Heating has to be one of the most important things toward a healthy iguana, second only to diet. The health of an iguana is heavily relied on warm enough climates. Without the proper heat levels iguanas can’t digest thier food properly and there for the best diet in the world won’t help any. Most owners that I know didn’t even know that their iguana is cold blooded (scary isn’t it?). The fact is that most people don’t even keep their enclosures in the low 80’s. The fact that iguanas come from HOT and HUMID climates doesn’t register in their heads. Iguanas NEED a heat GRADIENT in which they can go into and out of cool (70-80) areas in the tank to warm areas (80-85) with access to a basking area (93-100). Over 105 is TO HIGH and can seriously hurt your iguana. If you see you iguana panting with his/her mouth open it could be overheated. To prevent this your iguana should always have access to a cool area of the tank that doesn’t drop lower than 70(for young iguanas, under 8 inches svl, the temp should, at no time, drop bellow 75). This will allow your iguana to cool down when needed.

The warm side of the iguana’s enclosure should be anywhere between 85-90F. This should be located at ONE end of the enclosure with the cool side at the other. The cool side should be around 75-80. The basking area should be set up near the warm side of the tank. Basking is done with an incandescent light bulb in a reflector hood. I would prefer that you not exceed over 75 watts with this as higher wattage bulbs can get VERY hot. For night heating you should not and can not use white light bulbs. This will stress your iguana. For night heating, use a lower wattage light nocturnal bulb that you can purchase at your local pet shop. You can also use Ceramic heat emitters, which produce no light at all but plenty of heat. Point this heating light at a branch or log that the iguana can climb on and bask.

A heating pad placed inside the enclosure set on LOW should be used to warm the warm side of the tank to desirable levels. This will also give the iguana something to sleep on ,on cold nights. I strongly recommend the use of people heating pads and not animal heating pads. People heating pads have safety measures on them; the pet companies could care less if their heat mats get to hot as long as they make money. This should be covered with some kind of cloth.

Never use any incandescent light that is not covered with some kind of screen or mesh. Your iguana could burn himself on it. These lights can cause severe burns that can kill an iguana. And one more warning, USE THERMOMITERS. It is impossible to accurately guess what the temp is in you iguanas enclosure. Not only this but it is important to be as accurate as possible. You should have a least 3, preferably more. One on the cool side of the tank, one on the warm side of the tank, and one near the basking area. If you have any questions please e-mail me with them; my address is Motox@home.com any and all questions will be answered.