What do I feed a baby iguana?

I bought a baby iguana its about 1 month old.

I put lil pellets, carrots, hibiscus, and lettuce and it didn't eat anything.

What do they usuall eat?
What do I feed a baby iguana?
Iguanas are herbivores, meaning they eat plant material. No animal protein. A good diet would consist of :

collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens and turnip greens to name a few. http://www.iguanaden.org/diet/grocery.ht...



http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/mksalad.ht...
Reply:Depending on the size some young iguanas you will need to food process chop to make into little bites, almost to a slush form. Then as he/she gets older youll need to chop different sizes. Other things factor in why your ig may or may not be eating also, UVB, heat, humidity.



Also depending on how long you've had your iguana may depend on why he/she isnt eating. It can take time for them to adjust to his/her new surroundings. Leave good food greens in his/her enclosure in the morning and diffently leave some food over night before lights go out. Some young igs will eat at night when us humans arent walking around. W/ young igs its also sometimes hard to tell if they ate, when a bite or two will fill them up.



Depending on what pellet brand of pellets you bought you

need to read the ingredients and look for meat protein, it's usually w/in the first 10 ingredients. T-Rex, Monster Diet and Zilla are some brands that I know have animal protein listed. Rep-Cal Iguana food is one of the safe pellets to feed your ig. You should be soaking the pellets, will help w/ hydration if you do. Pellets can dehydrate your ig if not soaked.



Iguanas are plant eaters they do not eat bugs ... Nor tofu, no diary products should be given to your ig.



Young iguana (8-12 months of ag) should not live in anything smaller the a 55 gallon tank. Smaller the tank you can not process the correct temps threw out. Enclosure needs to be at least 1.5-2 times it's total length ... an adult you will need a space of 6-7ft tall x 8-10ft long x 4ft wide.



Temps:

never let drop below 70F ...

basking 92-96F if temp is too low digestion is slowed too high food digests too fast and nutrition is lost

medium/middle (overall) 88-92F

cool 75-84F

at night 73-84F ... having a temp gun works the best to know what your igs body temp truly is.



Lights On/Lights Off:

UVB and basking light should be on for 12 hours during the day. At night after those 12 hours lights out for 12 hours. Flickering of a tv could keep your ig up, which could cause stress. At night you can use a CHE (ceramic heat emitters) depending on how warm/cold the room and temps get, they produce no light just heat.



UVB:

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

- 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 - http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttube... - http://www.uvguide.co.uk/whatreptilesnee...



Floor covering:

BAD floor covering: bark, dirt, moss, sand, pellets are all bad ... at some point your iguana will try and lick swallow and then possibly cause blockage which will then need to be surgically removed or possibly death ... SAFE floor covering: newspaper (unprinted), paper towels, towels, vinyl flooring, indoor/outdoor carpeting - if you have any lose fibers from the carpeting or the towels please remove and replace - unprinted newspaper if you possibly can use is safer just in case your ig likes to try and eat the newspaper some ink may contain soy



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 ... hibiscus should be a treat not a daily food ... 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 ... 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



Animal protein:

Iguanas are plant eaters, they should not be feed any animal protein. No meat, no dairy, no tofo. 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.



Vet:

When you get an iguana you should take your ig to a herp/reptile vet that knows about iguanas. Just for a new pet check over. Your ig may have mites, parasites or other nasty things carried from the pet store. Plus if anything was to happen you know who to call w/out looking threw the phone book hoping you find a vet who knows something about iguanas.



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...



Best of luck w/ your little green one.
Reply:to evanesc...

I believe the question was about food.. why do ppl post a whole caresheet that they copy/paste from some other place to try to make themselves looks good? and not even credit the place for the caresheet? can you say plagerism? why post all of that stuff when they asked for food?
Reply:try sum fruit my mates got one n it likes fruit much more den veggies lol but don't we all lol ;) xx
Reply:Iguanas are vegetarians, so if you try a different assortment of fruits and vegetables, it will eventually eat something. Its also best that whatever you feed it is washed, and fresh.
Reply:I don't know what they usually eat, but try feeding him smashed bananas.