Pet Blog July Archive

The secret of buying quality iguana food

By Kelly at 07/23/07 14:35

Green iguanas are native to the tropical forests. In the natural habitat, they forage on leafy plants, veggies and fruits. They lay in the sun to bask in order to digest their foods with the use of UV rays.

When I first bought my iguana, I had to do extensive research on iguana diets and care. One of the first things I learned is that iguanas cannot tolerate animal protein or animal anything in their diets. Their bodies are unable to process this stuff and their kidneys have to work extra hard to rid them of the toxins.

I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and came across a container of iguana food that I had purchased a long time ago before I started researching. Good thing I never fed him the stuff as you can see by how much is left in the container. I paid 8 bucks for it too, which is so ridiculous. You are buying food that will actually not help (and will probably harm) your iguana.

Do the research on the diets! There are plenty of good iguana websites out there to guide you. Look at several. If it tells you ANYWHERE within the diet to feed any animal anything...close the website and pick a new one!

Some do's and don'ts for feeding your green iguana

If you are the proud owner of a brand new green iguana, you may be wondering what you should feed him. Well, here are a few things you should and should not do:

You definitely SHOULD:

• You should check out a good iguana website and learn about the foods that make a healthy iguana. Choose greens that are the highest in Calcium/Phosphorus Ratios that are available. If there are not greens available, try vegetables that have a good ratio.

• Feed your iguana a diet that contains MANY different foods such as collard greens, dandelion greens or arugula as the three main base foods plus a variety of other foods so they have a good mix of vitamins and minerals.

• Chop all foods to the proper size for your iguana to eat. A good rule of thumb is to make them about as big as the iguana's head.

• Make sure your iguana has the proper UVB lighting. which helps Iguanas synthesize vitamin D3, which is needed to help metabolize calcium in the Iguana's diet.

You definitely SHOULD NOT:

• Feed your iguana ANY type of animal protein. This means NO dogfood, no catfood, no monkey biscuits, no crickets (the pet store owners - at least three so far) have told me SPECIFICALLY to feed them as a treat), no animal protein of any kind as iguanas have trouble digesting animal protein and this could lead to liver or kidney failure.

• Believe everything you read! (Remember this list started with the words DO NOT) Many websites, books, and so on still contain information about iguanas that has been proven to kill them. Why is this information still available? It is because these people haven't taken the time to update the information that they put up there that is wrong.

• Feed your iguana anything with LETTUCE in its name! Lettuce has no nutritional value whatsoever. The space in your iguana's belly that is filled with this stuff is just valuable space that should be taken by a healthy food.

• Count on your iguana to let you know what to feed him. You may find your iguana has a particular liking to one thing or another. Can you count on a child to always eat what is good for them on their own? Of course not! You must choose healthy foods for your iguana.

There is so much information, good and bad available to you. Make sure you pick a reputable source to learn about your iguana. DO NOT think for a minute that just because a pet store employee talks like they know what they are talking about (which they should), that it is a given that they actually know squat about the true needs of an iguana. Remember, they are in the store to SELL you an iguana. If they told anyone what is truly necessary for their iguana's health...nobody would EVER buy one on purpose. They do make wonderful pets, but make no mistake about them being a low maintenance pet.