what types of foods does a domestic iguana (lizard) eats?

Answer 1

First of all, there is no such thing as a domestic iguana. All reptiles are wild animals, and should be treated as such.

Green iguanas are strict vegetarians (NO CRICKETS!!! Some experts consider a VERY few crickets all right for an iguana in the first year, but there is a lot of debate about it. It's way too easy to overload their kidneys on stuff like that. Best to stay away from it all together.) They need a variety of greens, such as collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, endive, escarole, bok choy, dandelion greens, limited kale and romaine. They also need veggies such as squash, carrots, zucchini, cactus pad, frozen mixed veggies with peas, green beans etc... And some fruits, like berries, banana, papaya, fig etc... Absolutely NO broccoli, cauliflower or spinach.

Check out www.anapsid.org for more iguana info.

Answer 2

What Our Iggies Eat

I want to make one thing clear, right up front. This page is not about what you should feed your iguana, it's about what we feed our iguanas. There is plenty of debate, both online and off, about what the best diet for an iguana is, but you won't find any of that here. On the other hand, I do want to stress that the one thing everyone seems to agree on, and that evidence seems to support, is that animal protein of any kind is not good for your iguana. This means that it is not acceptable to feed your iguana cat food, or dog food, or hamburger, or eggs... For more detailed information about what you should and should not feed your iguana, please visit Melissa Kaplan's Anapsid.org

We make two sets of iggie food once a week - a salad of greens, and a mixture of various squashes and other vegetables as listed below.

For the greens portion of their diet, we buy one bunch each of collard, mustard greens, and turnip greens. These are shredded/cut into small bits and then stored in an airtight bag in the refrigerator. The greens stay nice and fresh all week. When the igs get fed, they each get a large helping of greens with some of the vegetable salad on top.

Left: "white" squash; Right; Acorn squash
Left: Turnip Greens; Right; Collard Greens
(58 cents each at Food4Less)

Clockwise from upper left: Acorn, spaghetti,
banana, zuccini, and sweet potatoes.
Turnip, mustard, and dandelion greens.

The final mix.

The vegetable mixture contains various combinations of the following ingredients:
Orange squash
Yellow squash
(i usually buy an acorn squash and a butternut or spaghetti squash, as well as other small summer squashes when available, and only use about 1/4 of each per mixture)
Snow peas
(one small handful)
Green beans
(one small handful)
Two carrots
Two brussell sprouts
One parsnip
One mango, or half a mexican papaya
1/2 yam/sweet potato
1/2 cup of rabbitt pellets
(alfalfa pellets... once added to mix, they will quickly absorb moisture and become easy for ig to eat - you can also moisten them beforehand by soaking them in a bit of water or fruit juice)

The vegetables are put through a food processor and shredded into small pieces, then they are placed in plastic baggies (one baggie per meal) and refrigerated.



When treat time comes, our iggies prefer the following:
- Bananas
- Peaches
- Cantelope
- Watermelon
- Fruit-flavored yogurt



Then there was the time the iggies found out that the folks at Iguana Zone didn't think that bananas and yogurt were a good daily treat and decided to take it out on the cat. As the note below reveals, the iggies were not amused!

Answer 3

those who told you to feed insects are COMPLETELY WRONG!!!! It is now known that never in an iguanas life is animal protein needed. You should NEVER feed crickets or any other type of insect. the protein will bind with calcium, which is essential for iguanas! which may end up causing metobolic bone disease. one of my iggys have this debilitating disease due to improper care before we got her. Luckily it was in the early stages and was stopped before it further harmed her. you should feed lots of leafy greens such as collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and add verity like bell peppers occasionally and some fruits (NOT citrus though) avoid iceburg lettuce, there is no nutrition in it and will do nothing for the iguana. anyways hopefully that helped some, but please do not feed your iggy any insects iguanas are complete herbivores!!

Answer 4

Iguanas are herbivores and can not process animal protien like meat, bugs, and eggs. They should be feed 45% leafy greens like dandilions, collards, mustard greens, beet tops but not any kind of lettuce. 45% hard veggies like an orange fleshed squash(acorn, pumpkin,butternut), green bell peppers, fresh green beans, fresh snow or snap peas, turnips, and asparagus, no broccolil. And 10% fruit like Figs, papaya, mango, and berries.

Here is a great website about Iguanas, it was recomended by my vet.
www.anapsid.org

Answer 5

Iguanas are vegetarians!!! they eat kale(very little-not good for them) Mustard greens, collard greens, even iguana pellets.. Make sure you give it enough calcium and vitamins!!! read up on iggys!!! they need alot more attention than expected!!! ~kin

Answer 6

Crickets, Salad, Manufactured Iguana Foods, Fruits, Veggies...

Answer 7

Iguanas eat vegetables, so you can feed them shredded carrots, letuc and other vegetables.

Answer 8

feed the iguanna vegies and soft fruits! also you can feed it very small mice to help it grow large, faster

Answer 9

remember that they don't have teeth just powerful jaws. i used to feed mine lettuce. be careful they can move fast and it hurts to be bitten. they definitley don't eat meat.

Answer 10

mostly insects, grasshoppers, little centipedes`