Basic Salad for an Iguana for a healthy Diet

This is a vegetable, alfalfa and fruit mixture. It is made from fresh, raw, chopped vegetables. How finely the food is chopped depends on the size of your iguana. This is just part of a total diet, and should be served with leafy greens. This salad will provide nutrition, moisture and color for variety, forming the foundation of the iguana diet. It can be altered in many ways, so sticking to the exact recipe is not totally needed. Many items may be replaced with others of equal or slightly less nutrition content, depending on season, availability etc.. Both a calcium and multivitamin supplement should be added.

The green vegetable. You may use whole, fresh green beans, snap peas or snow peas. Wash well then chop well. Remember to make pieces fine enough to be easily swallowed by a lizard that gulps rather than chews food.
The orange vegetable. Should be a winter squash, these are the hard squashes that, when cut open, reveal their pale-to-deep orange flesh. These include, acorn, banana, delicata, hubbard, kabocha, pumpkin, spaghetti and turban squashes. Carrots and sweet potatoes contain oxalates as well as saponins, so these should be used only if winter squashes are not available.

Other vegetables. Iguanas may enjoy some of the following vegetables which can be used in small amounts. These should be considered flavorful additions to the basic diet, not a replacement for the more nutritious vegetables. Try, mushrooms, bell peppers, root vegetables, cactus pad, star fruit, asparagus, okra, and many others.
Fruit. The fruit is more for color and moisture than it is for nutrition. Many fruits may be used, the following are listed in descending order in terms of nutritional contribution: raspberries, blueberries, mulberries, strawberries, pears, plums, mangos, papayas, cherries, apricots, cantaloupe, prickly pear cactus and kiwi (both skinned). When not available fresh, you may use frozen.
Alfalfa is a great source of protein, fiber and calcium, the best forms are the powders or leaf teas packaged for human consumption.

Chop all ingredients, add supplements and mix thoroughly. While the proportions of food types remain the same, the actual amount of food you make will increase as your iguana grows bigger and consumes a greater quantity of food. The following makes about 3.5 cups.

1/2 cup shredded green beans
1/2 cup shredded squash
Alfalfa*
1 medium parsnip**
1/4 cup minced fruit

*The quantity of alfalfa you use will depend on the product. You want to add about 15 grams of protein. That is about ¼ cup or less of alfalfa power or leaf tea.
**If parsnips are seasonal in your location, during the crops off season you can use ½ cup shredded asparagus.

Remember to keep the food pieces small, finely chopped, minced or shredded as appropriate for the type of food. The smaller the pieces the more they can fit into their stomachs and the more efficiently they can digest the food.

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