Question about green iguana?

Question

hi guys i am planning to buy a green iguana (small ones, and yes i do know they get BIG)
and i have some questions :

1. how do you differ male iguana from female iguana when they are young? i mean many of my friends told me that you can only see the difference between male and females when they are about one year old when the males started to grow dewlap and longer spines on their back while females will remain "juvenile-like". but i want to buy young male (definitely less than 1 year old) but i dont know how to tell the differences?


2. i heard male iguana are agressive during breeding season. well, at what age/size do they start to get agressive at breeding season? also, whats the time for breeding season for iguana?


3. i heard iguana had 3rd eye?? what does that mean?


4. i've seen many of my friend that has a young iguana. usually the young iguana had a VERY long tail and they whip it when they are angry. and many of my friend who owns old iguanas (5+ years old) had a short tail. and their tail were all bulky and stuff, and they never whip anyone with it (when theyre pissed off they hissed and bite instead of whip). does iguana shed their own tail? or do they eventually break their own tail sometime in their life when they use it to whip something?

i will be very pleased if you guys can answer my question correctly, thanks ^^

Answer 1

1- You cannot tell the difference until they're grown, check the pores in the legs, while holding it, look in the inner part of the legs, females have fewer femoral pores, males usually have femoral pores all the way to the knee.

2- This you'll have to research on your own, because I'm not sure.

3- Look towards the sky with your eyes closed, then pass your hand above your closed eyes, that' how they see through the third eye. It is basically to detect potential food sources or predators in their natural habitats.

4- Iguanas with short tails indicate that, the tail was lost for any reason, as all lizards do, they lose their tails when in danger. Tails don't grow again as many people think, an atrophied tail grows in its place.

Answer 2

1.) You can't tell the difference in the genders of Iguanas when they are young, they all just look the same. Only when they grow up will you be able to tell whether it is male or female.



2.) Male Iguanas tend to be aggressive for the whole year, but even more so around the breeding season. A well tamed male will still lash out and be violent around the breeding season. I think the breeding season usually happens after the cool period in winter, since they use winter cooling as an indication of whether or not it is time to breed.



3.) They do have a kind of third eye, although it's nothing like the kind of eye you are probably thinking of. It's just a small light sensor on the top of an Iguana's head, called the Parietal eye. It can distinguish between light and dark, which can help the Iguana to avoid any threats that might be looming above them.



4.) They aren't meant to shed their tails, but often skin that is shed from the Iguana's tail doesn't come off properly (due to dry conditions), which cuts off the blood supply to the end of the tail, causing it to die and fall off. Also, if an Iguana's tail is grabbed and pulled fairly hard, then the Iguana can choose to release that part of it's tail, to make for a hasty escape.



Hope that helps.

Answer 3

I own a 6 ft male green iguana, I rescued him from the humane society and he wouldn't hurt a fly. Every iguana's different but they are known to whip their tails, bite and scratch. My iguana has done none of the above and I've had him for 4 years now. I'm not much of a snake person but I would bet that they were more docile than even a baby iguana. I'm glad I got my iguana as an adult so I wouldn't have to keep upgrading his cage. I would recommend an iguana if you knew what you were doing. Both reptiles require a big cage/ terrarium as they grow. Currently my iguana lives in a plexiglass cage over 2000$ and is 5ft long X 3ft wide X 7ft high (a queen size bed basically) Also, iguanas are herbivores and don't require live or dead meat to feed on. My iguana eats a fresh salad every morning made of kale, zucchini, yellow squash, strawberries, apples and cranberries. He loves it!

Answer 4

1. there is no way to tell between a male and female iguana until they reach maturity... at least not by looking at them. you can get it sexed by a vet but it's not recommended because it isn't always conclusive and can actually harm the iguana if done incorectly.

2. they will start to get agressive around the time they reach sexual maturity and are most agressive during breeding season. the exact time this occurs varies but is usually around springtime-ish

3. i actually havn't heard this but i wouldn't be surprised. there are lots of reptiles that have additional light receptors on top of their head. it's not an actual "eye" though, and it's not like a "third eye" in the spiritual sense either

4. an iguana is not supposed to lose it's tail. the tail makes up over half the body lenght usually, even in adults. iguanas do have a defense mechanism where they can choose to drop their tail if a predator grabs it and tries to make a meal out of them. it could also get stepped on or something and have to be amputated, but i don't think whipping something would make it break off.

Answer 5

Iguanas do not shed their tail. They can break off if fighting or something like that. You'll also have to wait until it is older to determine its gender. Also if you have a male and he is by himself he should be fine with the mating season thing. If you have two males together or a male and a female that's when the aggression will start. The best thing for you to do is to get a book on iguanas and study it before you make a decision.

Answer 6

3rd eye? that cant be good.