Iguana Cages
Finding the Best Iguana Cages - How to Pick an Enclosure
Without a doubt, Iguanidae, specifically the iguanas and all of their different species varieties, are a beloved pet world-wide. They can be extremely friendly once used to their new home, have an awesome and distinctive look, and they are vegans (which make them a great choice if you live in Southern California)! But while they start out cute and small (as little as 6 inches), they can reach a massive 6 feet when fully matured! This makes housing them a bit….difficult – if you aren’t prepared! This guide will teach you all about:
- Appropriate Size Requirements
- The Best Choices for a Cage
- How To Properly Set a Cage Up
- AND MORE....
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Choosing an Iguana Terrarium
Your pet’s enclosure needs to be chosen or designed with the probability of them getting quite large in mind. Without providing the reptile with enough space to grow as big as it may, you run the risk of making their lives uncomfortable, and even shortening their lifespan. The problem is, there are not many iguana habitats in traditional stores that can accommodate a lizard when it gets to it’s full size. We outline a few good options here, but the alternative is constructing your own!
Think about how your pet would live if it was in the wild. The reptiles are found in rain forests, with lots of room to roam, play and enjoy their lives. If you’ve had the pleasure to visit the canopies of Brazil or other Central American location, you’ll have a little bit of a sense of the type of environment that these amazing lizards have evolved to thrive in.
Green iguanas, the most popular pets are arboreal, which means that they live inside of trees. Placing your iguana in a small glass terrarium where it doesn’t have the ability to get very high off the ground is not an appropriate way to keep the pet healthy or happy! For all of these reasons, the caging you choose for your pet is very important. The two main choices you have when deciding on an enclosure, is whether to build one yourself, or buy a custom designed iguanidae cage. If you choose the former, check out this guide on how to build an iguana cage. Otherwise, read on for everything you need to know when choosing a suitable enclosure.
The Perfect Iguanidae Habitat
Many iguana cages are poorly designed. While you can find some suitable options in stores and online, don’t try to stuff an iguana in a chameleon cage! In fact, many animal conservatories do a poor job of keeping the reptiles housed in a good location also! Even though you might not notice it, the health of your pet is tied to how well it’s environment is suited to it. Arboreal lizards love getting to stretch themselves out all the way, and remember for iguanidae, that can be 6 feet! You need to make sure that whatever style of habitat you go with, your pet can expand to their full size in each of the different temperature gradients in their home.
So what does this mean in terms of enclosure design? Well if you want to keep your ig until adulthood, it needs to have a home that is ideally 12x6x6 (but 6x6x6 will also work) by the time that it is fully matured. This of course, is not feasible for all pet owners! Keep this in mind when choosing the species you want to make a part of your family. When young though, the reptiles need smaller cages. This will help them acclimate to you as the owner more quickly, and feel less threatened. There are also a number of heating, lighting and habitat feature requirements that are crucial to your pet having an amazing home.
The Best Iguana Cages for Sale Compared
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Dimensions | Our Rating | Price |
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Zoo Med Reptibreeze IguanArium | 36 x 18 x 48 |
4/5
|
Find Best Price |
Zoo Med ReptiBreeze Open Air Screen Cage, Extra Large, 24 x 24 x 48 | 24 x 24 x 48 |
3.7/5
|
Find Best Price |
Exo Terra Med X-Tall Terrarium, 24 x 18 x 36 | 24 x 18 x 36 |
3.7/5
|
Find Best Price |
Exo Terra Large X-Tall Terrarium, 36 x 18 x 36 | 36 x 18 x 36 |
4/5
|
Find Best Price |
The Best Iguana Cages Reviewed
Zoo Med Reptibreeze IguanArium
Our Rating:
Pros and Cons at a Glance
- Rolling Wheels for Easy Sunning
- Removable Bottom Tray (Helps Cleaning!)
- Walls Great for Climbing (and Safe)
- Walls Great for Climbing (and Safe)
- Won't Fit Full Grown Adult
- Decorations Not Included
- Front Door Doesn't Stay Open On It's Own
- Basking Tray Clips May Need Extra Support
The ZooMed ReptiBreeze Iguanarium is a sturdy plastic habitat that can comfortably fit a baby to young adult iguana (usually up to around 4 years old). It has PVC coated wiring which is great for your pet to climb on, because while strong enough to hold their full weight, it prevents them from hurting their claws or snouts when using it. There is a removable basking tray included which is a huge help, but the decorations pictured on the box do not come included. Fortunately, it is easy to customize the inside with decorations of your own and design the perfect home for your reptile.
The dimensions of 36 x 18 x 48 inches are good for the first few years of your iguana’s life. The wiring is small enough that you can start a baby in the cage, but there is enough space to continue using it for a lot longer than many of the smaller terrariums that you often see used as baby iguana homes.
Putting the cage together is a breeze, and shouldn’t take longer than 25-45 minutes, depending on how comfortable you are mechanically. While there have been some user complaints about pieces not fitting correctly on arrival, we haven’t experienced this problem.
This is an open air cage, which is a double edged sword. On the one hand, it makes penetration of UVB and UVA light possible, which is awesome if you live in an area with good sunlight as you can take advantage of the cage’s wheels, and roll the habitat outside periodically. On the other hand, humidity retention isn’t as high with open air cages. This isn’t a deal breaker for us, but it does mean you will need to have misters installed or take the time to mist your ig a couple times a day. We love spending a ton of time with our herps, especially when they’re young, so this wasn’t a big issue.
The cage is super easy to clean because of the removable bottom tray. Any reptile liner from your local pet store will do, or you can find them online. This is nice, because it takes out a lot of the messy aspects of cage cleaning by allowing the bottom part to just come out.
There are a couple inconvenient features though. First, the obvious – don’t expect to keep a full grown, 6 foot iguana inside of here! While this goes without saying (because you’re going to need a custom solution for ANY ig that big), it can be a bummer for new reptile owners who don’t realize how large iguanas get. Second, the front door doesn’t stay open on it’s own. This can be easily remedied with some twist ties or a homeade latch, but if you don’t do something it can be a pain when refilling your pet’s food and water. Another issue reported (but one that we haven’t experienced), is that the basking tray clips can wear out easily and need some extra support. It doesn’t hurt to add some zip ties, and doesn’t take more than a couple seconds to implement. Every reptile owner should own have a supply of zip ties for various habitat tasks as it is.
Overall, we recommend this cage as a first option that will last you a lot longer than a standard terrarium. The price is also relatively low for how long you can expect it to last – starting with an aquarium and constantly needing to add on and upgrade gets expensive quick! This cage will take your ig well into early adulthood comfortably.
The ZooMed ReptiBreeze Open Air Screen Cage is a tall, open air anodized aluminum cage that has a large amount of airflow because of it’s open design. The anodized aluminum makes the cage durable without being overly heavy. All the hardware necessary to construct the cage is included in the purchase and the only tool that you need on your end to build the basic structure is a screwdriver. Don’t be mistaken though – to get the cage decorated to your liking and to make your young iguana comfortable, you’re going to need some other supplies. The cage has two front facing doors – one on the top for main access and one on the bottom for changing the substrate. While this bottom door may seem redundant, it can actually be extremely handy for a quick clean up! The cage is designed for arboreal reptiles exclusively because of it’s vertical design
This is a cheaper option that many of the premade cages available on the market. Like most other premade cages (unless you go for a custom solution), this one is only going to be suitable for a young iguana. One of the major drawbacks of this one over the Iguanarium is the width. While it leaves ample room for climbing, a young iguana will outgrow the enclosure relatively fast because of how quickly it’s snout to tail length will increase as it grows.
The screen enclosure is nice, but can be prone to ripping – especially if there are other animals in the house that might get interested in the cage! Because of this, this cage isn’t a good choice if you also have cats in the home. The top of the cage also gives you a lot of room to work with. This makes it easy to get the appropriate amount of UVB light for your ig.
The bottom tray is designed for ease of access, and there are no problems with cleaning and changing substrate as a result.
There is also no central support structure inside of the cage. This means that you are going to have to utilize a large plant that has enough capability for your pet to climb up and down and utilize the vertical room that it provides. The screen will work fine for young iguanas, but as they get larger it won’t be able to support them and eventually they will tear holes inside of it.
You also need to be careful of the aluminum edges. We recommend using some sort of teflon tape or other sturdy covering on the insides of the cage. Iguanas can hurt themselves trying to climb the metal over time – their claws are not designed to scale aluminum! While this is an easy fix, it’s worth noting.
Ultimately, this cage is a great choice for smaller reptiles like chameleons, but for iguanas it isn’t going to be effective after a few years of age. It can be a good budget option in the beginning as you work on a more permanent solution, but don’t expect to use it for more than a couple years. We still give it 3 and a half stars because for young igs, it does the trick.
Exo Terra Large X-Tall Terrarium, 24x18x36
Our Rating:
Pros and Cons at a Glance
- Rock Background Included
- Screen Top for UVB Penetration
- Lots of Vertical Climbing Room
- Double Front Door Design is Helpful
- Glass Can Overheat in Sun
- Dimensions Can Get Crowded Quick
- Lack of Wiring Can Be Restrictive for Features
- Known Delivery Issues with Glass
The Exo Terra line of cages were designed by European herpetologists and the quality of research and knowledge shines through in the products. These are a bit more polished than many of the other premade solutions on the market. The big differentiating factor with the Exo Terra cages is that they are glass terrariums, as opposed to the open air variety of ZooMed. The cages have a specially designed bottom that is waterproof, dual opening doors that help prevent escape and a screen top that allows UVB light to make it into the cage.
One of the drawbacks of glass cages is that they don’t allow UVB light to get into the reptile’s space. Exo Terra designed the cage to avoid this problem by utilizing a screen top.that won’t filter out the UVB the way that glass does. Even with this addition, you still need to be careful about leaving this enclosure in direct sunlight because of how hot it can get inside.
A really cool feature of the Exo Terra products is that they include wire and tube inlets for easy installation of features, monitors and sensors. This can make setting up your habitat a lot more convenient and hassle free.
One of the major downsides of the glass construction is that there have been numerous reports of breakage in shipping. While this is not a shortcoming of the product itself, it is worth noting that you should take the time to communicate with the seller if you are going to be ordering the product online.
Size-wise, this is the 24 x 18 x 36 inch version. While adequate for a young ig, like the other prefabricated cages, your reptile will outgrow this one quick. If you need to save some money and are planning on transitioning straight to a custom enclosure, this one can make a lot of sense. Otherwise, we recommend going with the 36 x 18 x 36 inch version of the same cage (which we review right after this one).
Exo Terra Med X-Tall Terrarium, 36x18x36
Our Rating:
Pros and Cons at a Glance
- Rock Features Come with Purchase
- Mesh Top Allows UVB Light
- Tall Enough For Arboreal Exploration
- Dual Front Doors Allow Easy Access
- Needs to Be Kept Out of Too Much Sun
- Better Size Than Little Brother, Still Not Huge
- Glass Slightly Difficult to Mount Features
- Glass Potential to Break in Transit
The larger version of the Exo Terra cage has all of the same features as it’s little brother. We highly recommend this iteration though, as a result of it’s increased size. Because of this, we have awarded it a higher rating.
Cage Size
Dimension Breakdown for a Baby Iguana Enclosure
Width | 1 foot is a good starting point. This will accommodate the baby iguana until it grows to about 18 inches, which can happen in the first year. The cage at this point can have some smaller climbing ledges for the baby to play around on and start to feel like it is getting into the air. Remember – since the reptiles live in trees in nature, they will quickly want to be able to have an arboreal vantage point. Creating multiple levels of depth even when they are young can help with this a lot. |
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Length | A habitat that is at least 2 feet long will work for a baby ig. Your pet is going to want plenty of room to move around and not feel stifled. Even though 2 feet may seem like a lot of space, it really isn’t all that much because again, the ig can reach 18 inches in their first year. Once they hit the 18 inch mark, it is absolutely time for a larger enclosure. |
Height | This is one of the most important factors for your pet. You can start off with a 16 inch height while they are still growing and under their first year of age. When iguanidae aren’t able to climb, they get stressed out! They like being able to perch and bask in an elevated position. For babies, you still have some time though and this height will suffice. |
Any of the cages we have reviewed would be perfect for a baby iguana!
Dimension Breakdown for a Fully Matured Iguana Habitat
Width | When your iguana grows, it is going to need a cage that is at least as wide as it is! For a fully grown adult green iguana, this means 6 feet. By keeping the home this wide, you can give your pet plenty of features to play around on, different elevations to climb over and a large enough temperature gradient for it to remain comfortable. It is important to have variety in the enclosure, and thin cages just won’t do the trick of mimicking a rain forest environment. |
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Length | Don’t panic, but your pet’s home should be twice as long as it’s fully extended snout to tail measurement at this point. For a fully grown adult, this usually means about 12 feet. As you can see, this is no aquarium pet anymore! You also want to keep your ig in a solitary cage. Even a 12 foot long enclosure is not enough space for two to live together, especially if one gets aggressive. Make sure that along the length of the cage there are different temperature gradients for your pet. |
Height | 6 feet will be a decent size for an adult but 12 is even better! While again, this is nowhere near as free as the rain forest canopies of Brazil, it gives the pet enough room to climb up on foliage and perch, bask and look down upon it’s surroundings. This is crucial to keeping the iguana comfortable. Not having vertical climbing space is a huge contributor to the lizard’s stress levels and is of the utmost importance to it living a long and happy life. |
Choosing a Location
Natural External Light
Visual Stimuli
Human Contact
Lighting
UVA Light
UVB Light
Heating
Primary Heat Source
Secondary Heat Source
NO HEATING PADS
Habitat Accessories
Plants
Branches
Rocks
Hideaways
Food and Water Containers
Monitoring Equipment
Substrate
A substrate is kind of like the flooring of your reptile’s enclosure. For igs, it’s important not to use anything like wood chips, vermiculite or anything else that is composed of lots of tiny pieces. This is because of how often the lizards examine their surroundings with their tongue. When the ground is made up of lots of tiny pieces, the reptile invariably swallows a lot of them!
One of the most popular choices for a substrate is vinyl because of how easy it is to clean. If you are going to go with something that you can more easily change out, use something that is easily digested and completely nontoxic. Some other common choices include paper towels, carpet that has had it’s edges taped down, and even astro-turf!
Ultimately, you want something that will not be difficult to clean, will not irritate the lizard’s feet or catch on it’s limbs and that can’t be accidentally eaten or harm your pet’s insides if it is.