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Iguanas are herbivores, which means that they should mostly be eating plant matter — specifically, mostly leaves. In the wild, they eat whatever they can find. In captivity, this often takes the form of leafy green veggies, like dandelion greens and mustard greens.
Generally speaking, animal-based foods like crickets are too high in protein for iguanas to consume regularly. Simply put, they don’t need that much protein. Therefore, crickets are not an appropriate part of an iguana’s normal diet.
Since species-appropriate diets under human care should mimic what each species will eat in the wild, feeding crickets to your adult iguana is not something we recommend.
Young iguanas are growing, so they typically need a diet that is high in protein. There is a myth that states that these growing iguanas may benefit from a percentage of their diet being animal-based. However, that is not something that specialized reptilian veterinarians recommend, either. Simply put, iguanas are herbivores throughout their juvenile and adult stages. A species-appropriate diet consists of a variety of leafy greens and vegetables. Although the macronutrient requirements of their diet change after they finish their growth and development, their natural food sources are always leaves and herbs.
What Should an Iguana Be Eating?
Understanding an iguana’s normal diet can help you figure out what exactly they should be eating.
Generally, iguanas should be eating a huge number of leaves of all sorts. In the wild, they would eat whatever leaves were available. Under human care, leafy green veggies are often used to mirror this natural diet. Calcium-rich veggies are preferable because iguanas need quite a bit of calcium in their diet.
As much as 80-90% of an adult iguana’s diet should be made up of leafy green veggies, like collard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, spinach, or kale.
However, their diet would also naturally include a small number of flowers and fruits. These substances are naturally mixed in with the leaves, so it only makes sense that iguanas would eat them occasionally.
That said, they can eat some veggies, including zucchini, squash, peas, and carrots, to complement their dark leafy greens in total amounts of about 10-15% of their diet. Fruits are considered snacks that should not be any more than 5% of their diet. If you increase the amount too much, you risk pushing out the more nutritious leafy green veggies that they really need. Over time, this can lead to deficiencies, especially in calcium.
If you wonder why dark leafy greens are so important in an iguana’s diet, it is because these are their source of essential amino acids and proteins.
Therefore, your lizard will be perfectly fine if they never eat a cricket. It just isn’t a necessary part of their diet.
That said, young iguanas are still growing, so they do require a higher amount of protein than fully grown iguanas. This is why it is important to have your iguana’s daily diet balanced by a veterinarian.
However, the main takeaway here is that it is always best to focus on leafy greens for the most part. Otherwise, your lizard may be at risk of nutritional deficiencies.
Can Iguanas Eat Insects?
Yes, iguanas can technically eat insects like crickets. A small amount won’t typically harm them. However, they do benefit most from plants, leaves, and flowers. Crickets do not need to be part of your iguana’s diet at all.
Most owners never feed their iguana crickets, and their animals do just fine. Iguanas are strict vegetarians, which means that they don’t need any insects in their diet.
That said, crickets and other insects are not toxic for iguanas. They won’t cause any short-term problems like poisonous plants will. However, they may cause issues over time. If you constantly feed your iguana crickets instead of leafy greens, they won’t be getting the nutrients that they need from their diet.
High protein content in insects, like crickets, can put extra stress on an iguana’s kidneys and may lead to renal issues. Additionally, feeding crickets to iguanas can cause digestive upset, metabolic bone disease (due to an improper calcium-to-phosphorus ratio), and nutritional imbalances.
What Happens If Iguanas Eat Too Much Protein?
Excessive amounts of protein in an iguana’s diet can cause all sorts of different problems. An iguana’s digestive tract employs fermentation as the primary method of extracting nutrition. Meat can’t be digested well through this process.
Too much protein can lead to gout, though this is a relatively rare problem in iguanas. Dehydration, renal failure, and similar problems can also occur. However, these usually only happen when the lizard is fed too much protein for an extended period.
More common short-term consequences include digestive upset.
Nutritional deficiencies take time but will develop. Since crickets don’t contain everything that an iguana needs, it is likely that your lizard will develop metabolic bone disease, a condition where calcium is removed from their bones, and their bones become weak and deformed over time.
Will an Iguana Eat Crickets?
Iguanas tend to eat whatever is offered to them, including crickets. Feral iguanas are particularly prone to eating whatever they come across. However, these iguanas would just as happily eat your fingers if they thought that those were food!
For this reason, many iguanas will eat a cricket if it is offered. However, that doesn’t mean that you should. They may generally be un-picky lizards, but that doesn’t mean that all the foods that they accept are good options. Instead, you should carefully guard what foods are offered so they eat the best diet possible.
This lack of pickiness makes it easy to feed them the leafy greens that they should be eating. You shouldn’t interpret their acceptance of crickets as a sign that they actually need the crickets.
Can Iguanas Eat Any Meat?
Since crickets aren’t a suitable option for iguanas in most cases, you may be wondering if other sorts of meats are better.
This isn’t the case. The reason iguanas shouldn’t be eating high amounts of crickets is that they are too high in protein. Not only is all meat high in protein, but their digestive systems are not designed to digest this food. Therefore, meat should be avoided in your iguana’s diet. You shouldn’t feed your iguana any meat.
Final Thoughts
Iguanas should not be given many crickets. These lizards are strict herbivores, which means that they should be eating mostly plant matter. Specifically, iguanas thrive on a diet that contains mostly leaves.
Some vegetables, fruits and flowers can be included but only in small amounts. Crickets are not part of either category. They are extremely high in protein, which iguanas simply don’t need!
Truthfully, there is little reason that you should offer crickets to your iguana at all.
