Foods to feed your Iguana

Here’s list of foods that are good to feed your iguana along with the approximate percentages that they should be added to the salad.

Leafy Greens to feed: (about 60%)
Collard Greens (they keep longer in the fridge)
Mustard Greens
Turnip Greens
Dandelion Greens (from your yard, not sprayed with pesticides)
Endive
Escarole
Watercress

Veggies (about 30% or so)
Green beans
Snow peas
Parsnip
Squash
Carrots
Asparagus
Mature alfalfa (not the sprouts)
Bell peppers (in moderation)
Okra

Fruits (about 10%) Almost any fruit
Strawberries
Bananas
Figs (highest in nutrients)
Apples
Blackberries, blueberries, etc.
Grapes
Mango
Stay away from citrus fruit such as lemons, oranges, kiwis, etc. because they contain acids that the iguana may not be able to break down as easily as other fruit. They tend not to like them as much anyway.

Edible Ornamental/wild plants: treats, not a regular food
Hibiscus (flower and leaves)
Rose flowers (watch for thorns)
Dandelion (leaves and flowers)
Dahlia
Nasturtiums
Kudzu***

***Kudzu, surprisingly enough, is one of the best things you can give your iguana as far as nutrition goes. Recent (and I mean very recent) studies have shown that it’s so nutritional we should probably be eating the stuff. If you live in the south and have a good supply on hand, it can be used as your primary leafy green. Just make SURE that it hasn't been sprayed, because most of it has. The best thing is to grow your own.


Goitrogenic foods contain goitrogen, an enzyme that binds with iodine and renders it useless for iguanas (leads to hypothyroidism). These foods should be fed very rarely (once every month or so, if that) just for variety.

Bok Choi
Kale
Cabbage
Turnips
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower, broccoli
Spinach

You may wonder as to why these should ever be fed to your iguana since they contain iodine-binding enzymes. The reason they can still be fed in moderation is because the key to every iguana diet is variety. When fed as a small part of a balanced diet, these foods won’t hurt your iguana and actually help to provide the variety that the iguana needs. It’s good to alternate foods so that they don’t get stuck on a few certain kinds of foods.

Foods that should NEVER be fed to your iguana:
Animal protein: crickets, mice, mealworms, eggs, dog food, Cat food, monkey show, trout chow, meat, etc.
Dairy products
Rhubarb (poisonous)
alcohol
chocolate
avocados

A basic bit of information about the iguana diet has to do with calcium and phosphorous. When creating a good ig diet, you ideally want a salad that’s high in calcium and as low as possible in phosphorous. The ratio of calcium to phosphorous in a food item is expressed as Ca:P and the diet should conatin about a 2:1 ratio. In general the foods that are high in calcium and low in phosphorous are what make up a good iguana diet. However, foods that are high in calcium can also be high in calcium oxalates (enzymes that bind calcium) and goitrogens. So everything has to be considered when making up an iguana salad. However if you follow the directions here and the information on the chart link given below, you’ll be fine.

A great link to iguana diet resources is the Food Information Chart of the Green Iguana society. It includes pictures of each vegetable, as well as a brief nutritional summary (including Ca:P) Iguana Society Food Chart