A few misconceptions are:

 

1) Iguanas Are Stupid

2) Iguanas Have No Personality

3) Iguanas Eat Meat

4) Iguanas Will Only Grow As Large As The Cage You Put Them In

5) Iguanas Don't Have Any Special Requirements

6) Iguanas Don't Need UVB Or Natural Sunlight Like Some Other Reptiles

7) Iguanas Are Low Maintenance Pets

8) Iguanas Are Great Pets For Kids

9) Iguanas Don't Need To See A Vet Regularly.

 

1) Iguanas are not stupid!  Iguanas are very easily trainable, you can teach your pet many things.  I know someone that taught their iguana to use the bathroom and bob its head on command.  You can teach your pet many things, it is all up to you and how much time you decide to spend on it.

 

2) Iguanas have very different personalities.  They range from being placid to totally insane I know my pet is!  Iguanas are like people, and like people they can be mean.  But if you tame yours early on it can be nice.

 

3) Most books suggest that you should feed meat to your pet, and pet stores (My iguana book told me to, and when I got my first the pet store said to feed it dog food).  This is so very untrue.  Many diseases can be a result of this.

 

4) Iguanas are not like goldfish! They will grow to 4-5 feet if treated properly.  And in some cases seven feet!

 

5) Iguanas have a lot of special needs like heat, UVB lights, and calcium and phosphorus, and large cages.

 

6) Iguanas will die with out natural sunlight or UVB!  You must give them this.

 

7) Iguanas are high Maintenance pets.  They need a lot of things, like nail clippings, and lighting, and fresh food and water.

 

8) Iguanas are bad pets for kids as I had three when I was little and they died of malnutrition and overheating (the over heating was because my irresponsible sister decided she was going to take MY PET outside and let it bake in 100+ heat)

 

9) Iguanas need to be taken to the vet often because of the many parasites they might get.  And they need to get their cal/phos ratio taken regularly.