Green Iguana

[Ophiuchus]

Well I think I am going to believe my vet b4 some randome guy on the internet...

Not every vet is an expert on herps, Z. I agree with everyone else here; iguanas shouldn't be eating animal protein. Numerous studies have revealed that the stomach contents of wild iguanas (of various sizes and ages) do not contain animal matter, save for the rare insect that was unlucky to be on a leaf that the lizard was chewing.

If you still want to believe one vet over the word of many experienced and knowledgeable hobbyists that have actually kept iguanas and read about this stuff, then I suppose there's nothing we can do to stop you. BUt please bear this in mind; is it really worth the health of your animal? I mean, it's definitely not going to hurt him NOT to have insects. Do you want to compromise the well-being of your pet just to be loyal to some vet?

 

[Z Trip]

He told me to use this. He typed it for me.

"Reptiles, lizards and snakes must have some type of fat in their diets. There are basically two types of fat, animal and plant. If there is no fat in the diet, the cells of the intestine may be incompetent to absorb fat soluble vitamins. This is why in the insect eating species, i.e. that only eat crickets we see soft bones which easily bend or break. This is because the intestine is incompetent to absorb the vitamin D3 and the other fat soluble vitamins.Regardless of the amount of Vitamin D3 and calcium you pour down these poor animals throats, if the competency is not there they will not absorb the necessary vitamins. If the vitamin D3 is not in the system we get soft bones. So, in reality, the animal are fat deprived and as a consequence, deprived of these essential vitamins.
This is high lighted in the paper "Chameleons & Vitamin A" Roundtable found in the "Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery, Volume 13, November 2, 2003. I can supply the paper if necessary.

As far as the reference of Uric Acid, please see Dr. Frye text "Reptile Care" an Atlas of Diseases and Treatments" page 44 and I quote "in most terrestrial snakes and lizards, uric acid excretion comprises 80-90% of the total nitrogen excretion; this is in marked contrast to the 2-5% uric acid excretion observed in humans (Knox, 1980)."

Iguanas belong to the reptile group that receives the "proteinaceous nitrogen derived from plant sources". Frye page 44

The author of the rebuttal may look at page 202 in Fryes text book. When urates, a type of uric acid, combines with calcium in the tissue we can see this on radiographs. This is called "visceral gout". This is usually seen in dehydrated animals which cannot excete the proper amount of uric acid. I can supply radiographs if requested.

You did not have my permission to quote me. If you would have told myself, you were going to use my words verbatum, I would have typed the above. The person you are typing to, is attempting to degrad myself. When we degrade others we stoop to a level of civilization that should not exist in the world, let alone in the world of science."

This is my last post here.

 

[Ophiuchus]

He told me to use this. He typed it for me.

"Reptiles, lizards and snakes must have some type of fat in their diets. There are basically two types of fat, animal and plant. If there is no fat in the diet, the cells of the intestine may be incompetent to absorb fat soluble vitamins. This is why in the insect eating species, i.e. that only eat crickets we see soft bones which easily bend or break. This is because the intestine is incompetent to absorb the vitamin D3 and the other fat soluble vitamins.Regardless of the amount of Vitamin D3 and calcium you pour down these poor animals throats, if the competency is not there they will not absorb the necessary vitamins. If the vitamin D3 is not in the system we get soft bones. So, in reality, the animal are fat deprived and as a consequence, deprived of these essential vitamins.
This is high lighted in the paper "Chameleons & Vitamin A" Roundtable found in the "Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery, Volume 13, November 2, 2003. I can supply the paper if necessary.

As far as the reference of Uric Acid, please see Dr. Frye text "Reptile Care" an Atlas of Diseases and Treatments" page 44 and I quote "in most terrestrial snakes and lizards, uric acid excretion comprises 80-90% of the total nitrogen excretion; this is in marked contrast to the 2-5% uric acid excretion observed in humans (Knox, 1980)."

Iguanas belong to the reptile group that receives the "proteinaceous nitrogen derived from plant sources". Frye page 44

The author of the rebuttal may look at page 202 in Fryes text book. When urates, a type of uric acid, combines with calcium in the tissue we can see this on radiographs. This is called "visceral gout". This is usually seen in dehydrated animals which cannot excete the proper amount of uric acid. I can supply radiographs if requested.

You did not have my permission to quote me. If you would have told myself, you were going to use my words verbatum, I would have typed the above. The person you are typing to, is attempting to degrad myself. When we degrade others we stoop to a level of civilization that should not exist in the world, let alone in the world of science."

This is my last post here.

First of all, I wasn't degrading you, only attempting to make you realize that you're operating under decade-old information that has since been proven as innaccurate. (at least the latest publishing date I could find about this book was 1991).

Second of all, after reading your latest post, I don't understand how the info you cited helps your case. Frye mentions that there's animal fat and plant fat, and then (apparently, on pg 44..I'll admit I've never read the book), he says that "Iguanas belong to the reptile group that receives the "proteinaceous nitrogen derived from plant sources." Nothing implying that iguanas require animal fat. But its possible I missed something.

Lastly, nobody requires permission to quote anyone here (so I think, did I miss something in the MFK rulebook?). Everyone does it; I know I'll keep quoting whoever I darn well please. Toughen up.

Again, I present the issue at hand. Nearly everyone can agree that a diet without animal protein is perfectky fine for iguanas. But whether or not to feed animal protein has always been an issue. It just seems to me that the logical choice for now is to not feed your iggy animal protein until you knew for sure it was fine. But its your iguana.

This is my last post...until I post again.

 

[Z Trip]

Last post here. As in on this topic...