Does anyone know what Iguana's eat when they are in the wild?

I've been asked this question by someone who lives in Costa Rica.

The diet we feed our Igs is not available in that area.

Thanks

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Leeslynn

Spot-ette...Spot-o-mania.....Spot-o-rama was a 2 yr old Iguana
Sam, Charcoal and Purshyman...the kitties
Plinko, Oscar and Shark attack....the fishes

Good question Leeslynn. It would be nice to know. If you find out...could you post them here? The answers may be out there...I just wish I had enough time to do a search. Running out of time these days....

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Veronica
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Exotic Animal Rescue of Henry Co.
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Thanks for responding Veronica.

I searched the net for 2 hours looking for 'native Iguana plants, food, fruit...etc'

I have found web sites telling me fruit and insects. They say fruit is the preferred food for adults but juveniles prefer small insects. Even these sites don't tell me what kind of fruit or insects.

I'm still on the search tho...I will post here when I find something....

Sounds like a trip to Costa Rica may be in my future...

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Leeslynn

Spot-ette...Spot-o-mania.....Spot-o-rama was a 2 yr old Iguana
Sam, Charcoal and Purshyman...the kitties
Plinko, Oscar and Shark attack....the fishes

its highly plausible that iguanas do eat insects in the wild. however they are in the perfect habitat,and in captivity we can only poorly mimic that habitat therefore we do not feed them insects

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Head bobs from Jorge, Jade, and Myself =)
http://community.webshots.com/user/steve38108

Hello,
Animal/insect protein is something that some young iguanas in the wild will eat. They don't do it because it is a dietary requirement, they do it for survival. Animal protein in any form increases the growth rate of baby igs. So in the wild, the babies will eat insects so they grow faster. This of course is to help make them less of a predatory meal for a large animal.
Animal protein causes liver and kidney damage. This has been proven already. Feeding a captive iguana animal protein is not suggested. It is not part of a normal diet.
In regards to vegetation, iguanas are folivores. Pinpointing the diet of a wild iguana would be dependant upon where that particular iguana comes from, and what common plants are found in that locale.

Well... I don't know much about native place, cause Page Ranking is not a place were green iguanas come from, they were introduced in the pet trade, released when they got too big, but the environment here is great for them and reproduce. Where my uncle lives, there are lots of them, it's near a mangroove area, and they enjoy lying on the mangroove trees and taking a swim on the ocean water available there (I've seen them, pretty creepy to see a 6 feet long ig swimming beside you on a boat). About foods, my uncle is always pretty mad cause he has a lot of orchids in his garden and the iguanas enjoy eating their flowers. They also seem to nest near them, and he has caught a couple of babies around (pretty small babies, as I was there one day when he caught one) he always lets them go again... he may like to complain about them, but he loves animals and enjoys the whole sight of them around his house... lol... he feeds them lettuce too.. then wonders why they come to eat his flowers... haha.

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I'll try to do this like you herpers do.... it's males.females.unknown, right? Well, here we go...

1.2.0 dogs
9.7.0 gerbils
2.0.0 dwarf hamsters
2.10.0 mice
0.1.0 leopard gecko (in case you were wondering where the herps where)
0.0.2 budgies