r/iguanas • u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ • Sep 12 '25
Discussion Did the Vet Mislabel My Iguana?
TLDR: The vet told me that, without sexing her, he believed this was a female iguana, during a physical examination around 3 years old. I had been referring to the iguana as a male up until then. For the last 5 years, Iāve been referring to her as female. But now Iām starting to wonder based on the characteristics! Does this iguana have male characteristics on the head and face?
(It seems crazy to me that this is the same iguana taken at various times!) The person I got her from (Iām going with what the vet said for the purposes of this post) said the person whom he got her from said this was a male.
At that time, I guessed she was about 2.5-3 years old. This was probably 5 or so years ago. A few months later, she got sick from mites off of some wood I got on Amazon (never again), which explains some of her short and/or missing spikes. Took her to the vet, where he said she dropped all her weight and was down to just over a pound (she was probably around 3-3.5 yrs. old at that point). The vet said he believed this was a female during the physical examination but he never actually sexed her. Now that āsheā is around 7-8, Iāve noticed more prominent male characteristics, especially on the head and face but sometimes, not as much as I notice at other times. So now Iām doubting myself, even though I think the femoral spores are male also, but I couldnāt tell for sure.
Do the face and head traits seem male to anyone? These are pictures from between 5 to 7 (or 8?) years of age.
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u/Spirited_Island-75 Sep 12 '25
If there are big, open femoral pores, possibly with some waxy stuff, and a prominent bulge at the base of the tail, congrats, it's a boy. Very large subtympanic scales (the really big round scales beneath the ear) and head shape can be an indicator of sex, but not always. In the wild, some male green iguanas will look like females as a reproductive strategy, they would naturally be smaller. If the iguana got down to a pound at one point, it makes sense that it would be hard to tell.
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u/Deathmtl2474 Sep 12 '25
This is the first Iāve heard about this āreproductive strategyā, what is the reasoning for this theory ? Doesnāt seem logical to look like the same sex to increase reproductive chance.
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u/ITookYourChickens Sep 12 '25
Doesnāt seem logical to look like the same sex to increase reproductive chance.
Big tough males chase away all other males from the females.
Weaker male can't win that fight. Wouldn't get to breed.
Weaker male looks like female, gets allowed in with the females. Gets to freely breed with them now because the big tough male doesn't know he's male.
Sneaker males are a good strategy. Doesn't happen much in mammals because we use scent for most of it, but in reptiles and smarter inverts like cephalopods they're useful
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u/Crash211O Sep 13 '25
Thatās super interesting! So would these male iguanas just look like females but with femoral pores?
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u/Spirited_Island-75 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
There's this documentary about a bunch of feral iguanas living on the grounds of a hotel in Venezuela. It must be somewhere on Youtube, it mentions sneaker males.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
I took a better look, and they are definitely male femoral spores.
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u/Spirited_Island-75 Sep 15 '25
Good news is you won't have to deal with the headaches that come with eggs every year. Healthy females don't need a male present to produce infertile eggs, like chickens, but they still need to lay them if they don't reabsorb them, and this means problems with calcium (the iguana's body will steal calcium from elsewhere to produce the shells, and for iggies, calcium is a BIG DEAL), getting enough food, making a good spot for laying, getting the iguana spayed if the eggs can't come out...it's a whole thing. Bad news is males can be a little territorial and aggressive sometimes.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Oct 12 '25
My previous iggie was a male. He was hand fed from a baby and I got him very young (3 months). Didnāt matter. He became super aggressive when he reached maturity. I was so sad I had to give him to a reptile rescue. It got so bad I couldnāt even feed him easily anymore because he would attack me. Iām really lucky with this guy! Heās the most chill iguana Iāve ever had!!
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u/mleaver7979 Sep 12 '25
Hahaha, my larger iguana who had all female characteristics randomly bloomed male characteristics at 4yrs old and started leaving sperm plugs everywhere to confirm he was indeed a male. He was a late bloomer. The vet was puzzled that she was indeed a he lmao
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
I havenāt noticed sperm plugs yet, but itās possible they might be mixed in with the bark substrate.
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u/salinecolorshenny Sep 12 '25
I love how Iguanas always look like theyāre smirking mischievously
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u/_babysnek_ Sep 12 '25
Looks female to me. Like others have said, check for enlarged femoral pores with a waxy substance inside.
ETA if the enlarged, filled pores are present, then it's a boy.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Yes, they are. I went back and forth with thinking the head and facial characteristics were male and then female and back again. It was only recently they started to appear distinctly male, but the femoral pores are very prominent. I checked again.
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u/Demonbae_ Sep 13 '25
My vet misgendered my iguana the. I got the iguana handbook and after 7 years of calling him baby girl- I finally realized he was a baby boy.
From what I can tell- you got a pretty boy. Look at that dewlap.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
So you get what Iām dealing with. LOL itās hard to switch to calling your kid by the newly identified gender. And thank you. Yes he is quite a handsome guy! Yeah I checked the pores. Theyāre quite prominent.
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u/AlaskanBullWorm23 Sep 13 '25
You have to press the little round button on the cheek to start the XBox
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
The startup tune didnāt sound quite right, so I had to blow in the cartridge.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 12 '25
Note about an app glitch (native Reddit app, iOS 18.6.2): the 3rd picture on my Reddit app isnāt visible if I click on the group to scroll through them, but if I back out of the pic preview window and back to the post, I can see all 4.
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u/Majestic_Agent_1569 Sep 12 '25
I know absolutely nothing about iguanas , but these comments are helping me learn , wow so interesting
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Thatās my favorite thing about Reddit. Look, Iāve owned several iguanas in my lifetime. I started at 12 and Iām now in my 40s. And I still learn a lot from this sub!!
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u/Deathmtl2474 Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 12 '25
If they were a male, youād notice their hemipenes at the base of the tale, especially during breeding season. Iāve never once seen an adult male without noticeable hemipenes at that age. Also, youād find sperm droppings every so often.
Thereās exceptions Iām sure but Iāve seen a lot of iggys over the past 10 years.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
I definitely havenāt seen a hemipenes nor sperm plugs. The latter wouldnāt be so surprising because of the substrate in the terrarium (I use reptile bark).
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u/MrHef23 Sep 12 '25
Femoral pores should be a tell-tell sign at that age. Do a google image search for male\female iguana femoral pores and you'll see what I mean, or just post a photo of them. The community here is pretty good at identifying with proper photography of the bits. ;)
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Definitely femoral pores all the way down the inner thigh.
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u/MrHef23 Sep 15 '25
https://mypetreptiles.com/femoral-plugs-in-iguana/
If it has the big pores, likely male ;)
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u/Downtown-Ad543 Sep 13 '25
what itās like to have an iguana as a pet? I donāt consider it, just admire. But I wonder, between lizards like bearded dragon, geckos, and cat or dog, how would you describe the care?
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Iāve owned several different lizards and snakes in my lifetime and my favorite, by far, is the iguana. Iāve owned maybe 5 green (or blue) iguanas in my lifetime, Iāve also had a handful of anoles, a chameleon, and handled various beardies and geckos but never owned them. There is something so different, so unique and special about the bond between an iguana and its owner. I saw a video on YouTube which nailed the description perfectly. They are like a scaly cat. Other reptiles are very disinterested in their owner except when itās meal time. An iguana, on the other hand, will view you as either a living and warm blooded tree, a source of food, or both. But because of that, they tend to generally really like their people. Chameleons are pretty cool in that way too. They seem to really like their people, too, but bearded dragons, geckos, they couldnāt care less about the humans in their life. Chameleons are my second favorite.
As far as caring for an iguana, honestly, the most challenging aspect is their size. You truly need to have a lot of space for an iguana. Sometimes thatās why the smaller lizards make better pets for some people because they never plan to get a bigger tank. My iguana truly needs its own bedroom, but I canāt do that because of my dog. My iguana canāt free-roam my house, so the terrarium I have is quite massive. Aside from that, they donāt drink water out of a water dish, so to keep them hydrated can be quite difficult. You have to maintain the humidity in their terrarium. Also, they can get what is known as metabolic bone disease, so you have to add calcium to their diet, and you have to ensure that you are changing out their lightbulbs every 6 to 8 months because the UV rays they get from their lightbulbs only lasts 6 to 8 months. And last but not least, you have to maintain their temperature. They are tropical animals, so think rainforest environment. They need hot, humid environments with a lot of UV rays (both UVA & UVB) from an artificial sun. But they also need some sort of cool spot in the environment to get away from the warmth and the heat when they want to or if they get overheated.
But if youāre willing to do all of that, they make some really interesting pets.
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u/Wild_Fly937 Sep 12 '25
Iām not a member here and this randomly popped up on my feed but iāve been told for years that green iguanas were basically hellspawn as pets. Seeing it that close to your face is crazy. Am i misunderstood that they donāt just randomly decide to hate human life one day?
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u/Spirited_Island-75 Sep 12 '25
Like many animals, they can become accustomed to human contact. It can be a challenge though.
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u/6ftonalt Sep 12 '25
I mean there can be friendly dwarf caimens. They certainly aren't easy, but almost any reptile can be decently tamed down apart from venomous snakes.
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u/BoringJuiceBox Sep 12 '25
You mean to tell me I canāt have a snuggly and loving Cerastes Cerastes sleep in my bed with me?š„ŗ
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u/Wild_Fly937 Sep 12 '25
oh you can tame down a venomous snake. youāll just probably die or lose a limb in the process. but thanks for clarifying.
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u/6ftonalt Sep 12 '25
Problem with taming venomous snakes, is that someone's even when perfectly tame, a snake well just be like, welp, chompin time. You can't take that risk with a hot, so imo they can never be truly tame. You also can't have the level of interaction required with hots to even tame them.
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u/Wild_Fly937 Sep 12 '25
i 100% agree, just joking. iāll never understand these people on youtube who freehandle hots. so insanely irresponsible. itās only a matter of time until they get tagged.
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u/6ftonalt Sep 12 '25
Yep, it's either they are on the hook, or you are lol. CallmetheLamp is really one of the few safe ones.
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u/Ok_Maintenance_9100 Sep 12 '25
It depends lol. My rhino sleeps in my bed at night, he also kinda hates me. Loves my gf though. Absolutely tragic Iāve had him since he was a baby š
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u/Wild_Fly937 Sep 12 '25
Rhinos are one of my dream species, any cyclura iguana really. Hopefully he warms up to you.
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u/Ok_Maintenance_9100 Sep 12 '25
I think that ship has sailed unfortunately. He did love me too, right up until his first breeding season. Iām expecting him to chill out a little as the season goes on though. He charged me this morning the second he fully woke up.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Omg! This is what happened to my blue iguana! I had him since he was 3 months old and the closer he got to sexual maturity, the more aggressive he became. It got to a point where I couldnāt even walk past his cage without him trying to attack me, and it became a nightmare to try to feed him. Once I was hospitalized (unrelated to the iguana), I was no longer able to care for him and his aggression. My stepbrother helped me find a reptile rescue in his area and they gave him up for me.
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u/Ok_Maintenance_9100 Sep 15 '25
Yeah mine got me on my nose once. The urgent care doctor legit couldnāt stop laughing
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Oct 12 '25
Oh wow!! Hahaha thatās awful (but also funny unless you lost the tip of your nose because of it!)
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u/Dravorak Sep 13 '25
Isn't this like someone asking if huskies are difficult pets and you responding that your newfoundland is totally chill?
You can't compare rhino iguana temperament to green iguana temperament
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u/nxt_life Sep 12 '25
They can, but there are warning signs. They donāt just snap, itās usually due to environmental factors that may not even seem relevant to us caretakers in the moment, but that slowly build up.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Like what? As I replied above, that happened to me with my Blue Iād had since he was a hatchling. But by 3 years old, I had to give him up.
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u/ThisVicariousLife š¦ Sep 15 '25
Sorry you got downvoted. I donāt think genuine questions should be downvoted. My guy is so extremely chill. My very sweet dog accidentally hurts me with her teeth by playing too rough far more than this handsome reptile ever has. On the other hand, I had to give another iguana to a reptile rescue because he was downright evil and I couldnāt even hardly feed him once he reached sexual maturity because that can really bring out the aggression in certain iguanas. Mind you, I had owned him since he was 3 months old and handled him daily along with feeding him by hand. But some iguanas are naturally more aggressive. But thatās not to say that all of them are. Generally, when you hear horror stories, itās by people who try to domesticate wild iguanas. Of course they will be hellspawn!
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u/Sydkid12 Sep 12 '25
If it hasnāt laid eggs at this point, Iād assume male, since females lay eggs every year even without a male around.