Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm just curious what kind of vegetables do you often feed to your ig? Mine is a stable of alfalfa leaves, dandelion leaves, and edible flowers...also some fruits for tasted and colors. I will occassionally throw in some other vegetables for varieties. But really I tried to aim for varieties, but trying to use alfalfa leaves, and green as the main stables. Which do you guys use most often?

other than the collard greens and endive i use in their salads everyday, i primarily feed them butternut squash, green beens, escarle, pear, recently pumkin, sometimes black and blue berries, and sometimes bannanas and apple. the butternut squash is probably their favorate.

Mine get Collard Greens, Turnip and Mustard. They also recieve grated squash. I usually use three different kinds of summer squashes. This past week I saved some of the pumpkin pieces that were carved out of our "jack 'o lanterns" for halloween and I've been chopping that up really small and adding it.
As far as fruit go, they only get that maybe once a week. They love nectarine, cantalope, strawberries, peeled grapes (sliced up of course!) and banana.
I sometimes throw in sweet potato but rarely use carrots or broccoli. Green beans are also a favorite but I make sure to dice them up real good. I heard of an Ig that choked to death because their owner didn't cut up the fresh green beans and the poor guy got them caught in his throat! Imagine how mortified you would be to come home from work and find your ig had choked to death. So now I'm paranoid about chopping everything up good. JN

The daily salad bowls here contain Collard, Mustard, Turnip and Dandelion greens, Chicory, butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash, and some sweet potato. They also get other veggies as I have them in the house, including parsnips, pumpkin, green beans, snap peas, summer squash, peppers, and carrot. Treats include strawberries, raspberries, melon, whole grain bread, and plain cooked pasta or rice.

Normal salad for mine: Chinese and Thai Morning Glory, Chinese Mustard Greens, Water Cress, Thai Butternut Squash (Thai Pumpkin), podded Sweet Peas, Okra, Papaya, and other assorted fruits in small quatities (Mango, Rose Apple, Guava). Hibiscus bushes are planted in the enclosure and are available to eat any time.

Florida Residents: According to what I have read, Chinese or Thai Morning Glory (called Swamp Weed by US Authorities) is a pest species clogging up water ways in Florida. This plant has a high calcium content with a favorable calcium: phosphorous ratio (1.6:1). If it is the Thai variety, the calcium content is much higher (2 :1). Both are very good food for iguanas and tortoises; it is used as a staple vegetable by the Zoological Organization of Thailand for their National Zoo's reptiles: Cyclura, Iguana, Geochelone, Manouria, Indotestudo just to name a few of the Genera. It is a little bitter, but good for people to eat also (especially when cooked in oyster sauce with chilis)!

Michael

My igs eat collard, dandelion, turnip, mustard, chicory and arugula, winter squash, green beans, red bell pepper, bok choy, kabocha squash and okra every day. Twice a week I add figs (none of you use it?? My igs L-O-V-E it) and once a week I add some papaya and sometimes I add some watermelon as water source.
What helps me is that I live in Brazil, a tropical country, and we have all kinds of veggies and fruits the whole year. It´s great.
And a little question, how many of you guys prepare their food EVERYDAY?? I do it, but I enjoy doing it.. just wanted to know..
Take care.

Figs are a great idea and a favorite of many tropical herbivores. Unfortunately where I live, figs are only found deep in the jungle and are not available at the markets. During the period of deforestation in Thailand, many of the fig trees were cut down. There is still some illegal logging, but they are making a great effort to restore the forests and jungles.

Living in a tropical environment has its plusses and minuses. Many more plusses, like we can keep them outside all year and they just thrive in tropical conditions. You also made the point about having fruit and vegetables available throughout the year; there is always a great variety and they are always fresh. The bad side is that many of the items listed in iguana literature does not grow well in the tropics; it is written for people living in the US and Europe. I had to do a tremendous amount of research to find nutritional information on the tropical fruits and vegetables available to me and make a determination whether they were good for them or not: calcium: phosphorous ratios, proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc.

Do you grow dandelion yourself? I had to make a dandelion garden, but they do not do well in the high temperatures and humidity, like they do in the US. I can only produce enough for my hatchling tortoises, who have a greater need for them.

I used to prepare salads every day, but I do not prepare every day anymore. I make a large salad of leafy greens, which I store in plastic containers with paper towels in the refrigerator. I add the okra, peas, and fruit every day to the final salad that they are given so that the salad does not spoil. It took me about 1.5 hours to prepare my tortoise and iguana salads every morning when I prepared it every day; it still takes me about a half an hour every day, even with all the prior preparation.

Michael

Hi Michael, I agree with you. I had to do this huge research on the internet to figure out the nutritional values of all the veggies I was going to feed my igs, and most of them was writen by north-americans.
And no, I don´t grow dandelions, but I can find them in the supermarket. It´s the cheaper leaf green around here. There are tons of wild dandelion here where I live but I prefer to buy it in the market.
I grow collards and mustards though.
And you can´t find figs there at all?? Not even at like one time of the year?? I didn´t know that..
I spend almost 2 hours preparing their food everyday but I enjoy it..
Take care and good luck there,
Daniel

Hi Daniel, collard in Portuguese is it "couve"? But "couve" is kale in English!!
Can you buy dandelions in grocery stores in Brazil? Where? Whats dandelion's name in Portuguese?

Flavia

It's helpful if you know the scientific name of the plants on the website! I believe that is why some websites have scientific names written in parenthesis next to the common names in English. I believe this website which is mainly devoted to the care of IG is a good place to look! [Smile]
Link

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Hi Flavia, collard is "couve" in portuguese. Are you sure they call it "kale" in english? I saw some pictures of collards in some north american websites and I´m pretty sure they look just like the "couves" we have here.
I´ll do some research about it, but i´m pretty sure "collards" are "couves".
And yes, you can find dandelions for sale at grocery stores here and they are called "Catalonia".
Take care,
Dan

I think so.I think "Couve"is kale and kale as you know is not good for iguanas.Perhaps there are more than one specie of "couve".A few months ago someone from IGUANA POST said that, i mean, that there were different species of "couve".I didnt check to find out wether its true or not.

Flavia

Hey Flavia, just wanted you to know I did the research and collards are really "couves". I looked for its scientific name (Brassica oleracea) in this brasilian website.
Here is the link:

http://www.plantamed.com.br/ESP/Brassica_oleracea.htm

Take care,
Dan

Should we give or not to our iguanas?

Well, I feed it to my igs everyday. It´s one of my staple greens. My oldest ig, Val, a female, is 7 years old and has been eating "couve" since she was a baby. My biology teacher gave her to me bacause some student found her and neither one knew how to take care of her. She was about 5 months, very dehydrated, had a broken arm and lots of her fingers were (and still are) missing. I treated her with lots of love, patience and "couve" and she is now huge and eating like a pig.
I think if "couve" was a bad thing to feed them, she would not recover and would not be here today.
That´s my opinion..
Take care,
Later,
Dan

I do! I love preparing food for my little ig! He or she...I still can't tell yet because it's still young...is the only one that will eat salad. I've tried giving my red-eared slider some vegetable...he only took a little bit of it and never tried them again! Weird turtle!

Definitely every day! Nothing but fresh for mine. J