Quality Iguana Diet

Iguanas should not be fed lettuce, fruit cocktail, processed human foods, or any single fruit or vegetable as a main diet. Green iguanas require a varied diet of chopped fruits, vegetables and greens to stay healthy.

Melissa Kaplan´s excellent recipe for Iguana Salad (no, it is not made with real iguanas) is probably the best basic diet. It consists of 1/2 cup shredded raw green beans, 1/2 cup shredded raw orange fleshed squash (acorn, bananna, kabocha, spaghetti squash or pumpkin), 1/2 - 3/4 cup alfalfa pellets or crumbled alfalfa hay (not sprouts), 1 medium or 2 small shredded parsnips, 1/4 cup mashed or minced fruit (berries, mangos, papaya, figs, cantalope, but NOT avocado)

You can make and freeze this in batches, but be sure to add some brewer´s yeast to replace the thiamine (B1) that is lost in the process.

Watch My Color

A normal green iguana should sport healthy colors such as green, orange and brown. If you see a normally green animal turn much darker for an extended period of time, this is often a sign of ill health. Many iguanas will darken temporarily to absorb more heat, but when these changes become long term they are something to worry about.