Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am very lucky in that I live near an international farmer's market. There are fruits and vegetables (and meats and fishes and condiments, etc.) from all around the world. It's also super cheap and a lot of it is organic. I can feed my iguana (Shenanigans is her name) a wide variety of dark leafy greens for over a week for under $15.

What I feed now is a randomized grouping of collards, chard, turnip tops, dandelion greens, mustard greens and the odd bit of kale to mix it up. I also started adding in Romaine lettuce to boost water intake since my iguana consistently poops in her water bowl so I've taken it out.

I take a mix of the whole leaves of these greens and rather than chop them up and put them in a bowl, I tie the end of a bunch with a long twist tie and I hang it in her cage. She will move to the branch I hang it over and tear pieces off as I'm sure she would in the wild. It gives her some more exercise, the whole leaf bunch lasts longer than if it gets chopped up in a bowl, and I can mist it with water a couple times a day which seems to stimulate her to come get some more. I can pre-tie a bunch of bunches too so if I go out of town my husband doesn't have to worry about chopping the right stuff and he can hang several bunches around her cage.

Anyway - took me a bit to get to my question, but I want to mix in some more stuff and wondered if anyone fed or at least knew the nutritional value of boniato leaves or other "exotic" greens that I can get at this fantastic farmer's market.

I don't know about the boniato leaves, but I also used the hard veggies. My iguana loved it.

I tried varied the food they eat from week to week when I kept my green iguana. He's going to be 5 years old this year and he's about 4 1/2 foot long. I use the good staple veggies as the base and add about 1/3 of other veggies to the mix. MIne loves kale....

"I also started adding in Romaine lettuce to boost water intake since my iguana consistently poops in her water bowl so I've taken it out."

Please do not feed your iguana any type of lettuce, they desperately need all the nutrition they can get and by filling themselves with lettuce defeats the whole object. You can soak the greens in water for 10-20 minutes before giving it to your iguana, that way it will have more water than lettuce.

Iguana diet: Home

Iguanas HATE pooping in their cages, they are very clean animals and do not want to step in their poop, see it or even smell it. It is perfect that he poops in his water bowl, this way he keeps his cage clean and makes it easier for you to clean daily. Add another bowl of water for him to drink from, although iguanas do not drink from bowls.

"I take a mix of the whole leaves of these greens and rather than chop them up and put them in a bowl, I tie the end of a bunch with a long twist tie and I hang it in her cage."

The iguana has a hindgut between the small and large intestines. It has valves inside and is filled with microflora, small organisms including bacteria and possibly protozoa. This helps slow food down so the microflora can easily break down the cellulose which enables the iguana to extract more nutrients from the passing food. Iguana researchers estimate that Iguanas may obtain 40% of their energy from the hindgut fermentation.

Iguanas need a minimum of 29C (85F) to properly digest their food because the mocroflora in the iguana's hindgut are only activated at this temperature.

If the food are not cut into small bite size pieces little digestion will occur in the stomach. Food chopped and shredded in small pieces will mean less work for the iguana's digestive system and allow the iguana to eat more food per meal, receiving more nutrition.
Iguana Care Sheets & Diet

I am a very experienced reptile keeper, actually. I have also worked with an exotic vet in a past life focusing primarily on reptiles. I know a lot of novices come on here - I was answering their questions and asking a lot of my own back in 1998. It seems we answer the same questions over and over again, doesn't it?

When I say I added romaine to the diet I mean one whole leaf every other meal or so. It is not replacing any more nutritious food. I live in Georgia and we just started turning our air-conditioning on, which dries the air a lot. Shenanigans does occasionally drink from a water bowl but she prefers to poop in it. Since she's not a little iguana changing the water bowl is actually not easy. She gets her water intake from heavy misting of her food and the food itself. When we build her new cage I'm going to install a drip system.

Her cage is very easy to keep clean - the tray in the bottom of it is covered with newspaper that gets changed when it's soiled. Her cage is in the den and no one wants to smell stinky iguana poop when they're watching TV! The cage allows her to be very arboreal in her behavior. She rarely goes to the bottom of the cage, but she climbs around quite a bit between her basking spot and the food and the middle branches.

Re: whole leaves versus chopped up - iguanas don't have anyone chopping up their food in the wild. Shenanigans eats on average what would probably be 3-4 cups of greens a day if they were chopped up. Sometimes she'll eat it all in one go, sometimes she'll eat a bit and then nibble more later. Occasionally I'll chop up a bit of fruit (very little) or some green beans or a bit of squash here and there for her to eat off a plate.

What I really want to do is just introduce some more exotic (to us) elements to her diet since I have access to them.

Wildheart, iguanas do, indeed, drink from bowls. I used to see my green drink occassionally (in spite of a good humid environment, wet food and frequent misting. I see my Cyclura do it more often, though people on the Cyclura list say they never do.