Quick Iguana Nutrition FAQ version 1.2
Last updated Dec. 1997
Free for public distribution in any format without written permission from the author, as long as no fee is charged for this information. Any distribution of any kind where a fee is involved, must be okayed by me prior to distribution! (Contributers are creditted along side their input by first name and last initial for privacy's sake, quotes may have been pulled from the Iguana Mailing List (IML))
Changes since v 1.1
General. Ingredient Specific.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.
Food Preparation and Storage.
Mutilple Iguana Questions. Change In Eating Habits.
Special Case Iguanas Other Notes
The Kaplan and Swofford docs are also good places to read about iguana nutrition. It is where I went for my first intro to this subject before I went off on my own thoughts, and I do agree with what they have to say about it. This FAQ is compromised of Frequently Asked Questions, and does not cover the more refined aspects of captive iguana nutrition. Suggestions on measurements and doses are only those -- my suggestions! They are not scientific fact! I also do not get too deeply involved with my reasoning behind suggestions I posted in the FAQ. (For detailed reasoning and my personal theories, see the expanded related documents.) I will continue to update this FAQ and other iguana nutrition docs I write as I learn more. Remember this quote? Yours is not to make reply, Yours is not to reason why, Yours is but to do or die. Here is my modified quote for iguana nutrition: Yours IS to make reply. Yours IS to reason why. Yours is to read this FAQ and associated iguana nutrition documentation by me or others or risk having your iguana die from nutrionally linked problems due to your ignorance! Ignorance does not imply stupidity -- it just means you did not know any better! But you CAN know better! Read on! (The stupid only comes in when you have learned better, and do not act on the new knowledge.)
General
MK Basic Iguana Salad Recipe: Other recipes are available in expanded iguana nutrition documents.
1.2 What about commercial foods? Commerical foods have not been sufficiently tested for nutritional accuracy for my tastes. It seems everyone wants to produce an iguana formula just because iguanas are now VERY popular and they want to cash in on the craze. Even though advertised as complete iguana nutrition, not enough study has been done on iguana food recommended daily allowances for me to believe them to be truly complete by themselves. If no one knows all the answers to captive iguana nutrition, how could these products be labeled as complete and be true? I laugh at the very idea. If you choose to use a commerical iguana food, I recommend you use it IN ADDITION to fresh iguana salad and NEVER by itself. What if the formula you use now is discovered to cause iguana health problems in a few years?
1.3 I can't make fresh food all the time -- what do I do? If you can't make food all the time, try to make large batches of food and freeze it. Other people choose to go "halfsies" -- they feed their iguana a commerical product mixed with fresh food and thus don't have to make as much fresh. While an iguana must be fed daily, it doesn't have to mean you make fresh salad daily. Try to plan for a few meals at a time and store the unused portion in the refrigerator. See previous question about commercial food usage.
1.4 How often should you feed an ig? I'd recommend giving an iguana fresh iguana salad daily. Serving size varies with iguana size, babies obviously eat less that adults! Do not try to give large portions so you can feed him less often -- food left out can spoil and cause the iguana to become ill if consumed. Feed reasonable portions suited to the iguana's size, and fed him every day.
1.5 How much salad should you give your ig and at what time of the day? Here is a rough guide of how much food to serve an iguana of varying sizes. It is not scientific, this is what I feed my (p)igs and then extrapolated! The iguana will not stuff himself more than needed, and a vegetarian diet is already low in fat, so unless you are feeding him fattening foods beyond basic iguana salad and the iguana in question does not get enough excercise, you are not going to end up with an overly obese iguana. Always feed a little extra and don't worry too much about wasted food. Especially in the case of bitty guys, if you only offer enough food for him to eat and do not provide extra, it will dry out quickly during the day in his warm enclosure and the iguana will be left with dry crusty food that is not too appealing! The amounts listed here are generous -- do not expect the iguana to eat every little chunk. If he does, he has a big appetite and you might not be feeding him enough. Move up to the next size without hesitation! I rather see uneaten food than a clean plate with an iguana who has not yet eaten his fill staring at me! Iguana Basic Salad ingredients should be grated or minced small, leafy greens cut into the size of the iguana's head or smaller. Measures here are "rounded" measures not "flat", and normally packed, not loose or tight. I believe the more nutritious basic salad serving should be larger than the leafy greens serving, despite the fact iguanas go nuts over leafy greens. Consider leafy greens as you would "dessert." No dessert til after dinner!
1.6 Where in his cage do I put the food?
Doesn't matter really. I like putting it at the floor of the cage, so the iguana cannot knock it down from above and make a mess. Plus he has to walk down to get it and gets some excercise.
1.7 What should the salad look like?
Iguanas cannot chew their food like people do. Tiny microflora (good bacteria and nematodes) live in the iguana hindgut area and do a good chunk of the food digesting for the iguana host body. By grating, mincing, and chopping foods into small pieces, you are helping the iguana digest food better by creating more surface area for these tiny microbes to latch on to so they can break the food down more efficiently for the benefit of the iguana host. So even though your iguana is huge and can swallow coarser bits of food with no problem, chopping his food small is still better practice than starting to get lazy and giving him chunkier foods. His microflora will thank you!
1.9 Why does my iguana never seem to drink? Iguanas are mainly used to drinking water by lapping droplets off leaves. (Try misting the iguana with a plant mister. Helps keep skin from overdrying too!) They might need to be taught to drink from standing water sources. Some are also shy about drinking and eating in front of their owners. Here are some tips: It will work in most cases, believe me. (I even managed to train my iguanas to hamster and rabbit water bottles, so teaching them to drink out of a shallow dish is a piece of cake by comparison! If you try water bottles be sure he is drinking from it or you will risk a dehydrated iguana.) Even if you never see him drink, you should always provide an easily accessed water source in his enclosure!
1.10 How can I tell if my iguana is dehydrated? First clue might be his poop -- is it drier than normal? The urates thicker? Are their lateral folds in his skin? Is his color darkening? Is he shedding ok? Is he drinking a lot or is his problem not getting enough to drink? Is he picking out the parts of the salad that are more mositure-rich? If you think you iguana is thirsty, make sure he is getting his water in an easy to find and reach way. Too tall a bowl and he can't see in it to drink. Offer him drink by bathing him in the tub or holding a dish to him or dribbling water on his nose with an eyedropper. More severe cases of dehydration will probably need pedialyte, and a vet consult to make sure the iguana is being brought to rehydration safely. See previous question for more drinking tips.
1.11 Why does my iguana eat less in winter? He just does? No seriously... the winter months (besides being cold for some areas) of Oct-Feb kind of overlap with main iguana love season. They kind of loose interest in food and gain interest in love and turning colors and the like. Also, the winter months seem to be full of the blaaahs for captive iguanas. Maybe they are cold, or miss the sunshine, or something. This is nomal, and he will resume eating like a (p)ig in the summer. If he does not, and you suspect a bigger underlying medical problem, take him to the vet! ~CR "It coincides with the dry season [in the wild] when less food is available overall, and that which is available is not as nutritious as during the rest of the year. So their bodies evolved to adapt to these seasonally changed conditions by reducing caloric intake and activity levels to conserve energy. That's also why they pig out especially well before and after the season... :)" ~Melissa K
Ingredient Specific.2.1 My iguana will not eat/only eats one thing/eats only bad food... help! Iguanas who have become accustomed to eating a certain way may not take to eating proper iguana salad because they do not realize it is food! You have one of two options.if your iguana is healthy and not eating because of illness and is not eating out of spite:
2.2 What are alfalfa pellets? What is alfalfa hay? Can I just use alfalfa sprouts?
2.3 Where does one find alfalfa pellets? Discount stores (Wal-mart, K-mart, etc), grocery stores in the pet foods aisle, feed/farm stores, pet stores, everywhere! There are many brands and many prices, but overall they are affordable. Just make sure whatever brand you buy, alfalfa is the first listed ingredient and not something like wheat middlings, or corn, or whatever other bulky fillers they put in there.
2.4 What do I do if my iguana hates alfalfa pellets? Check the following:
Use the Increased Conversion Method if the above does not solve the problem. Because alfalfa is very strong, and is an acquired taste, this conversion will take 6 weeks. At the end of 6 weeks, the iguana should accept 1/2 cup of alfalfa in every batch of MK Basic Salad Recipe.
2.5 Can I use something other than alfalfa?
With alfalfa you already have at least five forms in which to use it: If you still find none of these is working you have two more alternatives: Using cooked dry beans once or twice a week and offset the high phosphorous beans with calcium rich vegetables and your calcium supplement. WIth beans you leave the rest of the salad alone the "non-bean" days.
2.6 What is the big deal about animal protein? Some iguana references still suffer the delusion that iguanas are insectivores when young and become herbivores later in life. Sadly, some of these sources are even recent publications! This is not true. They are herbivores from day one! Feeding an iguana animal-based food (and bugs are animal) is going to confuse the iguana digestive system and lead to health problems down the road. They will not show up right away... it takes years sometimes for the effects to show, or it could show up within a few months! Avoid the heartache and skip the animal-based foods: any kind of meats, mammalian chows, bugs of any kind, rodent feeder prey, eggs, or dairy products etc. If you offer these foods, the iguana will eat it. But it is not good for it. (Analogy: If you give a kid candy every day, he is going to eat it with no fuss. But is it healthy? No. The kid just doesn't know any better!) Skip the animal-based foods! The iguana who eats it just doesn't know any better.
2.7 What do the different greens and squashes look like?
2.8 Can something be done to avoid that fruit part in the salad from making the whole salad spoil so fast? Use soaked dried figs! If you are using something other than dried figs, then store the fruit in a separate bag and add to the salad upon serving time. By keeping the water-rich fruit out of the salad, you can make the salad not spoil as fast and just replace the fruit when the fruit goes. I personally add alfalfa at serving time (in powdered form for ease of use in this manner) so I can smell the basic salad to see if it went bad with out my knowing it. When I used to put the alfalfa in the batch, the smell of the alfalfa covered the smell of the salad having spoiled and I couldn't tell! Another reason I started powdering the hay and adding it before serving, was because I felt the pellets and hay alike made the salad go bad faster, and made my salad look kind of pasty, and the iguanas didn't like that much. So now I keep the troublesome fruit and alfalfa (who I feel make the salad turn quicker) out of the main batch in separate containers, and add these final ingredients before serving. The rest of the salad does fine all mixed together -- I use it up long before it spoils. The fresh serving I give to the iguanas hasn't had the chance to sit and become pasty from the alfalfa, and to ensure moisture, I give the serving a couple squirts from the plant mister to boot. Voila!
2.9 Why are the greens fed separately? Leafy greens should be served later in the day after the iguana has eaten the more nutritious basic salad. The reason is because the greens are the food iguanas prefer and if you feed these WITH the basic salad, the iguana will ignore the basic salad, pick out the greens and go "leafy junkie." If this is allowed to continue, the iguana will not be getting as nutritious a meal he otherwise might, because his belly will be stuffed full of the leafies and not the more nutritious basic salad. Lack of better nutrition could cause health problems. Again, treat leafy greens as "desert." No desert til after dinner -- serve the greens in the late afternoon or evening after the iguana has had a chance to eat basic salad in the morning.
2.10 What is the difference between "summer" and "winter" squashes? Which is better? Summer squashes (crookneck, scallop, acorn, straightneck and zucchini , etc.) have white or yellow flesh, and have softer outer skins. Winter squashes (True Hubbard, Butternut, Gold Nugget, Buttercup, etc.) have orange flesh and harder outer skins. The winter squashes are generally more nutritious than summer, and of the winter squashes, butternut has the most calcium.
2.11 What are the latin names of the main MK ingredients? These are the latin names.for the MK Basic Salad Recipe above and commonly served greens. For more latin names of other iguana edibles, try The Virtual Garden.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.3.1 Why do I have to supplement his food? There have been no studies done on iguana RDA as far as I know! Who knows how much of any kind of vitamin or mineral is ideal for an iguana? One way to ensure an iguana is healthy however, is to provide him with two kinds of supplements: plain calcium (offset high phosphorous content of vegetables) and a general multivitamin (provide trace elements that may or may not be present in adequate amounts in basic salad.)
3.2 What kind of Calcium do I use? I recommend plain food grade calcium carbonate for humans. It is available at pharmacies, and health food stores. If in the pill form, crush to powder with a pill crusher or mortar and pestle. Other kinds of calcium supplements specifically for reptiles are available, but be sure to choose formulas with no phosphorous (2:0)! They get enough phosphorous in their salad diet, no need for more! Avoid calcium lactate, crushed egg shells, cuttlebone scrapings. ~CR "Cuttlebone Cuttlefish are bottom feeders and so bioaccumulate toxins in the ocean as well as those that accumulate in the flesh of the animal matter they eat. Many birders are no longer using cuttlebone due to this reason, which is the reason I stopped using it for my birds and reptiles... " ~MK
3.3 What Kind of Multivitamin do I use? I recommend a general human multivitamin, crushed to powder. I personally use Centrum for myself, so to give some to my iguanas is no big deal for me as I have it on hand anyway. Generic multivitamins for humans are acceptable. Crush to powder. Reptile Multivitamins aren't up to par with even mammalian pet multivitamins, but the best quality of food products are those geared for human consumption. So a human multivitmin is manufucatured more concientiously than food for "just those pets" due to strict FDA regulations. This I would like to see changed for I believe all captive animal foods should be regulated for quality as well-- but til then, I like using human food grade products when possible.
3.4 How do I keep the supplements?
3.5 What's the deal with all this Ca:P talk? Phosphorous can impede calcium uptake in iguanas. No need to get any more technical than that here. Just know that too much phosphorous is bad, and the ideal ratio for calcium to phosphorous is 2:1. This means the food item should have as close to 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorous possible in it. In vegetables (and especially fruits) there is more phosphorous than calcium present, so to combat this iguana keepers sprinkle the plain calcium supplement into the food to boost the calcium level to something more acceptable. (This does not mean you let out a snow storm of calcium supplement on the food! Just a light sprinkle daily mixed into the serving will suffice!) Foods to avoid feeding an iguana are those that are seriously phosphorous heavy!
3.6 How much supplement do I give him? For the babies and adults alike I give:
These are general guidelines only, and special case iguanas (gravid, sick) have different supplement considerations!
3.7 How many Brewers Yeast tablets do you use for each batch of frozen salad? Brewer's Yeast: This is supplement used for those using salad that was frozen to replace the B vitamins destroyed by the freezing process. After thawing, a light sprinkling over the food with the other supplements before serving is fine. (I'd also keep powdered Brewer's Yeast in yet another salt shaker for this purpose!) ~CR " I found another source for it the other day when searching for pecans (heard they were good for polio, believe it or not!!) Anyway, the health food dept at my supermarket has lots of bulk foods available - including brewer's yeast powder... :) " ~Melissa K. Those not freezing their iguana salad can skip this supplement.
3.8 Is it ok to mix the vitamins in with the initial batch or do they need to be added when served? I prefer to "dose" each individual food serving with supplement and mix it then rather than add supplement to the whole salad batch for the control factor. (I sometimes am feeding several iguanas with different supplemental needs and need to monitor how much each individual is getting supplement-wise and eating salad-wise.) Those of you in single iguana families might prefer to dose full batches of salad rather with the supplements rather than at serving time, so one tablet of calcium and one tablet of multivitamin will do in a batch of salad that is 2-3.5 cups big. If freezing, add these AFTER you have thawed along with one tablet of Brewer's yeast. (If you have a special case iguana (gravid, sick) these supplemental needs will change.) It is all personal preference, really.
3.9 Can I oversupplement? How can I avoid that? Yes, you can overdo the supplements! To avoid doing so, just use a light sprinkling over the food. Some people describe it as a pinch, I call it a light sprinkling because of my storing the powders in shakers. Want an actual measurement approximation and definitions? pinch: whatever you can hold between your thumb and pointer finger when pressed together. (Now don't start with the "What if a person has fatter fingers than others?" They just will have fatter pinches! Laugh.) light spinkling: a light sprinkling from a salt shaker over the top of the food serving size. Then mix it up. pinch or dash = less than 1/8 teaspoon
3.10 What is that Solar Drops Stuff with the D3 in it? Can I use it and not use UVB lights anymore? "Iguanas probably do not absorb significant amounts of vitamin D3 from their digestive tracts, as found by Bernard, et al. in their paper,"The response of vitamin-D deficient green iguanas (Iguana iguana) to artificial ultraviolet light" and presented at the 1991 Proceedings of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. Therefore, the drops are most likely ineffective at providing vitamin D3 to iguanas. Iguanas need to receive UV-B radiation to effectively increase vitamin D3 levels. " ~Lara M., DVM Adding D3 willy-nilly ito an iguana's diet can cause problems. Not only could it interfere with the absorption of calcium from his diet ina negative sort of way (hypercalcemia), Vitamin D is stored in fat. By adding it haphazardly to the diet it can reach toxic levels in the iguana rather quickly. It is not a suitable alternative to UVB lighting. I would not reccomend this product at all, nor its counterpart "Moon Drops." ~C.R.
Food Preparation and Storage.4.1 Should I peel or wash the vegetables and fruit? Some argue against peeling, because a lot of good nutrients are found in the skins of vegetables and fruits. Others urge peeling as a means of sanitary food preparation. What to do? You definitely should wash the vegetables with a vegetable brush, and if you intend on not peeling them -- even more so, because the produce is not washed all that great before you get it at the store, and other people have been squeezing those tomatoes to see how firm they are with their dirty hands before you bought it! While I was growing up in Panama, seasonal outbreaks of cholera occured during rainy season and people were urged to be even more careful about washing the foods they ate: You either peeled the food, boiled the food or disinfected the food before consumption in order to be safe from cholera (and other cooties!) This practice seemed normal to me, and made sense, but when I began living in the USA I discovered people not to worry so much about catching things from their food, assuming that the health departments and such agencies governing food shopping places and food preparation places are enough to protect them. Seems overly confident to me. Don't get me wrong -- the strict rules set by organizations like the FDA and local health and sanitation boards are great, but I am not putting any raw produce in my mouth or my iguanas' mouths that I did not personally wash once more... for my own peace of mind! "Salmonella is increasingly found on our fresh produce as well as other organisms, especially produce imported from out of the country, and, I've no doubt, that grown in areas that experienced heavy flooding that involved septic tanks and sewage treatment plants. " ~ Melissa K. In order to disinfect produce, you filled the kitchen sink with water and added one tablespoon of bleach. Then you immersed the produce in this for 10-15 minutes. Next, you rinsed the produce THOUROUGHLY with cold running water to flush away the bleach residue. I cannot stress proper rinsing enough! "First aid/survival literature indicates that 1 drop of bleach per gallon of tainted water is enough to make it safe for drinking... Likely be safe and enough to wash veggies, too...followed still by a good thorough rinsing..." ~Melissa K. This is all part of ordinary food preparation hygiene, and common sense! I personally scrub and peel. For the unpeelables, I'll do the bleach thing.
4.2 What is the best way to make salad? The best way to make salad depends on you and the iguana you are feeding and the time you have for food making. As long as you meet these requirements, it doesn't matter how you go about it:
For little ones, sometimes making small bits of salad with a hand-held grater is enough. When he grows up and his food intake increases you may want to invest in a Salad Shooter or food processor of some kind to grate the vegetables down faster and save time. If you feed large iguanas you might want to make large batches of food and freeze, in order to save you time. You can scoop the salad into ziploc sandwich bags, flatten them, and close. Then you have little "bricks" one serving at a time and you just defrost. Mixing all the ingredients together helps to keep the iguana from picking out his favorites. Like everything else about iguana keeping, you kind of have to pick some guide to follow, and then fine-tune it to your own personal needs and iguana wants.
4.3 Is it ok to use a microwave to thaw the food? Microwaving is another food process that can alter food nutrients. Other processes include freezing and cooking of any kind. It is ok to defrost in the nuker, but remember to add the supplements as the last step or you will be altering the supplement nutrients as well. If you do that -- what was the point of the supplement in the first place?! Let the food cool down to room temps before it to the iguana. Remember when using frozen salad, Brewer's Yeast is the additional supplement needed beyond the calcium and multivitamin.
4.4 Can I thaw the frozen food by putting the plastic bag in lukewarm water? Sure. But you still have to use the Brewer's Yeast because it was frozen!
4.5 What is the best way to freeze salad? Totally up to you to pick which style you like the best: Pack the salad into ice cube trays. When frozen, pop the cubes out into a palstic bag and use however many cubes you need at a time. Place salad in plastic sandwich bags. Flatten out and squeeze air out and you now have "salad bricks," each in a little baggie you can stack up in the freezer. If you want a scoopable amount instead of a chunks, put the salad in the freezer in a large bowl, and stir it up every 10-15 minutes so the individual particles freeze up, but not together into a big clump. Then transfer to a plastic bag and scoop amount you need out, when you need it.
4.6 How long is frozen salad good to use? Try to use it up in 30 days. I wouldn't keep it after that -- freezer burn and all. Yuk. Plus the longer it is in the freezer the more nutrients are destroyed by the freezing process.
4.7 Are frozen or canned foods ok to use if you can't get fresh? What else can I use? Frozen: Yes, but you will have to start supplementing with Brewer's Yeast also to recover vitamins lost in the freezing process. Canned: Yes, but choose those packed in water or natural fruit juices over syrups and avoid those packed with salt! Baby Foods: First year baby foods can also be used to replace an ingredient in a pinch, but don't use them too often. Fresh is always best, but it isn't always easy to get! We all have to make do in a pinch!
4.8 What is the best way to store greens to keep them fresh as long as possible? Store leafy greens in this manner: Separate leaves from core. Pat dry with paper toweling. Stack neatly in layers and lay flat into a plastic baggy that you can seal ( ex: Ziplocs). Squish all the air out and seal carefully. Or if you are slightly weird but creative, seal the "zip" all the way across save for a tiny end. Suck all the air out and then finish closing. There-- you made a little vacuum seal! It is the exposure to oxygen and water that makes leafies spoil, rust, etc. Storing in flexible plastic bags allows you to squish the air out and keep the greens fresh longer. Prepare leafies in the evening by taking out the right number of leaves and cutting it up. (Do not serve stalks.) It is fast and easy! Put the rest away again . Do not think you can save time by chopping up the leafies before "vacuum sealing" it because the cut edges will rust and spoil more quickly. These precautions will help you keep leafies as long as possible, but once they go too wilty, yellow, rust, spot, or start to spoil -- replace them. Don't try to make food stretch longer than possible!
Mutilple Iguana Questions.5.1 Why does only one of my iguanas eat when they are housed together? One iguana becomes dominant over the other and will not let the other one eat. Multiple iguanas who live together develop a pecking order, and the alphas eat first, and the betas later... IF the alphas will allow them the leftovers! One way to combat this is to have separate feeding stations for iguanas housed together. (As well as separate basking stations!) Better yet, house them separately if possible.
Change In Eating Habits.6.1 Should I notice any change in my iguana's eating habits during mating season? How long does mating season last? Yes, you may noticed a decrease in eating during the love seasons. How long it lasts depends on the iguana in question but here are other's input on the subject: "Yes...their appetites go way down during this time.should last 3-4 months..it will seem like forever but it will end." ~Ann A. "Yes, you will notice a difference in eating during mating season. Mojo forgets to eat some days because he has loving on his mind. Poor guy has a one track mind.... If your iguana is a female then you will notice a difference also. She eats like there is no tomorrow until it looks like you need to take her to work out at Bally. Then she too starts to eat irratically. For me mating season started in September 1996 and may last til September 1997. Mojo still wants to mate with either George or Dana. He isn't real particular, just whichever one he can grab by the neck first. Although now he eats like an....iguana, that's [the word] I was searching for." ~Neil S. "With Emmett, mating season began sometime in late August and ended in mid-late December. Zoe was *very* orange in the spring and summer, but never exhibited decreased appetite. Gator has just entered his first mating season, and I guess that it will last 3-4 months. Both of my males ate much less during mating season. Zoe's food intake never decreased, but she never laid eggs, either." ~Pam H.
6.2 My iguana stopped eating! What do I do?
6.3 My iguana is eating poop/dirt/paper/his shed/weird things! Help! Sometimes iguanas will try to eat weird things just because they think it is food. This could be your green sweater, or your flowered sofa. Other times they may smell spilled food on it -- the carpet, the floor, a cushion, etc. When they insist on eating poop, or dirt, or shed, they might be having some kind of other trouble. Young iguanas often will try to eat the poop of another iguana in hopes of obtaining the beneficial bacteria for digestion. They think their own poop belongs to someone else and they will eat it. Rather than have him eat poop, you may try giving him a dose of yogurt with live cultures, or a product like Bene-Bac as "good bacteria booster." If the problem persists, take him to the vet for a fecal exam to see if he has a parasite problem. Try to keep his cage and your home clean so he does not ingest foreign materials. DO NOT USE particulate substrates for this reason!A build-up of this sort of junk could lead to an impaction down the road!
Special Case Iguanas
There are always a few iguanas out there needing more help along the road to a better diet. Some may be dehydrated, or weakened from illness, or even gravid. These guys require more care than normal. The best thing you could do is take him to a vet and have him checked out and his illness or medical concern addressed -- if he has parasites, deworm him, if he is a she and gravid, learn about those special circumstances, if he has trouble eating on his own, requires medication, or whatever -- talk to your vet before proceeding on your own. Force feeding an iguana without knowing what the problem is can make a bad situation worse. At least CALL your vet and tell him what you plan to do.
Ensure Shake. There is an iguana milkshake recipe for those sick fellas by MK: Blender it up, and serve at room temp via needle-less syringe. The actual amount of the serving depends on the iguana's weight. Babyfood Slurry Another slurry I used after the first few days with the "milkshake" is this: Blender it up, and serve at room temp via needle-less syringe. The actual amount of the serving depends on the iguana's weight. Yogurt Yogurt with live cultures is used as a "microflora booster" after an iguana has recently been dewormed to help build the "good bacteria" in the iguana belly back up. Serve a dab at room temp. on bread, inside a folded leaf, mixed in salad, or via needleless syringe. Pedialyte Pedialyte is generally preferred over sports drinks to rehydrate an iguana, and you can dilute it with water if you feel it may be too strong "straight." Serve room temp with an eyedropper.
7.2 SHORT TIPS ON FORCE FEEDINGS There are different "levels" of force feeding -- from mild to aggressive. If feeding by needless syringe remember to be gentle. You may need a helper to get his mouth open: When feeding him...
Gravid iguanas have special diet concerns. Have your vet see and x-ray your iguana at least twice during her season; once before she is due to lay to make sure the eggs are developing well and once after she lays to make sure she laid them all. Ask him about her diet needs during this time. Most likely she will require calcium-rich foods and and additional calcium supplement -- normally Neocalglucon -- given throughout her gravid state and a little after she lays to help her rebuild her body. The entire egging experience can stress your iguana's body and puts her in a position where her body needs the extra calcium for her eggs. If she does not get enough from her diet, it will take it from her bones, and too much of this could give her health problems post-laying. As the eggs develop inside her they will leave less room for food as her internal organs are squished out of place. She may eat less or stop eating altogether, and will subsist on her stored fat. Pre-egging care is important -- you need to have cared for her well in order for her to have those fat deposits to rely on. Post-laying, offer her good food and drink immediately. She will look pretty bad and will appreciate a feeding station near her egg box.
Other Notes8.1 Potential Bad Foods -- the top 20. This is just the top twenty foods to avoid in alphabetical order. I do not list the reasons here, nor the expanded list of "Potential Bad Foods." for sake of space. This is a FAQ, not the whole nutrition paper! In general terms, each of these foods contains a certain quality that impedes the iguana's ability to process and benefit from the food he eats. For example -- spinach contains oxalates that bind with calcium and make it unuasable. This could lead to calcium deficiency in your iguana. While it is ok to serve these foods once in a while, do not serve them on a regular basis (more than once a month IMHO)! bananas, beets, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, grapes, lettuces (any variety at all), kale, nappa, onions, parsley, rhubarb (toxic to igs! never feed!) , rutabega, spinach, stalk/swiss chard, turnip.
Some plant are iguana-edible and can make nice treats. Do not make them staples however, since we cannot find the nutritional values on these yet. This is not a complete listing: Hibiscus flower and leaves, mango leaves, nasturtium flower, citrus leaves (orange, lemon, etc.), rose petals, rose leaves Some helpful links:
Some plants can be dangerous for your iguana to eat. Keep him away from the houseplants! When in doubt, don't give it to him to eat! Some helpful links: Indiana Plants Poisonous to Livestock and Pets (database search) FAQ: Toxic Plants (list helpful to print out) Plants Toxic to Animals (database search) Plants Toxic to Animals, Home Page -- Vet Med Library, UIUC (database search) TOXIC PLANTS (list to print, background makes it hard to read) Why Are Some Plants Toxic? (lots of links!) Library - Toxic Outdoor Plants (nice list with latin names) Library - Toxic House / Indoor Plants (nice list with latin names) Plants that are Toxic to Cats (some may not apply in relation to herps, but good to read anyway)
8.4 Nutritionally linked diseases. Again this is not a full blown list, nor explanations of what makes them nutritionally linked diseases. I save the long explanations for the more intensive iguana nutrition documents. In genereal these diseasess come about when an owner has not fed his iguana a wide enough variety of foods, or limited his foods to animal-based products or potentially harmful vegetables. In no real order: Metabolic bone disease (MBD), rickets, tremors, rubber jaw, vulnerable bones due to calcium deficiency, gout, mineralization of tissues, bladder stones, kidney failure, oversupplementing vitamins, internal parasites etc. Interesting reading that may/may not apply to igs to some degree or another: Avian Nutritional Diseases Responsible for Disease/Death Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases (Non MeSH) (Link-rich!)
Special Thanks To all the contributors and proof-readers who helped me get this together. Now go feed your iguanas!
"Quick Iguana Nutrition FAQ version 1.2" © Copyright 1997 Catherine E. Rigby-Burdette All rights reserved.
Comments or suggestions always welcome!
If you wish to add to this FAQ list, e-mail me with your contribution or question needing an answer. Tell me if you disagree with something and I will try to make adjustments and corrections in future versions. |
Back to 
Back
to 
Back
to 
