Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm a bit confused on the diet of iguana's. For example am I suppose to feed the iguana a mix of all these vegetables: Mustard Greens - Collard Greens - Dandelion Greens - Turnip Greens - Rapini - Mulberry Leaves - Grape Leaves - Hibiscus - Escarole (outer, dark green leaves only - do not feed pale, bleached leaves) or do i just have to mix a couple of the vegetables listed above? There are more than 40 vegetables, greens, fruits, and flowers listed as a daily diet. Is there a simple good daily diet mixture that wont fill up half of my fridge?

The more the better! You should choose a leafy green that has a 2:1 of greater calciumhosphorous ratio. Really good greens include collards, arugula, dandelion greens... mustards, turnips, escarole, chicory, and watercress are good too. The greens should make up the bulk of the diet, like 90%! You can add some veggies, winter squashes are good, my iguana really liked butternut squash, you can also feed some carrots for color and green beans were well liked by my ig. So basically, either choose the above greens, or choose some others, but research them first. You are basically looking for the 2:1 ratio (or greater), and you don't want anything high in oxalates as these can bind to calcium and other minerals to prevent absoprtion (spinach is high in those). Also, goinotrens (butchered that spelling) prevents iodine absorption and can cause thryoid problems, kale and bocoli are examples of greens high in that stuff. Check out the "iguana den diet" (google it), they have an excellent site with a HUGE list of greens and their nutritional content. Good luck.

P.S. below is a pic of my old ig, Boris. I had to adopt him out when I left for college though His diet consisted mainly of collards, turnips, mustards, escarole, and endive (I always tried to get him all five if the store had them, I always made sure he had collards and at least 2 others to choose from, more the better) he also got some chopped up green beans, butternut squash, and a couple pieces of cataloupe as a treat.

Also, if your ig won't eat this stuff at first try blending it all together by adding a lil water. Get it blended up into a thick paste. When I first adopted Boris he wouldn't really eat the greens, but he ate the paste and loved it. I kept him on the paste for like a month and then he started to eat plates full of leaves.

Here's what I feed my iguana: 45% vegetables and 40-45% leafy greens. The vegetables I use are grated parsnip, butternut squash, and finely chopped up green beans. I only use one type of green each week, but I do rotate between collard, mustard, dandelion, and escarole, and sometimes, I do add the one that I use on occasion like chard, turnip green, kale, brussel sprout and others you can buy from your grocery store. Note: the one I use on occasion contain a lot of calcium oxalate and some like kale and brussel sprouts are goitrogenic, so only use on occasion just to add variety...use collard, mustard, dandelion, and escarole as the main staple greens. I also add some soaked rabbit pellets (alfalfa) to my iguana salad for added protein. Your diet can also comprise of 10% fruit finely grated or mashed for added moisture and taste. I hope I help you out a little!