So you're in love with an iguana named Iggy. He's green, he's scaly, and he . . . lives in a tank in your living room. You need all the information you can get to keep him happy. And close encounters of the scaly kind require thought and planning beyond your average food bowl, water dish, and squeeze toy.

Two of the basic requirements in creating a home for your reptilian pal are heat and a reptile-friendly container. Aquariums, custom cages, and boxes of the home-built type are all good places for your green friend to call home. The easiest (and cheapest) lining for the cages of many reptiles is newspaper-it's easy to change and easy to tell when it's wet. Turtles need a more humid lining, such as soil mixed with peat moss. Geckos will like smooth aquarium stones in the bottom of the cage. Snakes will appreciate rocks to facilitate shedding, and iguanas and snakes both will like a hardwood driftwood branch for climbing. All linings should be changed regularly, with feces removed often.

The second component of building your pet's personal universe is to create a sun-of sorts. Reptiles depend on the air temperature to maintain their body heat. Room temperature is too cold for most reptiles, so you'll need to warm the cage environment as well as provide hot spots for basking (see Your Own Personal Sun). Most temperate (as opposed to desert or tropical) reptiles will appreciate air that's 75 to 80 degrees Farenheit, and the only way to be sure you are providing adequate heat is to use a thermometer-preferably of the digital, indoor/outdoor, minimum/maximum type.