I had a green iguana (male) and he was a moody, territorial lizard who whipped his tail whenever I reached out into his cage to attempt at handle him. I got him when he's about a year old, and I got him CHEAP (RM200 at his size, about RM200 cheaper than retail price) because he's had a bit of a pissy temperament.
Apparently, male iguanas can tell if their human female owners are on their period. They may get aggressive, and try to mate with you. I'm not kidding, you can read the reports here if you'd like a dose of the-more-you-know cerebral primer.
Anyhow, the reason I'm writing this article is not to dissuade you from getting an iguana. I'm putting everything on the table; the good and the bad (my experience) of owning one, and it's entirely up to you to decide if your experience is a blissful one or not.
If you wanted to get an iguana because you saw some videos on Youtube about how tame they can be, you need to be prepared to either be disappointed, or put in 500% effort AND PATIENCE to help your pet get used to your scent and your scary hands.
And that was what I did; I hand feed this bugger every day to condition him to think that I am the source of food, and being with me is rewarding.
The fun thing about keeping iguanas is this; they are big eaters, and they love eating any vegetables you give them. Mine wouldn't stop munching, and anytime I come to check on his cage, he finishes his food. Which is great. And being a herbivore means that its poop doesn't stink as badly as the monitor lizard's (I'll blog about them separately).
So after a lot of coaching and enduring scratches from his sharp claws, I managed to get him out of his cage. The beginning of getting the iguana out of his comfort zone is the most difficult, but after that it's mostly easy because all the iguana does is sits on your hand, tries to climb over your shoulder, over your head, etc.
What I'm saying is, he'll get used to the environment once he's out of his cage.
I'll have to remind you not to pick him up from above (like predatorial birds do); it will set most lizards into panic mode. Always mimic a branch and gently push it beneath its front legs to coach your lizard to climb onto your hand. Also, you need to get used to being clawed at, and that your lizard will make a surprise jump when he's on your shoulder or head.
After about a month, I figured that he's chill enough to come to work with me, so I brought him to work. I think that most captive bred lizards find it easier to relax around humans as long as you don't make any sudden movement.
My conclusion is, iguanas aren't dogs or cats that you can tame, and that iguanas (especially the males) have a bit of a personality to them. Before you buy one, please read plenty of caresheets online to manage your expectations. I'm saying this because over the years, many iguana owners have RELEASED iguanas into the wild and it's already disrupting the ecosystem because they eat everything and breed and breed and breed.
Caring for iguanas are not difficult at all; they are low-maintenance pets but they can grow up to 6ft long (from snout to tail) and you need to have a cage big enough to house it. You will need to take him out daily for exercise too, because they can get obese.
Basic Iguana Care Sheet
What do they eat?
Fresh greens and occassional fruits. You can feed them iguana pellets but I think they're a waste of money. Please don't feed stale food or left overs.
What special requirement do they need?
They need sunlight for basking. If you're housing them indoors, get a UVB lighting or else they will die. They like to climb, so I advice you house them in a cage with a branch for them to chill or something. If you're rich, get a big tank that can accomodate them as they grow, because they grow fast.
What about their poop?
They are herbivores, so their shit doesn't stink. Make sure you clean the poop as soon as you see in, for obvious hygiene reasons.
Do they drink water?
They do. They love water, did you know that iguanas are excellent swimmers too? What you can do is to fill a water dish and leave it in the cage. The water dish can be shallow, or big enough for the iguana to soak in, depends on the size of your cage. What I did was to mist its vegetables with water until there are droplets on the leaf, before feeding it to the iguana.**
Do they need a bath?
Give them a warm bath once a week. If you have a bath tub, let them swim in it. Keep in mind that your iguana is cold blooded (meaning that its blood temperate follows the temperature of the environment) and any sudden extreme temps can cause your iguana to fall sick.
How deep should the bath water be?
For babies, shoulder deep. For adults, swimming pool. Watch this guy swim better than you.
For a more comprehensive care sheet, please do your research. You may start here. Also, note that getting any exotic pets before prior research is highly frowned upon by the community, and if you ask "stupid questions" (stuff that you can google about and get answers from the first 5 links), be prepared to get bombarded with insults.
Oh and if you must know what happened to my iguana, I sold him for twice the price I got him for and bought a civet cat instead.
Peek-a-boo! I'll talk about her in my next post.
Signing off! Enjoy this beautiful sketch of me by the talented 
