One of the main parts of caring for your iguana is feeding it nutritious staple foods to keep it healthy. In this post, you will find a baby and adult iguana food list, best foods for an iguana, staples and a food chart for iguanas.
Please remember that the red iguana or blue iguana morphs will have the same diet as the green iguana.
What do iguanas eat as pets?
As pets, iguanas need a strictly vegetarian diet, to live a long live and prevent issues with kidneys. So your iguana must only eat vegetables, greens, flowers and some fruits.
Your iguana must not eat any form of meat, insects, eggs, cheese, dog food and more. People used to give iguanas meat or bugs to make them grow bigger, especially at a younger age. Offering your iguana meat and bugs will cause kidney failure just after few years of this diet.
Any form of the protein that your iguana needs should come from vegetables. Iguanas also don’t drink much water – so they also get most of the moisture from the food. Dog or cat food to iguanas is dangerous – they are unbalanced in nutrients and high in protein!
How often do iguanas eat?
Iguanas eat 1-2 times a day, but some owners feed their iguanas only once in 2 days. The best practice is to feed your iguana its main meal in the morning, and offer some snacks later in the evening, 3 hours before the sleep, same time every day (iguanas love routines).
Iguana food chart
Your iguana must mainly eat leafy greens – you should offer them every day. Then, with less frequency, you can add other veggies and flowers.
Leafy greens should make up 50-60% of iguana’s diet. Then, 30-40% will contribute to vegetables and flowers. Fruits and berries should only contribute to 10% of your iguana’s diet.
Ca:P ratios, goitrogenic and oxalic foods in iguana’s diet
Please remember that Ca:P ratio is extremely important in iguana’s diet. The best greens, veggies and fruits should contain 2:1 Calcium to Phosphorus, or up to 2.5-3:1 Ca:P. Phosphorus ratio should never be higher than Calcium. If it is, you must mix them to reach the balance.
Even the multivitamins that you get must be balanced. Read everything about iguana supplementation in this post.
Foods also must not be high in oxalates (binding calcium) or goitrogenic (binding iodine).
Based on these factors, foods for iguanas are divided to staples, to occasional and rare consumption.
Each day, mix various staples, little bit of fruits and veggies to make a salad. Mix 4-5 types of greens (60%), 1-2 types of veggies (30%), and few pieces of fruits (10%). Don’t forget to alternate veggies, greens, flowers and fruits every day. This will provide varied nutrition.
Even if the fruit is in the staple food list, you must only offer 10% of fruits in iguana’s diet! Same goes to vegetables – 30-40%! Offer greens every day, and mix some staple or occasional veggies, fruits and flowers in the salads! Quantity and frequency is the key.
Please note that the diet for baby and adult iguanas should be the same. Make sure to start offering a variety of greens, veggies and fruits from the beginning. Otherwise, your iguana will become a picky eater.
Let your baby and juvenile iguana eat as much as it wants. But starting from the age of 4-5, reduce the portions a little to prevent obesity.
Best foods for an iguana – staples you can feed daily
- Dandelion greens – both flowers and leaves
- Collard greens
- Turnip greens (offer at least every other day, a bit high in goitrogens).
- Escarole
- Mustard greens
- Squash (grated spaghetti squash, butternut, yellow, Hubbard, gem, Kabocha, acorn).
- Watercress (low in oxalates, 2:1)
- Endive
- Nasturtium (pesticide free flowers and greens – give as a treat or mix in)
- Hibiscus (pesticide free flowers and greens – give as a treat or mix in)
- Snap beans (mix with greens)
- Parsnips (mix with greens)
- Rocket
- Alfalfa
Foods to feed your iguana 2-3 days a week (add some to staples)
- Carrots (avoid carrot tops – high in oxalates)
- Leeks
- Asparagus
- Zucchini (courgettes)
- Prickly pear fruit (cactus leaves)
- Apples (10% of the diet)
- Rose petals (not sprayed with pesticides – give as a treat or mix in)
- Mangoes (10% of the diet)
- Papaya (10% of the diet)
- Melon (10% of the diet)
- Basil (herb – add some to the salad)
- Sage (herb – add some to the salad)
- Thyme (herb – add some to the salad)
- Oregano (herb – add some to the salad)
- Fennel (herb – add some to the salad)
- Peppermint (herb – add some to the salad)
Foods that you can offer your iguana once a week (mix with staples)
- Swiss chard (high oxalate food)
- Spinach (very high oxalate food)
- Bok Choy (goitrogenic)
- Kale (goitrogenic)
- Broccoli (goitrogenic)
- Sweet potatoes (high in oxalates and phosphorus)
- Brussels sprouts (goitrogenic)
- Okra (high in goitrogens)
- Beet Greens and Beetroot (oxalic food)
- Cabbage (goitrogenic)
- Cauliflower (goitrogenic)
- Parsley
- Cucumbers (only good for moisture, chop some pieces in the salad)
- Rutabaga (goitrogenic)
- Tomatoes (oxalic food) (10% of the diet)
- Asparagus
- Lentils
- Celery
- Bell pepper
- Mushrooms (high in phosphorus)
- Raspberries (high in oxalates) (10% of the diet)
- Watermelon (low in nutrition, but high water content) (10% of the diet)
- Peaches (goitrogenic) (10% of the diet)
- Pears (oxalic) (10% of the diet)
- Strawberries (goitrogenic) (10% of the diet)
- Figs (very high in oxalates, give rarely) (10% of the diet)
- Plums (very high in oxalates, give rarely) (10% of the diet)
- Apricots (10% of the diet)
- Blueberries (10% of the diet)
- Blackberries (10% of the diet)
- Grapes (oxalic) (10% of the diet)
- Bananas (very bad Ca:P ratio of 0.3:1, give rarely) (10% of the diet)
- Kiwi (very high in oxalates, give rarely) (10% of the diet)
You can occasionally offer your iguana some commercial foods like this. But make sure to offer water or spray the food with water (if possible). This is because most of the commercial foods are dry, so they lack moisture.
Avoid oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, pineapples, lemons, limes – all citrus fruits.
Do not feed lettuce to your iguana – they are very low in nutrition.
Avoid feeding bread, cooked rice, pasta – stick to the vegetarian diet.
Never feed avocados – they are toxic. You can find a full list of toxic and non-toxic plants, fruits and vegetables for your iguana in this post.
Also, you can find the full guide to iguana’s supplementation in this post.
What is more, you will find the guide to feeding iguanas, different rules and tips in this post.