Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A lot of people here seem to use the Mazuri Tortoise diet. Why is that better than Mazuri iguana diet? Also I have Mazuri Tortoise, but my igs don't seem to like it. Any suggestions?

Also, it is as good for my green as for my Cyclura?

I dont like mazuri. It's oily and gives my igs gooey stools. I use.....drum roll.......Zoo Med dry. Better product.

I use the Mazuri tortoise diet with a mixture of greens for my two rhino's and my one blue ig. I have had no issues with it. In my opinion their stools are solid and not messy at all. My igs love it. For my big female rhino I just soak it in warm water and then put it on top of greens and squash. For my little ones I soak it and then break it up and sprinkle it on top of the greens. All three seem to love it. My big rhino will pick it out of the greens and eat all of it before she touches the greens. Hope this helps. I have heard reptical is a good food to use as well. I have not looked into zoomed diet yet.
-----
-Robert

"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an egg-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

I'm a huge ZooMed fan. Good stuff, good stools, never had one health issue yet with my six year old.

If you really look at all the ingredients, Zoo med is the best, Marion is a very close second, and Mazuri is a far third.
As far as price goes, Marion is the most expensive, then Zoo med, and then for the price of a bag of Alpo, Mazuri.

Any links on zoomed, where I can buy it in big bags? Whats the largest size bag they sell?
-----
-Robert

"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an egg-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

i would get a small bottle first and see if yours likes it . my rhino would NOT touch it . so through it away .

Some tortoise breeder I know use Mazuri and they grow pretty smoothly...no bumps on the shell. It's pretty good. They were originally created for the Galopagos tortoises.

Mine love the Mazuri, prefer it to anything leafy, though they get both and to any other "chow". As far as I can tell the tort is higher in fiber than the Ig food.

jf

I think the ig food is a little higher in protein...being iguanas they need more protein for muscles.

I don't think their livers like it. Look at gorillas, they don't eat much protein and they have lots of muscles. KB

Thank you all for this information. Mine, so far, don't like the Mazuri so maybe I'll try the Zoo Med.

Doesn't Cyclura eat some animal protein? Besides, even gorillas in zoos...they probably give them supplemental protein like legumes, alfalfa and parsnips. They give alfalfa to horses so they'll have strong muscles.

mammals. we are talking reptiles...

And I thought we're talking about plant protein...not animal protein. There is a difference between them. Plant protein is not a complete chain of amino acid.

not really my point, but yes.

I think iguanas, especially Cyclura being part omnivore, can handle plant protein quite efficiently because it's not as rich as the animal protein.

Cyclura eat animal protien in the wild, however I have not come across any acedemic papers/studies on it.

Due to the un-natural conditions of captive life, animal protien is hard on the kidneys, and thus should be avoided.

Petranella literally hunts cherrios. From personal observation, this behavior is not seen in the same way as my green iguanas.

I have tried Zoo Med and Mazuri. My iguanas prefer Mazuri. I still offer some greens, flowers, palm dates, fruits, insects, and animal base protein from time to time. I have a lot of animals, so my food bill can be high at times. This is where I prefer Mazuri. I can get a huge 25lb bag of Mazuri here at my loal feed store for around $28.
I bucket of Zoo Med is somewhere around $65 to $70.

For Those of you having problems switching your iguanas to pellets:
1. Don't feed your iguana for a couple of days.
2. soak the pellets in water until it gets soft enough for your iguana to eat it.
3. mash some fruit(whichever is your iguana's favorite)Papaya, banana, together with the pre-soaked pellets.

Hope this helps.

Manny

Mazuri Iguana is a fine powder and not a pellet. I have only come across it once, purchased it for like $3 clearance and petsmart years ago. My guys literally had a hard time eating it (except for my acient iguanas who have a hard time eating big solid food)

I use zoo-preem parrot (natural, & fruit mixed) and rabbit pellets. Petra takes um down dry.

-Melissa

Kismet absolutely LOVES Zoopreme parrot pellets. She'll attack them.

Oh, and speaking of hunting down Cheerios, you should see Kismet go after a blueberry when you roll it across the floor. Or a fig. She'll pounce on it and shake it like's she's trying to kill it before she eats it.

While Cyclura rarely eat animal protein in the wild and shouldn't in captivity at all, I wonder if they were not more omnivorous in a past evolutionary state that they still have this behavior.

In my opinion and based the behavior that i have seen the concept that they "rare eat animal protien" is prob. false. Ive never seen any acedemic food studies on them, and I'm sure they are injesting much more than we think..

Reminds me of Hippos and a recent NatGeo doc about them eating the intestines of other hippos quite frequently

but primarely thier food is from greens, it would be an interesting thing to see an actual food study on them..

I think its interesting that we all supplement our guys with dry foods. I actually interned with a local aquarium out here, and when I suggested that they needed to bulk up thier iguanas and monitor with dry foods, they looked at me as if i were crazy.

A year or so later, I had to take Petranellie to the vet they used for the aquarium and he was blown away by her health on parrot foods.

How much protein does the parrot food has? I know the Mazuri iguana food you supposed to put them on the greens that they eat to supplement them with more protein and vitamins since these guys are really muscular, but apparently, they love the parrot food.