Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I wanted to know if i can feed my iguana crickets occasionally. I know its bad for their liver and they are vegetarians, but my friend had his beardie hear, and the next day somehow a cricket was in his cage and he seemed to enjoy it:S
thanks
dave

>>I wanted to know if i can feed my iguana crickets occasionally. I know its bad for their liver and they are vegetarians, but my friend had his beardie hear, and the next day somehow a cricket was in his cage and he seemed to enjoy it:S
>>thanks
>>dave

Well You can and I am sure the ig would eat it as igs eat anything including pantyhose, but it would be SEVERLY detrimental to the overall health of your iguana and more likely than no lead to kidney failure at a young age if you do so. So the answer is if you want severe health problems with your iguana go ahead. I much prefer treats of things like strawberries off season because they are healthy.
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Cindy
PHFaust

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Land of the Outcasts!

im sure 1 cricket wont hurt anything and im sure your iguana will eat it. when i had an iguana i once caught a small fence lizard and decided id keep it for a little while in the same cage as my iguana. well much to my surprise about 5 sec after letting it go my iguana was all over that thing like a duck on a june bug! i mean that small fence lizard didnt have a chance and my iguana never suffered any ill side affects from that so my point is... 1 cricket is fine as an occasional treat only.

I don't think you understand the meaning behind the phrase, "iguans are vegetarians." Why would you feed something to your pet that you know is harmful to it. Sure, it may only be on occassion, but iguanas ARE vegetarians. Besides there are many other better alternatives. I personally don't believe that iguanas even need much of a treat at all. If you give them a good variety of food, that is good enough. Iguanas are used to not eating crickets so it's not like they're missing out.
Jake Olsen

Hi,

Just thought I'd add to this thread, not only on the issue of giving crickets, but on the issue of offering treats as well. Sorry for the rambling.

My husband and I have been raising iguanas for over 10 years now and we fully understand the need for an iguana to have a completely vegetarian diet. This being said, insects as a "part of the diet" per se is by no means advocated. However, we *do* reinforce the notion of "treats"! And I think the issue here is determining what, exactly, is a "treat."

In our definition, a "treat" is something that is offered *very* rarely, for instance a mouthful or two once a month. We realize that there is no way of drawing a strict line as to what is acceptable healthwise, how often it should be offered and in what quantity. But we do know about the pleasures of eating good food, not necessarily always *healthy* food but food for the "soul."

After observing iguanas as long as we have, it is flagrantly obvious to us that they do enjoy "good food" every bit as much as we do. Whenever I peel a banana for myself, I always take off the tip with the intention of offering it to my male iguana, even though bananas are not by any means an ideal food for them... but when he sees me show up with that little morsel, he races to the opposite end of his cage to get to it. However, I won't even go into how he reacts when that same morsel is a little piece of cheese, pizza or muffin (classified as unacceptable treats). Here, we are talking about an iguana that was so severely stressed from bad husbandry by an unknowledgeable owner that he would not eat if you were even in the house!

By the same token, let's face it... most of the stuff we ourselves eat isn't optimal for our bodies, even when we try to follow a so-called good diet. While I do advocate trying our best to provide what is best for our iguanas, we also do advocate letting them live a little, too! So if your iguana really gets excited by a food, then why not offer it to him in moderation? Socialization is important, too, after all.

I'm sorry, this is just my two cents on the subject and I'm probably rambling here. The basic jist of what I'm saying is that nothing is perfect no matter how hard we try and that we should use good ol' fashion common sense most of the time when it comes to diet, not only for iguanas, but for ourselves and any other creature we happen to care for (including cats and dogs!).

Julie

>>I'm sorry, this is just my two cents on the subject and I'm probably rambling here. The basic jist of what I'm saying is that nothing is perfect no matter how hard we try and that we should use good ol' fashion common sense most of the time when it comes to diet, not only for iguanas, but for ourselves and any other creature we happen to care for (including cats and dogs!).
>>

Julie

A few things. Maybe my perspective is a bit different because I have spent the past 8 years cleaning up after what people have done to their reptiles (primarily iguanas). I infact just lost one that didnt recognize anything other than insects as food. I have had the 7 year olds with kidney failure from treats of insects, and one of my own is going thru kidney failure from being feed cat food and cheese.

While in fact we humans eat garbage on a regular basis we make that choice. Offering garbage to our pets (who actually only can eat what we offer) is not really fair to the pets. Every iguana that I know of personally or have had come through the rescue that was fed any form of animal protien dies young. They dont live to the 20-25 years. My iguana right now that is going thru renal failure is between 10-13 years old.

Another distinction that is hard for many people to make is occasional. Occasional to one person may be once a week while occasional to another may be one ever month and so on. And also on the other hand offering something to an animal that it can not properly digest is a whole nother thing.

Offering treats of things like bananas, whole wheat pasta and bread (watch the ingredients), melons, oranges will not cause severe illness in the long run as long as these items are not part of a regular diet. However I have seen renal failure in iguanas that were offered animal protien one time weekly for first year on a regular basis.

Please dont take this as an attack on your message, because it isnt. It is more a thing from experience and working with TONS of iguanas a year.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your input and no, I'm not in the least bit offended (i.e. I don't take it as an attack). You do have a point that we have a responsibility towards our pets and that we should only give them what they need. All I was saying was that if a pet clearly enjoys something above all other things, that even if it's not good for him, that if it's offered in moderation, there's no reason why it should never, ever be offered. Like I had mentioned in my first post, the key here is determining what is moderation. Also, as I had said, common sense needs to be used.

For example, most of the "treats" offered to our iguanas is along the lines of fruit and grains. They're perfectly acceptable because they are a vegetable source, but as a staple they are not recommended. They're good as treats because the iguanas love them. But yet and still, whenever the iguanas are presented with any "naughty" food (such as cheese or pasta with a tiny bit of meat in the sauce), they just about bust out of their cages. So every now and then -- like maybe once or twice a year -- while we're having a nice dinner, we give a *tiny* bit to our iguanas too... Why should we be having all the fun?? LOL And it's kind of hard to ignore the iguana in the background scratching at the door because he smells nummy food...

One thing I wonder, though... I've noticed that with adult iguanas, especially males, that chronic dehydration seems to be a major problem, because iguanas don't get nearly as much water in their bodies as they should. So I wonder if the suboptimal diets were the sole culprit here. I for one have noticed a *dramatic* difference in our male iguana since we've extended our Rainmaker system from our chameleon to his cage. His skin is wonderfully lush, something I've never witnessed in any adult iguana. Sorry, going off on a bit of a tangent here, but thought I'd bring it up anyway.

Just my input on the subject!

Julie