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I bought a 3-4 mo old iguana & I would like to know about keeping his aquarium clean2007-11-24 2:00:50

I was feeding him and there were little baby-looking roaches along the lid. What should I do. Oh by the way I didn't have any kind of roach before?

Answers:

I'm seeing some disturbing misinformation in these replies.

Never, ever, ever use a "hot rock" with an iguana. They cannot sense heat well through their bellies, and can get third-degree burns without ever realizing that it's time to move. My vet has a collection of really shocking pictures of iguanas whose owners used "hot rocks".

If you're getting roaches, you've got a lot bigger problem than your iguana. You've got roaches. If you're seeing them in the daytime, you've got roaches BAD.

Why is your iguana in an aquarium? He needs a large, airy cage with plenty of room to climb. The cage should be at least 50% longer than the iguana in every direction -- so, if your iguana is two feet long, the cage should be three feet in each dimension, etc.

Iguanas are NOT aquatic lizards, nor do they have moist skin. They will get some very nasty fungus diseases in too damp of an environment. This is another reason why aquariums are bad. You can't keep a good enough air flow through them.

As for how to clean the cage: The best substrate I ever found was newspapers. Fold up the newspaper (with iggy poop in the center) and dispose of it daily, or more often if needed. Your roaches are probably coming to eat the leftover bits of food the iguana has dropped in the cage. (they can be very messy eaters) Using newspaper makes it much easier to keep the cage clean.

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What did the petshop say when you bought it? He/she must have said something about it's care.

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caring for your iguana