Castro, Jungle Bob's Cuban Rock Iguana

Castro is a Cuban Rock Iguana

• Scientific Name : (Cyclura nubila)
• Location: Cuba
• Diet: Mainly vegetables, some fruit, and few insects for protein
• (Castro also enjoys pizza crust once in a while too ;) he’s spoiled)
• Maximum size: 4ft
• Life Span: They have been known to live 40 years+

Although we don’t like to play favorites, Castro might be our favorite animal. We adopted him over 10 years ago from an Iguana rescue facility. Castro's birthday is July 4th, He was born in 1998 and still has a long life ahead of him.

We consider him our unofficial mascot, as he travels with us to the majority of our shows, events and presentations. You can come see him at our store anytime you want, and most of the time he is out wandering around and greeting people (not to mention looking for his favorite snack, goliath worms).

Castro,  truly is the biggest diva of the reptile world, and is treated as such. Recently Castro appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Coyote Peterson in quite the TV moment! 

When most people think of an Iguana, they think of the wildly popular Green Iguanas. They are very similar, but at the same time vastly different. Contrary to what you may think or hear, Iguanas in general do not make good beginner pets. They are considered to be a more advanced pet. You need to make sure you have a very large enclosure, although they start small and can be kept in a fish tank or terrarium at first.  Cubans can get to 4ft long and the Greens get close to 6ft. They require custom built enclosures within 2 years at most. As friendly and calm as Castro is, he did not start that way. It takes a lot of handling on a daily basis to get them to trust you. (This will most likely include being bit/scratched quite a bit).

So before you go out and buy an Iguana of any type, PLEASE do your homework. It is not fair to you, or the animal to have an inadequate enclosure or habitat!

The Reptile Gurus at Jungle Bob's will be happy to answer any questions.