Why Do Iguanas Sleep So Hard?

Question

My ig sleeps like a dead rock at night and I thought it was kind of strange because any other pray animal would wake up at the slightest sound/movement, but not my ig, he sleeps through noise and movement.

Once I had him out of his cage kind of late and he was sleepy and so he just fell asleep in my hand, and I talk with my hands so I would move my hands around and he slept most of the time (sure he woke up a few times, that's what made me take him home). Also unless I touch him or my cat attacks his tank (she wont normally unless he's awake and moving) but sometimes she's retarded, he won't wake up and for the first two weeks I had him (I've had him for three months) I thought he was dead every night. But then when I poked him he'd just glare . . .

There is nothing physically wrong with him, but I was just wondering, do all iguanas sleep that hard and dead or is mine special?

Answer 1

There is nothing physically wrong w/ your iguana ... he/she sounds pretty normal when sleeping.

When my girl was living in her tank, she'd sleep threw the night, sometimes when I turned on a lamp she'd wake up but would go right back to sleep. Now that she's living in her big house, I can open the door, check her body heat, refill her bath water, take a picture w/ a flash and she sometimes never wake up.

Iguanas in the wild would be sleeping high in the trees, where some "predators" would rather stay on the ground for there kill. There are a few of course that are high in the trees.

Don't poke your iguana lol ... you like being poked when your in dead of sleep? If you turn on a lamp you should be able to see him/her breathing.  

Sites for you to read:

http://www.greenigsociety.org/ - http://www.iguanaden.org/ - http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html

A great book to read and have on hand:

Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan

Yahoo has some great sites for Iguana owners... these groups helped me and still help w/ questions .. if you'd like to join:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BabyI... - http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Iguan...

* send me an email and I'll send a link of my girl sleeping dead to the world *

Answer 2

Iguanas and bearded dragons are not nocturnal like most reptiles, so they are awake all day. Since they mostly thrive on light and warmth, if your iguana is like my beardie Spike he will straight crash out when his light timer/heat light go off, they get used to that schedule, when there is no sun and heat, to them it is "sleepy time", plus reptiles bodies "slow down" as they get cooler, Spike sleeps very hard too, and in the morning he is kinda like a zombie coming back from the dead until he warms up, he is also kinda grumpy!!,  It takes ALOT to wake him up,and I can also pick him up and hold him and he will just go back to sleep on me, he also likes to put his head under my chin next to my neck and go back to sleep.

Your iguana should be ready for "prey" and awake during the day...but otherwise don't worry about the heavy sleeping, he's o.k. and it's normal.

Answer 3

Reptiles are sensitive to light levels and temperature.

At night, it's not as bright, and cooler.  Both tell iguanas to sleep.  

Yes, it's common for some species of iguanas to sleep through danger.  They evolved in places without many predators, so they don't react like other prey animals.

This is the leading reason some of them are facing extinction.  When humans show up on the islands where they live, bringing dogs, cats, and rats, the iguanas don't know to run for their lives.

Answer 4

b/c its cute