Feeding Iguanas And Iguana Diet

Before we start, here are a few "golden rules" about feeding iguanas which I've picked up over the years:

Firstly, reduce the chances of deficiencies and imbalances in your iguanas diet by offering a highly varied diet. As each food contains different nutrients in different levels, offering a range "covers all bases" and gives you the best chance of providing a balanced diet.

Secondly, get yourself a tub of professional-grade iguana vitamin supplements and dust your iguana food regularly with it based on the intructions on the back of the tub. This will reduce the chances of potentially serious problems such as metabolic bone disease in your iguana.

Thirdly, only feed the freshest, healthiest food possible. Iguanas are mainly vegetarian (though, as we'll discuss, juveniles should be allowed such live food), and you should ideally look for the freshest food in the store, or even better grow your own. Look for organic fruit and vegetables, and always wash it thoroughly before giving it to your iguana. Provide it finely chopped to make eating it easier for your iguana, and to also make it more difficult for him to select certain foods over others. Finally, provide it in a food bowl, which you should remove, wash and sterlize bteen each feeding.

My last key tip before we get into the nitty-gritty of feeding iguanas is to buy a tub of dried iguana food. Whilst I have found my own iguanas are never very keen on it, some keepers say their iguanas love it, and it is a perfect "stand-in" incase you suddenly realise you've run out of greens, or you get snowed in over the winter, or you're ill and can't manage much else!

This dried iguana food has saved the day several times for me in the past!

OK, onwards...

Adult iguanas are almost solely vegetarian and should eb given a wide range of fruit and vegetables.

I have found the following to be particulary popular with my green iguanas:

• Strawberries

• Dandelion leaves

• Banana

• Soft lettuce (not iceberg!)

YOu can, however, give just about any fruit or vegetables, and don't forget that iguanas do have their personal preferences, and you may find your list is completely different to mine - don't worry!

Particularly nutritious foods which you should aim to feed regularly to your iguana include spinach, brocolli and watercress.

You can't overfeed a healthy iguana, so long as he has enough space to move around and climb so feed as much as he'll eat.

As you are feeding foods which may well go off quickly, especially in such a warm environment, I try to feed my iguanas twice a day - breakfast and dinner - and take out uneaten food before bed just incase.

So long as they also have fresh water available at all times, and you follow the above guidelines, you shouldn't have any problems at all, so good luck!

The only other thing we need to cover is the fact that younger iguanas should have some extra protein in the diet, in terms of livefood. Crickets, locusts, mealworms, waxwings etc can be bought from reptile stores or online suppliers like this one very reasonably.

Once home, you should "gut load" the live food, that is feed them a highly-nutritious diet so your iguana benefits as much as possible.

I genrally feed lots of fruit and veg for 48 hours before feeding the poor little souls to my reptiles and, as I generally feed crickets or locusts myself, I also add a small amount of T-Rex Calcium Plus to their tub to further increase the nutrition my iguana will get from them.

Keep your live food at room temperature, provide them with damp balls fo cotton wool to drink from, screwed up newspaper or eggbox to hide in, plus a secure lid to their container (I once spent 3 hours late one night with my girlfriend trying to catch an escaped cricket hiding behind a radiator!) and you'll be well away.

Happy munching!

Iguana Care Covering the care of iguanas in captivity, we look at everything from iguana sexing to ideally suited iguana cages, an iguana lighting setup, non toxic plants for iguanas which you can use to decorate your iguana's cage and even my sneaky, personal way of choosing great iguana names every time! We also take a look at feeding iguanas, iguana diet and an assortment of iguana food. This section can also be printed out as an iguana care sheet.