Iguana food?

Question

I have a 1 year old green iguana. I feed it frozen peas and iguana food ( from the pet store )

I was wondering if someone could tell me what their iguanas like to eat for treats and what they enjoy?

Answer 1

DARK LEAFY GREENS...not lettuce
mustard greens
collard greens
squash
carrots
peppers
yams
http://www.iguanaden.com/mainframe.htm

Answer 2

OK, i cant believe I'm doing this again... First there's really no special need for baby iguanas, they can be fed like adult iguanas, they "can" but as babies they really need they're nutrition so its important not to do anything stupid. You have to make sure the food is small and soft, baby iguanas, eat thing way bigger than them, they'll always love good tasting food, and baby iguanas, have been known to like bugs ( WARNING THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ) Heres a list on how I fed my iguanas, as babies 70% greens 20% veggies 10%fruit Staple food Collard greens Dandelion greens Kabocha squash Okra Green Beans Papaya 4 times a week Mustard greens Carrots Asparagus Parsnip Hibiscus Celery Apples Stick to that and its good, when they age you can add more..

Answer 3

First frozen food can lose its nutrience and giving iguana food dried can actually be bad for your iguana, because depending on what they do have in the ingredient they can have animal protein which iguanas should not have.

Hopefully your iguana is no longer living in a 55 gallon tank at 1 yrs old. That is too small. Also the temps need to be correct of they can not digest there food. UVB is needed for iguanas, not just 1 UVB tube but should have 2. The coil UVBs do not produce the correct UVB your ig needs and the "U" shaped have been shown to cause eye damage.

Iguanas do not eat meat protein, which includes meat of any type, including bugs/crickets. Daily food should have 5-7 good staple greens (2-3 cups a day if not more) ... collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, endive, radicchio, arugula, mache, watercress ... some greens to give occasionally kale, bok choy, escarole ... you can add romaine to your iguanas food, but not as a staple food source should be very small amounts and every couple of days not every day, romaine does not have the nutrience it is mainly only a water source ... some things to add (small amounts) snap peas, bell peppers (every now and then), parsnip, sweet potato/yam, acorn squash, butternut squash, buttercup squash ... fruits should only be given every now and then once or twice a week type of thing fruits are like junk food to iguanas ... some fruits to try papay, kiwi, mango, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, honeydew (great water source), canalope (great water source), 12 grain wheat bread ... if anything has seeds make sure you remove seed before you give it to your iguana ... watermelon (seedless) can be frozen and then shaved onto your iguanas food helps w/ hydration everyday ... there are some foods that aren't good for your iguana: spinach has oxalate acids bind to the calcium, so even though spinach is high in calcium, almost none is actually available for the iguana to use, also the oxalate acids can form oxalate crystals which can and do build up in the kidneys causing kidney damage/failure ... some ig owners do give there ig spinach but in very small amounts and only once a month ... carrots is another one to try not and use much of, best to use a sweet potato/yam or acorn ... corn is bad to give because igs can't digest them ... food should be cut/chopped/diced no bigger then the iguanas head, if they are small having a chopper chop them up, or slice them into very small pieces ... spray/mist food to help w/ water/hydration ... for help w/ food and learn and understanding the Ca:P Ratio to food

Here are some sites that will help you learn food, humidity, bath, handling, temps, UVBs, health, cage building:
http://www.greenigsociety.org/
http://www.iguanaden.org/
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html

Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan is an excellent book to read and hand on hand as reference.

Answer 4

The iguana food from the petstore is extremly un healthy for iguanas.
They need:

45% leafy greens such as escarole, dandelions, endive, mustard, and collards, NO lettuces or spinach! They aren't good for him.
45% hard mixed veggies such as an orange flesh squash the harder the better(acorn,pumpkin,butternut... fresh green beans, fresh peas, parsnip, and green bell peppers, NO broccoli or cauliflower, or avocado!
10% fruit such as figs, papaya, mango, pear, and berries. NO bananas, only very rarely as a treat.
NO ANIMAL PROTEIN such as bugs, meat, eggs, or cheese!

Cage size:

Minimum length (side to side): 2-3 x
Minimum depth (front to back): 1.5-2 x
Minimum height: 1.5-2 x


Temperature:

They need a basking area of 95-100 and normal temps of 75-85. NO heat rocks!

Lights:

They need a 5.0 UV light.

Hydration:

They should also get baths everyday or so. And should have a water bowl in their cage.

Vet:

You should take Your Iguana for regular vet checkups to make sure it is in good health. Reptiles can have internal parasites that can harm them so you should make sure the vet checks that.

Here are some good sites, the first one was recomended by my vet.

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html
www.greenigsociety.org
www.triciaswaterdragon.com/igcare.htm
http://www.baskingspot.com/iguanas/igboo...
http://www.reptilecare.com/IgCare.htm

Answer 5

They need a balance fresh salad daily, with correct vitamin supplementation. The pelleted food is NOT a complete or healthy diet! Here is a recipe for the best diet you can feed--it is found at: http://anapsid.org/

Remember
The Basic Salad is just part of the total diet. It is served along with the leafy greens. If at first your iguana ignores the Basic Salad and eats only the greens, try withholding the greens until he starts eating the Basic Salad. Once he is eating the salad without hesitation, then you can reintroduce the greens.

Basic Salad Recipe

1/2 cup shredded raw green beans

1/2 cup shredded raw orange-fleshed squash (such as acorn, banana, kabocha, spaghetti, and pumpkin) - you can occasionally alternate with carrots

1 medium or 2 small raw shredded parsnips (in areas where these are seasonally hard to find, you can substitute with asparagus or cooked or canned lima, navy or kidney beans that have been well rinsed and minced or mashed. If you use beans, add extra calcium to offset their high phosphorus) *

1/4 cup mashed/minced fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mangos, papaya, figs, cantaloupe, cactus pear)

Alfalfa **

Multivitamin and calcium supplements

* If parsnips are a seasonal vegetable where you live, you can use 1/2 cup shredded asparagus, trading off with 1/2 cup drained, rinsed, and chopped canned cooked lima beans, plus additional calcium to make up for the lousy calcium:phosphorus ratio in beans. Cooked beans are acceptable for short term use only due to their phosphorous content and other chemicals that can impede the uptake of minerals and trace elements. Asparagus is comparable in protein to parsnip, but does contain oxalates, so should not be a long-term staple.

** The quantity of alfalfa you use will depend upon the alfalfa product you are using. You want to add about 15 grams of protein. That is about 1/2 cup of alfalfa rabbit pellets, or about 1/4 cup or less of alfalfa leaf tea or a tablespoon or so of alfalfa powder. The older the healthy iguana is, the less protein they need, so you may end up using only a couple of teaspoons for an adult iguana.

Thoroughly mix all the Basic Salad Recipe ingredients together. Makes about 3.5-4 cups.

Add in a multivitamin supplement (any multivitamin supplement for birds or reptiles is fine, but the best, actually, is powder from a crushed Centrum tablet) and a calcium supplement. You do not need to get a calcium supplement that has phosphorous or D3 in it, as the iguana is already getting considerably phosphorous from the plants and multivitamin, and their D3 is best manufactured in their bodies by regular exposure to direct sunlight or special UVB-producing fluorescents.

If you will be freezing any of the food, mix in some thiamine (B1) to replace the thiamine that will be lost when the green vegetables are thawed.

Serve the salad in the morning.

Leafy Greens
Collard, mustard, dandelion, escarole. Wash and tear into pieces about the size of the iguana's head, or smaller. Whole leaves can also be suspended in their enclosure or area to give them something to work at when they want a snack.

Feeding Time
Iguanas have evolved as late morning/early afternoon feeders; if you feed them when convenient for YOU rather than when they need to eat, you end up with an iguana who is not eating as much as it should and who is not digesting as effectively as it could. Iguanas can only extract out 40% of the nutrients in the food they eat, making it imperative that we not only feed them only healthy nutrition-loaded foods, but that we feed them at the proper times, as well.

Answer 6

The diet you are feeding your iguana will lead to an early death. Forumalted pellet diets are not nutritionally complete, contrary to what the package says.

Catagory of good food types
Food

Greens
(40-45%)
Collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens (with flowers), escarole, water cress.

Other vegetables
(40-45%)
Green beans, orange-fleshed squashes (butternut, Kabocha), snap or snow peas, parsnip, asparagus, okra, alfalfa (mature, not sprouts), onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots.

Fruits
(10% or less)
Figs (raw or dried), blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, mango, melon (cantelope, honeydew, watermelon), papaya, banana, apple.

Grain-based foods
(less than 5%)
Cooked rice or pasta, whole wheat bread (makes for a great treat)

Supplemental protein
(less than 5%)
Alfalfa pellets (rabbit food) or recommended commercial diets (see below).

Other occasional foods
(less than 5%)
See below for lists of foods that should not be fed in excess, but can still be an excellent way to provide variety and fun. Mixing in other foods on occasion is recommended.

Answer 7

http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm this is the list my iguana eats from, he is super healthy and if you get a grater and grate all the food up into a salad, and feed it to him like that, you can never feed him iguana food again, iguana food isn't good for them anyway, it is full of chemicals, you have to go down the list and mix things that have different vitamins and feed them a different mix every week. They love it!

Answer 8

iguana food is not a healthy diet. green leafy veggies, grapes, carrots etc are much better for it. some will also eat insects

Answer 9

one word:crickets.They love them and they have fun chasing them.