I have a green iguana and i feed it the iguana food from the pet store (just the pellets) and give it greens ?

Question

ocasionally is that alright, and i was also wondering how big he should be he doesnt seem it be growing very quickly, he is 2 to 3 years old and only 22 inches long, is this normal?

Answer 1

I had my iguana for two years and it was almost 5 ft long and always shedding.  Greens should be the staple of the diet. collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, etc. Mixed vegetables, squash, zucchini, yams, raspberries & blackberries, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables  but the large majority of the diet should be greens.  I tried not to use a lot of pellet food and would mix it in only when i didn't go to the grocery store.  Broccoli and cauliflower can be used once in a while but never spinach.  If you want him big give him a plate twice a day  and let him eat as much as he can just remove left overs so it doesn't go bad

Also make sure you have a good uv light and a place where he can lay flat so heis body can utilize the calcium. ( Thats why I had to get ridr of mine he out grew my house!)

http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart....

Answer 2

No that is not normal. Do you have a uva basking spot, and a  UVB producing fluorescent tube light (i.e. ZooMed Reptisun or Iguana light etc. ($20) Aquarium lights, bird lights etc are NOT sufficient. I use ZooMed's Reptisun 10.0 and the newer Mercury Vapor bulbs such as Megaray or Powersun. Are you adding calcium to his food such as vitamin D3? I use Fluker's liquid vitamin spray. I use some in his water and his salads. Make sure your feeding him healthy greens such as dandelion greens, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens etc they're high in calcium. Also make sure you have a big enough enclosure for your Iguana, because a small one may stunt his growth rate.

Here's a couple website's I recommend for you, good luck.

http://my.pclink.com/~dkelley/igcare.htm

http://www.greenigsociety.org/careinfo.h...

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Farm/...

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/

Answer 3

Iguana pellets should NOT be the main source of diet for an iguana. Depending on what type of iguana food you are feeding you need to read the ingredients, some of the commercial iguana food on the market may contain some form of animal protein. Adding iguana pellets w/ greens is fine but it should only be a few w/ staple good green diet.

Animal protein:

Iguanas are plant eaters, they should not be feed any animal protein. No meat/bugs, no dairy. If you ever give your ig iguana diet dried food, please read the ingredients there are so many products on the market today that clearly puts meat protein in there ingredients, usually w/ in the first 10 ingredients. Some that I am aware of that do MonsterDiet, TRex, Zilla, Wardley. RepCal Iguana pellets is one that is safe to use. Soak pellets before offering to help w/ hydration, only give a few pellets for you want the greens to be main diet.

Food:

Daily food should have 5-7 good staple greens (2-3 cups a day if not more younger igs may eat less then 1/4 cup) ... collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens (if you can find), endive, radicchio, arugula, mache (if you can find), watercress ... some greens to give occasionally kale, bok choy, escarole ... adding basil for young igs sometimes helps them eat ... romaine is mostly water no nutrience, you can add small amount and occasionally in w/ the good staple greens (collard, mustard, etc) but do not make romaine just your iguanas choice of greens (or any other type of lettuce most of us humans eat) ... some things to add (small amounts) snap peas, bell peppers (every now and then), parsnip, sweet potato/yam, acorn squash, butternut squash, buttercup squash ... fruits should only be given every now and then once or twice a week type of thing fruits are like junk food to iguanas ... some fruits to try papay, kiwi, mango, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, honeydew (great water source), canalope (great water source), 12 grain wheat bread ... if anything has seeds make sure you remove seed before you give it to your iguana anything w/ small seeds like strawberries wait like 3 days before giving anymore ... watermelon (seedless) can be frozen and then shaved onto your iguanas food helps w/ hydration everyday ... there are some foods that aren't good for your iguana: spinach has oxalate acids bind to the calcium, so even though spinach is high in calcium, almost none is actually available for the iguana to use, also the oxalate acids can form oxalate crystals which can and do build up in the kidneys causing kidney damage/failure ... some ig owners do give there ig spinach but in very small amounts and only once a month ... corn igs can not digest ... carrots can block calcium absorption ... bananas are low in calcium best to give another type of fruit ... apples too much acid - appetite suppressant ... rhubarb is poisonous ... food should be cut/chopped/diced no bigger then the iguanas head, if they are small having a chopper chop them up, or slice them into very small pieces ... spray/mist food to help w/ water/hydration

Since you ask on growth, iguanas depending on if giving the proper living space, proper UVB, heat, humidity, food should grow average 1-3inches a month if not more ... What type of UVB are you providing? What type of living space do you have he in? My girl is 2 yrs old and she is STL=45inches. If you are not providing any UVB this could be why he isn't the length that he should be at, or you have the age wrong. There are some so called UVB bulbs that can actually cause eye damage.

UVB: (12 hrs on during day - 12 hrs off during night no light)

US: ReptiSun 10.0 distance 8-10 inches from your igs body

Repti Glo 8.0 distance 6-8 inches from your igs body

ReptiSun 5.0 distance 6-8 inches from your igs body

UK: Arkadia distance 6-8 inches from your igs body

MegaRay is another option for UVB, but it's best to have a UV Meter when using

http://www.reptileuv.com/

- You will need to adjust the distance as your ig grows

- Using a shop light from a home improvement store works the best, get one that has 2 tube plugs and using 2 UVB tubes

- The UVB listed are in tube form, using the 36-48inch tubes are the best more length for your ig

- Surface under the UVB tube lights need to be a flat surface if at an angle your igs body will not get the proper UVB threw out

- There are UVB's out there on the market now that can cause eye damange to your ig

- W/out UVB your ig may end up w/ MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease)

- UVB information that you may find interesting:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm

Sites for you to read:

http://www.greenigsociety.org/ - http://www.iguanaden.org/ - http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html

A great book to read and have on hand:

Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan

Yahoo has some great sites for Iguana owners... these groups helped me and still help w/ questions .. if you'd like to join:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BabyI... - http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Iguan...