sanitize it regularly.
4) Like people, iguanas sometimes like to have their privacy too. To that end, you should provides some sort of hiding area in the habitat. This could consist of a large rock, a log, or even a small leaning piece of plywood; any sort of shelter that provides the iguana a little bit of privacy.
By providing your iguana with these accessories, you'll be giving it the best possible habitat. With it's physical and mental needs met, the iguana will be able to live a happier and less stressful life.
If you'd like to know even more about what iguana supplies you should have for your pet iguana, come visit us at IguanaAsPet.com, and don't forget to sign up for your FREE report on caring for your iguana!
