You may never see iguanas pee. Do iguanas pee? How can they pee without us noticing?
Are they holding it on or releasing it in special ways? The information is fascinating and worth a moment to check out.
This article helps you understand what there is know about the mystery, “Do iguanas pee?”
Do Iguanas Pee?
Yes. Iguanas can pee and poo. Some key features to iguana urine include:
- Territorial urine for spraying
- Solid urine known as urates
- White or chalky urine known as uric acid.
- Mix of urine and feces
- Able to hold urine for days or weeks
- Able to use a litter pan for urine and poop
How Do Iguanas Pee?
Iguanas have a urinary bladder and can pee in two main ways:
- Normal urine
- Territorial Urine
1. Normal urine
Reptiles like iguanas can excrete urine that looks:
- Solid
- White
- Chalky
- Liquid
- Mix of urine and feces
When you think an iguana is not urinating, they might be:
- Holding it in for a recorded length to about a month maximum.
- Releasing it with their stool as a solid substance like plants or bugs.
Can iguanas eat bugs? I will explain that right here.
2. Territorial Urine
Iguanas can use their urine to:
- Mark territory
- Defend themselves
They can spray this territorial urine in the air and create a very pungent smell or spread it around their habitat to make sure no other iguanas take over their space.
The smell can ward off smaller to equal size inhabitants and solitary iguanas. Pee helps these non-verbal iguanas communicate and warn their counterparts to back off.
How Often Do Iguanas Pee?
Young iguana babies and juveniles can pee multiple times a day with their stool or in liquid form. An adult iguana is known for being able to hold in urine for days or weeks at a time.
- It has been reported that iguanas can hold their pee for up to a month.
It’s also normal for their uric acid through their urinary bladder to excrete a solid, chalky substance that can come out with their feces each day or every other day.
Do iguanas pee when afraid? Find out in my article here.
Where Do Iguanas Pee?
Iguana can pee from their cloaca after enough build-up in their urinary bladder forces it out. They can hold their pee for long periods of time as well. They also use this pee to mark their territory.
This cloaca is at the base of their tail and it is hard to notice. You might see the vent or opening above the cloaca where the urine slips out. It can also spray out when they are marking territory or using it for defense.
Finally, iguanas can pee inside a litter pan in their enclosure. Make sure to clean this thoroughly every few days to prevent bacterial buildup and the spread of diseases or infections.
The more you bond with your iguana, the better you will figure out all their tendencies like where they pee. Bonding with your iguana is a great article you should check out as well.
How Do Iguanas Poop?
Iguana drops feces in one solid go. Sometimes it’s runny, but they choose to let out their feces in one moment without pooping multiple times a day.
Your iguana should not go longer than 2 days without releasing stool. Every other day is fine. You will see their feces in three steps:
- Liquid (mixed with urine)
- Urates (white, chalky, yellowish)
- Dark colored feces (solid and sometime a little runny)
Examining the feces of an iguana helps to determine their overall health. Exceptionally runny feces or no feces at all may indicate digestive, temperature or disease related issues that need to be addressed.
Are Iguana Droppings Poisonous?
No. If your pet in the home or anyone else makes contact with iguana feces or urates, they should clean up, wash up and prevent the spread of reptile waste.
- Thankfully, iguanas waste in the form of feces or urates (uric acid, pee) is not harmful or poisonous.
A litter pan can develop bacteria on it if not cleaned often. Some cases of iguana dropping contains Salmonella. This bacteria can spread and cause illnesses.
Washing your hands and cleaning the paws of a cat or dog who happens to step in iguana droppings is highly recommended to be done right away for hygienic and preventative purposes.
Iguana Urates
Urates are important to understand when looking for iguana pee and you don’t see any. Urates are part of what excretes from an iguana. They contain:
- Nitrogen
- Phosphorus
Urates help iguanas:
- Regulate body temperature
- Aid in digestive health
- Mark territory
- Attract mates
- Prevent dehydration and kidney failure
Urate is white and stringy and found in iguana poop. It can be also considered chalky or referred to as uric acid. Uric acid passes through the kidneys of iguanas and is excreted as:
- Urine
- Urates
- Feces
Conclusion
It’s easy to believe that iguanas do not pee when you don’t see the actual liquid form of it. You might be noticing stringy, chalky or white substances mixed with their poop.
This is the urine and they may not need to spray out liquid urine for two main reasons:
- They feel safe and no one is threatening their territory.
- No potential mates are around.
Due to these two reasons, you may not notice liquid urine and that’s ok. Your iguana has a urinary bladder and relieves themselves with urine and feces in a litter pan or elsewhere.
Thank you for visiting PocketPetCentral.com for the best information to help you enjoy the life of your pocket pet companion in a fun, safe & healthy way.