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| Green IguanaEnclosure Selection Health Feeding BreedingThe Decision to Breed Selecting a Pair Mating Gestation Incubation Hatching Juveniles The Decision To Breed... The decision to breed Iguanas is not one which should be made lightly. The pair, eggs, and hatchlings need extensive care and attention to ensure good health and ultimate success. Gravid females need to be well cared for, eggs will need an appropriate incubator and all hatchlings will need separate enclosures. The long term costs are great and there is little money to be made in re-selling them. Unless you are considering full scale commercial breeding you are almost certainly going to lose money. Breeding is more about the love of reptiles than the money. Some people find that they need a brief cool down period before successful breeding, but it is not always necessary. To do this, simply allow the tanks temperature to drop slightly for a month or so before breeding starts. Gradually reduce temperatures and feeding, maintaining this lower lever for about 2 months before gradually raising the temperature again and resuming the normal feeding schedule. After about one month the breeding behaviour should begin. Things to consider before you start: - Do you have the money to offer proper care to the hatchlings? - Can you commit time to feeding and looking after multiple reptiles? - Do you have the necessary experience to deal with anything that might happen? - What are you going to do with the babies? If you’re still willing to give it a go, let’s get started! Selecting a Pair It is very hard to distinguish between male and female iguanas. Adult males tend to have a more prominent dewlap, and more prominent femoral pores. The femoral pores are found on the belly of the animal, just in front of the vent. They should form a clear V shape, pointing towards the tail. It is almost impossible to differentiate between male and female juveniles. Mating Iguanas typically mate in winter, and it may be necessary to provide a cooling down period to simulate the winter months. It should be noted that it is very difficult to breed green iguanas, and its very rare in the UK. During mating, the male will hold on to the female by the back of her neck, align his vent with hers and evert his hemipenes. Sperm will then travel via the hemipenes into the female, fertilising her eggs. The process generally takes up to about 20 minutes start to finish. Gestation The gestation period is between 60-90 days, by which time you should provide a large litter tray filled with a peat/sand mixture. Check it every day for eggs, and when they are found remove them without turning them at all to the incubator. The developing embryo will have attached itself to the inside of the egg at the top, and inverting the egg at this stage will result in the fluid within the egg drowning the embryo. Fertile eggs will have a very faint pinkish hue after a few days, and "candling" the egg with a bright narrow beam will accentuate this. Candling should work after 4 days, its ok to move them about to candle them quickly, but try to limit it. As long as you put them back with the marks at the top they'll be fine. Laying will usually occur in spring, and there will typically be between 20 and 40 eggs. Incubation Temperatures should not drop below 82F/28C or rise above 86F/30C at any time, and the only real way to achieve this is to construct an incubator. These can be simple home made affairs, such as the one described here or here or you can purchase one made for chicken eggs such as the Hovabator. Humidity plays an important part in the incubation process. Too low a humidity will result in the eggs drying out, while too high a humidity can induce mould. Use a reliable humidity gauge, preferably digital. The ideal range would be somewhere between 60% and 80%. Incubating eggs in a suitable container such as a margarine tub, with small holes punched in the top or sides. An incubating medium should be used which holds water and prevents the eggs drying out, as the growing embryo in the egg will draw water from the surrounding air as it develops. The most popular medium seems to be Vermiculite which is commonly sold in garden centres. Incubation can take between 60 and 80 days. Eggs must be monitored carefully for drying out, mould, caving in and, nearer the end of the incubation period, hatchlings. If they start to collapse slightly now then you just need to moisten the medium a touch and put a damp paper towel over them for a few days and they should pop back out again. Hatching Hatchlings will break out of their shells and should be left alone to finish absorbing the yolk sac. Once this has been fully absorbed they can be moved to rearing containers, and should start to eat after about 10 days. Juveniles Small iguanas will be fast, nervous, and dart about when you try to catch them. Any iguana which does not do this is ill! Once common misconception is that baby iguanas eat insects. This is untrue, they are all vegetarian from birth. In the wild, they follow around older iguanas and actually eat their droppings, extracting nutrients from it that the last digestive system missed! In captivity, this is not acceptable and they should be fed on finely chopped vegetables, supplemented as described in the feeding section. The smallest enclosure for a juvenile is a 55 gal aquarium, however they will be too small for this after about 4 months.
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