Hi! It's me again! Asking stuff all the time! LOL!

Anyway, as some of you know, I brought my Ig home this past saturday, it is a baby ig, not newborn, but according to the pet shop about 3.5 months old, about 20 inches snout to tail length length.

In the pet shop, they didn't treat him that well, no UV light, 20 igs in one cage etc. He was really skinny before.

Also, they didn't really cut the food very small as recommended in the care sheets. They only gave them ONE kind of vegetable leaves (not sure what it was) and they were cut to about 8mm width, in long strips about 3 - 4 cm long. The first night after it came to my home, I fed it with mixed greens that were cut to also about 8mm wide and about 2 cm long. It devoured 4 small plates (4 inch diameter plate) of food within 1 day! It also ate some banana.

Today, I took care to cut the food smaller. It's NOT pureed like baby food, but I cut the leaves to about 2mm X 2mm bits. I also gave him green bell peppers cut to the same size, and some green beans and bean stalk, that I cut up (sliced the beans in half) to roughly the same size. I mixed in crushed alfalfa pellets as well. The point is, it was cut to a lot smaller than the pet shop, and a lot smaller than the previous two days that it was here for.

To my surprise, when I got home, it had hardly touched its food. I can tell it has eaten some, but only about 1/6 of a plate, whereas it ate 4 plates before a day.

I then threw in a bigger piece of leaf (Chinese cabbage) in front of its nose, the size I had fed it earlier, and it immediately ate it.

I don't know if I had cut the food too small? It really ISN'T so small as a paste, it's still pieces, but much smaller. Can it be that it got used to eating bigger leaves at the pet shop and won't eat smaler bits now?

Or can it be because he simply was starved half to death at the pet shop, so it ate like crazy for a day or two, then now it is full and is eating normally? Or that he just doesn't like the new veggies, beans etc. that I have given him?
Is this normal or something I should be worrying about?

In general, should I include the stalks of the vegetables, cut into small bits? Of only the leaves? Also, the bean stalks, should I just throw in the beans as they are? I currently cut the beans up small. And should I feed it the bean stalks too?

Ok in the time it took me to write that post, I had put 5 bigger leaves in the cage to test it and it ate it immediately. I'm thinking that I cut the food too small. Do you think I'm right?

It seems to only eat fruit and green leaves. It doesn't eat beans, bell peppers etc. and obviously the crushed alfalfa pellets aren't eaten.

What can I do?

If I leave the alfalfa pellets UNcrushed, but soaked in water, will it be ok? I do worry he may not eat them till they are dry, or that it may dry up in his gut and cause problems.

Please help!

It may be that your ig prefers larger food items. I used to put whole leaves around the cage for Godz so that he could 'forage' for them. He especially loves this if he had to climb to reach them. I also used to put various sized foods in his dish - he nearly always went for the larger items. I have never used the alfalfa pellets so can't really comment. I did, however, give Godz soaked iguana pellets once a week or so to aid his hydration. He usually ate them but ig's do have a knack for sorting their food and chucking out anything they don't fancy lol good luck

Wow, interesting. Seeing to it that I can't use the "cut it real small and mix it together" method for making sure he eats everything, what else can I do to make sure he gets a proper diet?

Iguanas are slow to accept new things. The smaller cut items for a baby (about the size of a grain of rice) will be better for them as not only is it easier to digest but when feeding the smaller chopped items will allow the iguana to consume more food. It also allows you to mix up the foods so the ig can't pick out its favorite stuff and leave the rest.Another problem may be the alfalfa pellets. My ig hates the taste of them! I powder them and mix them in with the fruit. Try the chopped up greens with out the alfalfa pellets and see what happens.
With the stems I will chop up soft, fleshy stems and feed but the coarser stuff I throw away. Of course this is an adult that I am feeding. I would wait till the baby gets a bit larger before trying to feed the stems.If you can't chew it easily its too tough for your baby ig.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

When I had an iggy it took me a while to get him to eat food that was cut up small I also couldnt het him to touch alfalfa pellets lol

my iguana likes his greens cut into strips, his squash grated, his veggies (beans, peppers etc.) diced, and his alfalfa powdered...oh yeah and fruits are most accepted when purreed....I think he just likes different textures! I'm sure if I completely screwed up the order of things he would probably refuse it for a day or two, but then he would get hungry and start eating. Just give your little guy time to adjust!

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

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The more "digestible" we can make the food the better for their digestion system. Small is better than larger, wet and soaked is better than dry.

You'll just need to find the perfect way for your specific iguana. The real key is good appetite and good poops.

Perhaps, as Emma said, your iguana just likes larger food stuffs. And like Merlin said, they never accept change well. Cutting it smaller is a change he might be slow to accept. But they will not starve themselves to death.

Never worry about the questions. Many people learn from just reading the thread, even though they may not post. ;-)

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Regards,
Dominick
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