Commercial Diets

If you browse the reptile section of pet stores, you will probably notice at least one if not several varieties of prepackaged iguana foods for sale. It may be tempting to just give your iguana one of these diets, but current thinking on iguana nutrition is that this is a bad idea. Most of the diets are too high in protein and too low in calcium (and in some brands the calcium is not in a digestible form) and so me other minerals. This is not to say that there are no good commercial diets available, just that most are not suitable for use as the only source of nutrition. ApparentIy, the iguanas farmed in Central America are fed a prepared diet almost exclusively, but to my knowledge this diet is not available to the general hobbyist.

If you decide to use a commercial diet, I would suggest that it make up no more than ten percent of the total diet. This way you can be sure your iguana is still getting enough calcium and not too much protein. Choose a commercial diet that has no animal ingredients but has high fiber, a good calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, and a protein content of no higher than 25 percent. The pelleted and meal-type diets seem to be better than the canned ones. You can also use commercial diets as treats or as emergency foods.