Hi, while I am not 100% the most experienced yet (only had my IG since saturday), I am proud that I am figuring this out! He is becoming tamer and at first he won't poop and I was worried, but I got it to poop today with water immersion. It won't poop in its cage it seems. But I am PROUD that I am figuring this out and while I'm not there yet 100% I am someone who cares for my ig and not someone who gives up or just buys him on a whim! I hope you guys can help me become a full fledged expert.

Ok, here is my question for the day. My Ig is a baby and he seems to be a picky eater. It eats leaves and fruit only it seems. Thus I worry if it will not have enough protein. I have tried the following:

1) Serving alfalfa pellets, ground and mixed into the leaves. It did a hunger strike all day.
2) Served green beans and green bell peppers, diced to small and mixed in with cut up leaves. Even though I cut it really really small, like 2mm, it picked out only the leaves!!!!
3) Served Alfalfa pellets, soaked, in a separate dish from the veggies. It ate only the veggies plate.

I dont want to try to force him to eat the protein rich foods by serving ONLY beans, alfalfa etc. because he is a growing baby I don't want it to go without food for days to get an acquired taste as I don't want it to starve itself.

I'm thinking I can do this:
1) Serve in the morning, alfalfa, beans etc.
2) In the afternoon, serve leaves that are HIGH IN PROTEIN so at least it won't starve or be malnourished as it is getting its acquired tastes.

Can you people tell me what kind of leaves I can get? Currently I serve it in terms of leaves, mustard greens mainly, then some choy sum, bok choy. Can't buy Collards here as they don't have it. It's hard being in Hong Kong and reading western pet care literature!

Please help.

Hmmm...of what you mentioned mustard greens sound like the best. Bok Choy is okay occasionally. I've never heard of Choy Sum...

It's good that you are asking alot of questions, and it's even better that you ar giving us lots of information to use when answering the questions (like his diet and how long you have had him and such)! Good luck with everything...

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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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What else can I get LEAVES wise that are high in protein?

This is a tough one as most of the leaves are not high in protein. Alfalfa is the exception. Three things I can think of.

Keep mixing the salad all together and tossing it under running water. That way even as the ig is just pulling out the leaves it is pulling bits of other stuff (beans, and veggies) with it.

I used to grow some of my own alfalfa in pots but this takes a while. Nearly a year to set in and then it just keeps growing. Fresh is much different than the dried pellets. My ig won't touch the ground up pellets but goes nuts for fresh. Seeds are commonly sold in bulk at health nut stores for germinating. Don't feed sprouts as you know, only the mature leaves. And it made a nice looking ground cover for my small potted trees.

There are a few other things you can try and rotate in his diet:
Firm tofu can be served on ocassion. No clue on how you would feed it to an ig as I only eat it in the Japaneses style but I bet you can figure something out.

Bread -- high in phosphorus but also high in protein

Rice -- cooked and cooled to room temp -- lower in both phosphorus and protein than bread

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~ Mark

Ok today my Ig finally ate a bunch of beans and peppers. I guess he just needed an extra day to adjust. Also, maybe the beans I was using before were too small for him to see. I got bigger beans and cut the peppers into larger pieces and it is devouring them happily.

I feel like I've taken another step towards raising a healthy Ig! He's having problems pooping though, which worries me. I'll ask that in another thread as its not relevant here.

I see you can't get a hold of Collard Greens, but try Dandelion Greens or Rappinni,Shred a little bit carrot.Once a month or so try give the iguana a treat strawberry or seedless grapes, bannana mixed into the food source.But only as a treat not every day.Some iguanas are attracted to colour.

Hope it helps
Yogster