Most people having purchased their Iguana from a pet shop or maybe even obtained as a rescue and therefore not knowing the exact date of hatching, become curious as to the Iguana’s age and try searching for information that will tell them this.
The truth is, there are no definite precise indicators which can help establish the age of an Iguana from its size.
This is due to a great many variables that can affect the Iguanas size, such as previous care, diet, the habitat it has been kept in, health history, tail loss etc…so the following age/size chart is at best a rough guide to your Iguanas age and should not be taken as definite.
| Age | S.V.L | S.TL |
|---|---|---|
| Just hatched | 2 Inches head to vent | 6-8 inches total length |
| At 3 months old | 4 inches head to vent | 12 inches total length |
| At 6 months old | 6 inches head to vent | 18 inches total length |
| At 1 Year old | 8 inches head to vent | 2-foot total length |
| At 18 months old | 10 inches head to vent | 30 inches total length |
| At 2 Years old | 12 inches head to vent | 3-foot total length |
| At 3 years old | 16 inches head to vent | 45 inches total length |
| At 4 years old | 18 inches head to vent | 54 inches total length |
| At 5 years old | 20 inches head to vent | 5-foot total length |
| At 6 years old | 22 inches head to vent | 66 inches total length |
| At 7 years old | up to 24 inches head to vent | Up to 6 foot total length |
Note: From hatching and up to the first few years growth is rapid and Iguanas will reach maturity at around 2-3 years of age.
There is a slowing down of growth at around the 4 years stage and this is when many start filling out as opposed to getting longer, but still increasing in weight.
The head to vent length is recognized as the more accurate of the two and is usually abbreviated to SVL (snout to vent length). The STL (snout to tail length) is less accurate due to many Iguanas losing tails as juveniles and then re-growing them to a smaller extent than the original tail.
