November 29, 2006

Raising iguanas: Part I

The following information is made for the vegetarian green iguanas (Iguana iguana) and not for other iguanas as the egg lizard or the Chilean iguanas.

Before adopting an iguana you must know some basic things before making up your mind. Iguanas are reptiles, they are not common pets, that is why they are considered “exotic pets” and they are hard to domesticate. We mean by domesticate them to get them get slightly used to the presence of human beings.

Over half of baby iguanas bought as pets are less than one year old, which means that they are not easy to take care of, since they have to pass through many infectious and traumatic diseases.

Besides this, iguanas are carriers of diseases that can be transmitted to human beings, some of them quite severe as salmonella that can even cause death. They can also transmit bacterial diseases; - Mycobacterium, Aeromona, Campilobacter, Leptospira, Pasteurella, Escherichia coli, Shigella, Klebsiella, Neisseria, Proteus, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, etc.- viral diseases, parasites, fungus and acari.

Raising iguanas demand lots of care, which jeans that you must count with good money, time and patience. And there are not much veterinarians specialized in iguanas or reptiles in general, so if your iguana gets sick or presents a strange symptom, it would be kind of tough to get a diagnosed and treatment for it.

Iguanas get stressed out so easily: by noise, human beings, other animals, cold, heat, bad nutrition, etc.; which could cause them severe diseases and death.


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