Thursday, July 30, 2009

how to keep cage humidity for my green iguana?

i cannt keep the humidity up in the cage want can i do ?
Answers:
If it is a wire cage you won't be able too. If it is a glass cage you can try a waterfall, fogger, or Tropicaire humifier and air exchanger.
If u have a screen top, put something on it 2 cover it. If not, use LOTS of moss and spray OFTEN!
We have a Rainbow Boa who needs a humidity level of about 80%. We got a fogger from bigappleherpetilogical.com for about $50. Works great! Just need to use distilled water in it. You can put it on a timer, so it will raise the humidity, then shut off for an hour or so, and come back on.
Place a wet sponge in a bowl inside his cage. Wet it as often as necessary. It works great for all my humidity needing herps. :)
I had the same problem a while ago, the way I resolved it may not suit everyone but it might help. I put sphagnum moss in as a substrate and several branches in for climbing.
Then I added a large water bowl and many Blue-gum branches that were very leafy. Not all places have blue-gum so you will have to find something similar. Keep in mind iguanas love to nibble on leaves in their enclosures, I chose blue-gum for several reasons: 1) it absorbs moisture easily and thus helps increase humidity, 2) it's wonderful for climbing and makes the iguana feel safe as he can hide amongst the leaves and 3) it tastes horrible and isn't poisonous so the iguana won't eat it again after his first inevitable nibble. Try find a similar plant, check with reptile experts before using it though.
What I also use is a spray bottle filled with hot water, every morning I spray the cage so much the spray bottle is empty by the time I'm done. This should help, the branches aren't necessary but it does help.
As long as your are spraying him down once or twice a day, that should be all the humidity he needs. You might increase the spraying when he is shedding to make the process easier for him. Also how big is your tank? When an iguana is full grown, it needs an enclosure at least 8' tall, 8' long, and 4 feet wide. You can't buy these at the store so it has to be custom. They are very high maintenance but well worth it. Good luck.

Owner of a 4 year old, 6 foot long, male green iguana.

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