Iguanas are known as the herbivorous reptile which is become one of the most likeable reptile to be pet. Still, the wilderness of nature inherited in iguana’s blood, caused some various behaviors that would surprise you. To have an iguana you could easily purchase them on stores (would be better if you come to the specific reptile’s stores) or adopt an iguana. However, adopting one ordinarily would follow by some regulations that need to be fill for legal reasons; the process would be not as easy as purchase the new one, but hey, if you love iguana nothing is hard isn’t?

Furthermore, as an vegetarian animal you should understand how to provide all the nutrient that needed by iguana’s body. Here are 3 best foods for your beloved iguana; and please note that only feed iguana with fresh foods and water, and never attempted to give any meat or insect to them. It would only upset their digestion system. There is a lot of matters that need to be done to support iguana’s health and quality life of an iguana. Not only stop with habitat and foods or water; but there are certain body’s mechanism you must understand that happened from within.

Do you ever – just wondering do iguana able to hibernate? What is hibernated? According to wikipedia, hibernation is a metabolic depression and state of inactivity that happened in endotherms. Hibernation also refers to a rest time for animals to survive from cold temperature on winter without migrate to somewhere else warmer and the most unbelievable matter is without any forage foods activity. The animals are simply saved their energy by turn down the metabolism from the inside.

Hibernation mostly happened to mammal species, such as hamsters, hedgehog, dormace, chipmunks and one of the most famous mammal for their hibernation time, the bear. Of course a lot speculation arise do the only creature that could hibernate is only mammals? What about the reptiles – what about our beloved iguanas? We just wondering do iguana able to wondering? Well, buddy, together we would discuss it right now; prepare yourself to some addition of new information!

Hibernation in Reptiles

All we know, hibernation was the usual thing mammalian would do, but what about other group of species such reptile? Do they also hibernate just like mammalian? You should know that most of reptilian was growth in tropical and warm habitat. The hibernation was term that used to spend the whole winter in a dormant state. Although, your reptile indeed could hibernate, should you allow them to do it?

The only reptilians that used to hibernate is the ones that lived on a place in a region that winter occurs; the hibernation itself was the mechanism to survive the minus temperature of cold winter which happened for months without availability of warmth and food. It is condition that they cannot escape from; and basically they were born fulled of protection system due to their own habitat climates. But, for most other tropical reptiles boa and ball pythons included iguanas, hibernation is unnecessary – they have no need to hibernate at all.

Hibernation is a dangerous matter for animals lives, not only for reptiles but every single animals on earth. The wild reptilian forced to face a long period of winter because there are no other options available. The wild iguanas or reptiles that doesn’t hibernate while they were living in the wildlife should never hibernated while they were in captivity. But, there are some cases that the reptiles that do hibernated in the wildlife would also hibernate in the captivity due for breeding purpose; other than that, there is no need to let those iguanas hibernated while live in captivity.

A lot of things you should learn about hibernation in reptiles; so, we would give you some important facts of reptilian’s hibernation:

Check the reptiles or iguanas conditions before the hibernation. Unhealthy iguanas of reptiles should be disallowed to hibernate. Unlike mammalians, reptile’s immune system would not work maximum during the cold temperature. This conditions would expose reptile’s vulnerability for external substances (the bad ones); make the unhealthy reptiles become more ill during the hibernation.
You have to make sure that your iguanas or reptiles has the photoperiod and recommended temperatures during the fluctuations of weather outside. Although the lethargic was uncommonly happened during the winter. Thanks to inadvertently dropped of cage temperatures during the day.
Don’t be surprise if you witness some decrease of appetite in your iguanas or reptiles. Not only the appetite, it might also follow by the energy reduce which occur in your iguanas. Always keep your eyes to your reptile weight; normally, reptiles would not loss their weight more than 10% of their body weight. But, however, if it happened – they loss more than the estimate normal prediction, it the perfect time for you due the health of your iguanas to schedule the meeting with veterinarian.
If you determined too hibernate your iguanas or reptiles, you must have seen a veterinarian to exam beforehand in early season (the fall). The vet would take complete tests such as: the chemistry panel, physical examination, and blood stream to make sure that your pet is able and ready to undergo the hibernation. Then, you could ask the veterinarian the safest way to hibernate your iguanas pet, because every single reptile has different requirements of hibernation.

In Southern California, around mid-January to mid-March was the time where hibernation normally ended. But, it still depends on the weather itself, because every region exhibit different times of winter, for the example: in northern, hibernation schedule might last till one month after the spring. However, apparently animals know better than us when the winter is about to end.

The obvious activity animals occurs as a sign of “the winter is end” is actively moving around inside the container or their nest despite the temperature that still cold. If animals could talk, they would gladly say to us “The winter is end, oh dear human!”.