VETERINARY
ASSOCIATES STONEFIELDWednesday, February 18, 2004
Are iguana's truly herbivores, i.e. vegetarians?
From what one reads in textbooks on the Internet and any publication on these magnificent creatures you would think they were vegetarians.
However personal experience and the experiences of some of my colleagues say differently.
Several years ago I took a scuba trip to the island of Bon Aire, about 50 miles west of Venezuela. Each morning, when exploring the island driving in our rented jeep, we would pop over a little knoll in the road to find the Green Iguana feasting on smaller dead lizards in the road; who had been road kills from the night before. These iguana’s are FAST and try as I might, I was never able to photograph this. Really, really wanted to so that I might publish those photos to the web and discount the myth that these creatures are vegetarians in their natural habitat.
Dr. Kim Joyner did extensive work on parrots in the wild in Venezuela; one of the most common causes of death in the nest of baby parrots was green iguana's that were not only found eating the baby parrots, but eggs as well!
Just last month I was privileged to see the Cayman Blue iguana in captivity, they are really developing a fantastic program there, The National Trust, which is trying to re-populate this endangered species. They are a most majestic iguana! Visit our website, www.vetcity.com, as I have a great pic or two of this guy! Once again I say this "herbivores" chomping on grubs and worms!
My humble opinion is that fruits and vegetables alone are not a normal or healthy diet for the iguana. Not because of what a book said but because of what the iguana told me, in living color! Birds, eggs, worms, grubs and lizard ain't plants!
Talk to you soon!
Sammy Vaughn, DVM
From what one reads in textbooks on the Internet and any publication on these magnificent creatures you would think they were vegetarians.
However personal experience and the experiences of some of my colleagues say differently.
Several years ago I took a scuba trip to the island of Bon Aire, about 50 miles west of Venezuela. Each morning, when exploring the island driving in our rented jeep, we would pop over a little knoll in the road to find the Green Iguana feasting on smaller dead lizards in the road; who had been road kills from the night before. These iguana’s are FAST and try as I might, I was never able to photograph this. Really, really wanted to so that I might publish those photos to the web and discount the myth that these creatures are vegetarians in their natural habitat.
Dr. Kim Joyner did extensive work on parrots in the wild in Venezuela; one of the most common causes of death in the nest of baby parrots was green iguana's that were not only found eating the baby parrots, but eggs as well!
Just last month I was privileged to see the Cayman Blue iguana in captivity, they are really developing a fantastic program there, The National Trust, which is trying to re-populate this endangered species. They are a most majestic iguana! Visit our website, www.vetcity.com, as I have a great pic or two of this guy! Once again I say this "herbivores" chomping on grubs and worms!
My humble opinion is that fruits and vegetables alone are not a normal or healthy diet for the iguana. Not because of what a book said but because of what the iguana told me, in living color! Birds, eggs, worms, grubs and lizard ain't plants!
Talk to you soon!
Sammy Vaughn, DVM
