After setting up your iguana’s terrarium (lighting, humidity etc.) you will need to get various enclosure decor, accessories and furniture. Accessories for iguana’s cage include tree branches, flowers, hideout boxes, water and food bowls and so on. Placing all these accessories and furniture will directly impact the quality of iguana’s life. A habitat with minimal accessories will also make iguana’s life very boring. In this post, you will find iguana enclosure decor ideas, as well as supplies that iguanas need in their habitat.
Terrarium flooring – liner or substrate
You will need to place a ‘carpet’ or substrate on the flooring of your iguana’s cage. You must place a liner in the terrarium, as it will absorb liquids and smells. There are few choices for the liners or substrates. Keep in mind that iguanas are mostly tropical lizards and need a substrate that can recreate a rainforest setting and hold in humidity.
Some substrates, like sand and fir bark can cause gut impaction if your iguana digests it. If choosing sand for any reason (maybe for desert dwelling iguanas), go for fine grade calcium carbonate sand. If you notice that your iguana is not defecating normally, take it to the vet for an X-Ray – maybe it has ingested some substrate (for example fir bark).
The cheapest option – newspaper. You will have to change it very often and it is not very aesthetically pleasing. However, it is cheap or even free.
The terrarium liner like this – carpet liner that is rather cheap and looks good. You can cut as much liner as you need and fit it yourself. You can also wash and reuse it, and iguana won’t ingest it. This is probably the best type of flooring material for iguana’s vivarium or cage.
Tiles – placing tiles in the terrarium will cost you more but will look attractive and be easy to clean. There will be no risk of gut impaction and you can use ceramic tiles. The only problem that you can face with tiles is keeping the humidity optimal.
You should not use sand as a substrate for green iguana’s cage. It can cause gut impaction and it is not intended for green iguanas. Green Iguanas are rainforest inhabitants, and sand is suitable for desert lizards.
Fir bark – fir bark is a good choice for a substrate. It holds moisture well, increasing humidity and is natural. There is some risk of impaction with fir bark.
Alfalfa meal for substrate – you can use alfalfa as it draws in moisture, reduces bacteria and your iguana can safely ingest it.
Basking spot or resting site for iguana decor – a long diagonal branch
Your iguana loves relaxing and climbing high branches for basking and resting. This is their natural behavior, so you will need to mimic the conditions that they have in the wild. Make sure to place high branches or something else for your iguana to climb.
Choose a basking spot for your iguana and place a large diagonal (or quite vertical, but not fully vertical. Or horizontal as a last resort) branch in that spot. Make sure that the branch is wide enough for your iguana, so it lay on it fully without falling or being uncomfortable. For that, measure your iguana’s width.
Above the branch, place the lights for basking (UVB etc.). Your iguana will climb the branch and will lay on the top to get closer to the light and heat.
There are few branches for your iguana that we can recommend:
- A curvy grapevine branch by Fluker’s like this. The branch is around 20-22 inches long, 12 inches high and will fit inside a 40-gallon vivarium well. This will be a good branch for a juvenile iguana.
- You can also place a lounger for your iguana. You can position it in different ways (we need it to be going up in the cage) and fix it with suction cups. Iguana will love climbing it for basking and relaxing. It will also fit younger iguanas.
How to find a branch for an adult iguana?
Now, where to find large branches for adult iguanas? Finding a large branch for sale on the Internet or shops can be quite hard. While you can use a smaller branch for a 40-gallon tank while your iguana is young, you will need to switch to something bigger when iguana becomes mature.
If you can’t find a branch for sale, try to use something instead of a branch. This can be some kind of a platform – for example made of connected sturdy plastic tubes (out of carpets, maybe) wrapped in a strong rope. Or you could also use tight or heavy-duty ropes connected together (to create width). Be creative and assemble something that is sturdy enough for your iguana to lay on.
You can also go to the woods and find large branches that you can bring home. When bringing branches home, you must treat and shape them before placing in iguana’s enclosure. After treating, cut them in the shapes and remove any rough or sharp edges.
If you buy the branch online or in the shop – treat it by baking for around 20-25 minutes in the oven (150 degrees Celsius is perfect). If you are bringing branches from the woods, you need to treat them too. Treat branches from woods by placing them in the bath with a cup of disinfectant and later, drying them. Treating the branches will kill any mites, spiders and other pests.
Food and water bowls
You will also need to place food and water bowls in iguana’s vivarium. Your iguana will use the water dish not only for drinking, but also for soaking and sometimes defecating. Iguanas are clean reptiles, and you will need to change the water as soon as its dirty.
There are few types of food and water bowls that you can get.
- Large food bowls for mature iguanas for the center of the cage.
- Water dish of a specific shape for the corner of the cage.
- Large rock water dish
- Ramp bowl to baby iguanas to climb and come out via the ramp – to prevent drowning.
Heating pads for warming up the vivarium at night 
Iguanas require quite high temperatures in their vivarium. At night, after turning off the lights, it can be tricky to maintain the highs of needed temperatures. Read this post on heating and lighting of iguana’s cage. This is where heating pads come to help. You will need to place it under the tank and it will increase the temperature in the cage.
Foliage and plants
As we have discussed previously, most green iguanas live in rainforests. Rainforests present a big variety of plants, and you should try to mimic the natural environment. Before buying and placing any foliage in iguana’s vivarium, check this post on toxic and non-toxic plants for iguanas.
Another good option is to buy fake plants, which look real but don’t possess any danger to your reptile in case of ingestion.
Some plant choices for iguana’s vivarium are:
- Boston fern like this one
- Spider orchid
- Ficus plant
- You can also get fake trees and place them in mature iguana’s cage
And other enclosure decor and accessories…
We have also discussed other accessories, such as thermometers and hygrometers, light bulbs and fixtures and even food in our other articles. Read other articles for learn more about iguana care here.