Proper iguana feeding is a critical factor to grow a healthy iguana. Your iguana can contract the disease when the nutrient is insufficient – causing your iguana to suffer silently over the years.
Iguana is an exclusive herbivorous reptile, so do not think that your young iguana can eat insects or similar. Feed them so they are not hungry all the time.
If you want to keep your iguana healthy, follow this feeding guide.This is a short version, while you can also check out our full iguana feeding guide.
Words are good, images are better, so, let’s start with a nice infographic:
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So, the iguana daily menu consists of (in a week):
* 45% green vegetable leaves
* 40% vegetable/flower mix
* 10-15% of fruits
Feed 1 to 2 times a day, in the morning (iguanas are not night eaters), you can add cereals/bread to the menu but not more than 5% of the food ration.
This is important for the iguana as a must-have power food. You shall provide a variety of vegetables and fruits – but not too much, just a little portion. Various fruits are only consumed by large iguanas, young iguanas do not eat most of the fruit, usually papaya only.
If you keep your iguana in a terrarium, the temperature is also very important. The iguanas digest food well when the temperature is at least 29°C (84°F), so the terrarium temperature must be taken into account during the day as some terrarium will not fall on this level. The fall of temperature below 29°C (84°F) strongly restricts the digestive process.
While feeding is important, don’t forget UVA and UVB lamps. More cost-saving will be a natural use of sunlight but do not scald your iguana. Open the terrarium cover moderately, just to expose the terrarium surface with good sunlight.