Belize Iguana FAQ

What is an iguana? A reptile

What is a reptile? A cold-blooded animal

What is the scientific name for the green iguana? Iguana iguana

How big do they get? 5-6 Feet long which includes their tail

Do Green Iguanas eat insects? No, they are herbivores feeding only on flowers, leaves, and fruits in the wild

What kind of fruit do they eat in the wild? Figs and BriBri and many other plants

What do you feed them in captivity? A wide variety of fruits, vegetables, chaya leaves and a wide range of leaves found in the wild

How long do they live?  Approximately 15 years in the wild and even more in captivity under excellent condition

Are they green when they hatch? Yes they are green when they hatch and have a lots of energy to run

Why are they green? They spend their first years in the lower vegetation and the green coloration allows them to blend in with the plants and protect them from predators (camouflage)

Are the adults green? No, the adults gradually change from green to darker color such as browns, grays, black and slight greens. 

Why are some iguanas orange and some are brown?  Are they the same species? Yes, the orange iguanas are the males during mating season.  The brown ones are the females during mating season

What does gravid mean? The first period of gestation when the females carry developing eggs for two months

How long does gestation last? 5 months-- Female develops the eggs internally for 2 months and burries them in the sand for 3 months

When is mating season? Early December and January and even ito early February

Where do they live? Most of their lives they spend it up tall trees mostly along river banks (arboreal)

Is that where they lay their eggs, in the trees? No, they lay their eggs in sandy tunnels that they dig along the river banks.

When do they lay their eggs? During the months of March, April and May

How do the iguanas lay their eggs? When it's nearly time to lay, the female comes down from the trees and finds suitable, loose soil.  She then digs tunnels several feet deep where she deposits the eggs

How many eggs does she lay? For the first years laying, she will lay 20-30 but as she gets bigger  she will lay 40-60.

Does she lay the eggs all together? Yes, during the course of a few hours

Are the females mean at this time? Yes, they will defend their nesting site by whipping their tails.

How many species of iguanas are there in Belize? There are two species of Iguanas in Belize they are the Spiny-tailed (ST) and Green (G)

How do you tell the difference between the two?
(a) Habitat: ST live in old brick walls, stones, or underground.  G live in the canopy.
(b) Body length: ST are shorter. G have very long tails that are twice the size of their bodies.
(c) Coloration: ST are gray. G are green, brown, or orange
(d) Food: ST eat insects as well as fruits and vegetables G eat only fruits, leaves, and flowers

How long are the iguanas when they hatch? Between  22-30cm which includes body and tail length

What does cold-blooded mean? Animals that cannot make their own body heat.  They rely on the sun to warm their bodies.

How many iguanas do you have in here? Approximately 125 iguanas which includes 25 larger iguanas that are 1 year and 10 months and another 100  (baby) iguanas that are 10 months old.

Do all of the eggs hatch? Not all the eggs hatches, some are parasitised or deformed or may lack certain mineral which is crcial for their developent.

How many of them hatch? Approximately 50% of the taotal collected eggs will hatch   50%

How do the iguanas defend themselves? By using their tails as a whip or lashing. The tail can also break off at the middle and the iguana can escape.

Does the tail grow back? Yes, they can regenerate (grow back) normally within 6 months to one year.

Do the iguanas drink water? Iguanas occasionally (at time) drink water especially when the weather is very hot and dry, but they normally get their water from the food they eat

How long can they stay under water? Iguana can remain under water for 20-30 minutes. They are also excellent swimmers and divers these are also ways that the iguanas use to escape from predator

When do they reach sexual maturity? Females-2 years, Males-3 years

Do the females always produce fertile eggs? No, if the female has not mated, she may produce infertile eggs.

How can you tell when it is a fertile egg? You cannot tell if an egg is fertile

What is the texture of the eggs? The egg of the iguana is soft to leathery like turtle eggs not brittle like bird eggs

Do other body parts besides the tail regenerate? Yes, their toe nails, spines, skin and teeth all regenerate.

What is the function of the tail?
(a)Defense - whip or decoy
(b)Balance - brace itself descending tree and helps control movements
(c)Swimming

How do you tell the difference between the males and females?

How do they mate? The male grips the female from the neck region, female remains still while male positions himself on her, whichever side the male is on, he will use that side of his hemipenis.

Do they have ears? 
Yes, they are called tympanum membranes (outer eardrum) which is visible as brown scales on either sides of their head

How do they cool their bodies?
(a)Go in the river
(b)Go in the shade
(c)Extend dewlap

Are the eggs like other reptiles with heat determining the sex? Yes, warmer = male, cooler = female

What temperature do they require during incubation? Temperatures of 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit

What types of diseases and parasites do the iguanas get? They can acquire parasites such as ticks and intestinal worms.  They can get fungal and bacterial infections on their scales.  They also can suffer from diseases due to their diet. 

How do you treat these problems? Approximately once a month we give them baths in water and iodine, and we pick off their ticks.  The iodine helps prevent infections in the scales.  We also deworm them every three months.  In order to prevent diet related illnesses, we frequently add vitamins and calcium to their food.

How do they deal with these problems in the wild? They instinctively eat different leaves to get rid of worms and to obtain vitamins and minerals and they also regularly shed their skin to get rid of ticks and mites

Why do you grow iguanas? The project of growing iguanas is here so that we can get people to understand more about the Green Iguanas life and where they live, how important it is becoming to protect more of the natural home areas where iguanas live. This brings ideas to conserve and protect both the natural habitat and many other species that occur in this unique habitat.

Do people eat iguanas? Yes, people throughout the Central American region eat Iguanas and in particular the adult females when they are carrying eggs.

Are the Green Iguana a threatened specie? Yes, the Green Iguana is a threatened specie and may soon become an endangered specie if the over hunting and destruction of their habitat continues at this high rate.

How can we help to save the Green Iguanas? We can all help to save the Green Iguanas by allowing more forest to grow along our rivers, do not hunt and eat many iguanas and protecting them.

Will you release these Iguana in the Wild? Yes, we will be releasing iguanas to the wild in places where they can be protected in the reserves.

At what age will you release the iguanas? Iguanas will be raised in conservatory for two years and before maturity be released.

Once the captive bred Iguanas are released in the wild , will they be able to live on their own? The Iguanas we release from the conservatory will have a good chance to live on their own in the wild, due to their very keen instincts to adopt to new environment, being herbivores (feeding only on plant material) and they will experience the same weather condition as they did while growing up inthe conservatory

Are the Green Iguanas "smart"? Iguanas are smart in many different ways which allow them to survive every day threats, find food, remember smells and  sounds and many other unique abilities

Are there any other common names for the Green Iguanas in Belize? The male Green Iguana is called "Garabo" and the female Green Iguana is called "Guana", the Belizean people also call the Green Iguana "Bamboo Chicken"

When did the Iguana Project go started here at the Hotel? The San Ignacio Resort Hotel got started with the conservation project of the green Iguana in 1996 through 2000 A.D. This new exhibit was built and opened to the public in November 2003 and got started with iguana eggs collected from the wild along the river banks in farmlands in the village of Bullet Tree Falls Cayo District

How is this Conservatory Project supported? The San Ignacio Resort supports the project along with other fees charged for the tour, there is no government or other entities that support this project.