Why does an iguana change colour?

Iguanas are green in general, the boys turn yellow to orange during mating season and most of the time turns back green after the season, on occasion they just stay orange. Forest went into his first season at the age of 1, they usually only go into season from 3 years old. Forest is going to go into his 3rd season any moment now, for normal iguanas it only last 2-3 months but Forest's season lasts 6-7 months!!! A very sad time for me, he also stops eating completely. A boy in season is DANGEROUS and you CANNOT dominate him - you need to get out of his way or go to hospital - it is as simple as that.

They turn brown like a muddy brown when they are sick. There are however iguanas that are sick but still green.

They turn a very dark brown to black when they are stressed and when the stress persist they can become very ill. Something as simple as a change in their environment causes stress - they HATE CHANGE.
Moving houses was extremely stressful for my iguana and I found him black every single day when we got home after work. We did not change his cage or anything inside it, only his view outside the cage changed. The only way that I could get him to calm down and go green was by holding him against me. He used to stick his head under my hair and held onto me so tightly that his nails got stuck in my flesh. He only got better when we moved him into his new room. They also turn dark brown to black when they are scarred and it goes away when their mood changes, usually within the hour, unless of course if they stay scared.

When outside and the sun is not very strong or even in the enclosure and the heat is not sufficient they turn themselves black. They have the ability to only turn the side facing the sun black and the other side stays green. Amazing hey! The patches are stunning and look like leopard prints.

Do not get confused between the dark colours of a stressed and a cold iguana. A stressed iguana does not have patches of black, it is almost a continuous colour. A cold iguana has something that looks like a tiger's skin.

They turn a very light green to even white when they are too hot. I usually dose Forest with the sprinklers before this happens. I am paranoid alright.

For more detail and photos please join my site.