well i LOVE 'fox trot', but today's strip upset me. it gave the impression that iguanas eat crickets which they do NOT!!! you can see today's strip until midnight today at www.foxtrot.com and after today i think you can see it by searching/looking for past strips on the site. it's the strip for friday, september 24, 2004. i wrote a very nice email to bill amend (the cartoonist who writes 'fox trot'). it went as follows: Hello! I'll try not to take up too much of your time, but I wanted to let you know that today's (September 24) cartoon could give people the impression that iguanas eat crickets. One of the most common mistakes that new iguana owners make is feeding their iguanas insects, meat, cat/dog food, and other high protein food items. This quickly destroys their kidneys and bone structure and green iguanas need no added protein to their diets. Green iguanas should have a diet of 75% greens (collard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, and kale) and 25% chopped fruits and veggies (mango, papaya, pears, bananas, grapes, berries, apple, green beans, and squashes are best). lettuces (like romaine, iceberg, red-leaf, etc) are 90% water and should rarely be fed to iguanas. Citrus foods (tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, etc) are too acidic and should only be fed rarely as well. To me and a few of my collegues, today's 'Fox Trot' strip seemed to give people the idea that Quincy frequently eats crickets and cricket recipes and (although you probably had no idea) this could give thousands of readers the wrong idea of how to care for iguanas. If somehow you could work in the proper iguana diet in some future strips sometime, it would be excellent. Otherwise I always love your strip (especially Quincy and Jason and their antics) and keep up the good work! Thanks so much for your time! Cynthia LastName : ) if all of you could send a similar email (PLEASE don't just copy the one i sent!) to bill to let him know that he had the wrong info and that you'd like him to help spread the word about proper iguana care it would be GREAT! please everyone don't jump on the guy's back, though. he probably honestly didn't know or didn't think the strip would be taken that way. his email is billamend@mac.com thanks so much!
Technically Hummigbird they do, sometimes..... As they age they become more adept to eating plants. I started mine on a cricket diet for like a few months, once is started to gain good weight I placed mealies in her salad mix. Granted some iguanas wont eat crickets, you do have those cases. So as far as the cartoon goes it is only wrong if it states that iguanas eat only crickets, and they eat them all the time.... But yes You are doing the right thing by emailing them to let them know their mistake..
iguanas are NOT supposed to eat crickets (or insects of any kind) and starting them off on a cricket diet was one of the most unhealthy things a person could do. that's exactly how diseases like mbd begin and this is why i wanted bill to know that the strip could possibly give some people some wrong ideas or could back up previous bad information they'd been given. i guarantee you that iguanas are NOT supposed to eat crickets or any kind of protein and if you don't believe me i can give you an incredibly long list of recent books, research, and websites that back me up. these guys are *strictly* herbivorous - just look at their gut symbionts, teeth formations, and fermentative valved colon. all lizards in the iguaninae subfamily are strictly herbivorous, actually. only the most out-of-date information states that iguanas should eat crickets . . . or cat food or earthworms or meat or protein of any kind. green iguanas are strictly herbivorous from hatching til death (except in the wild when new hatchlings frequently eat the feces of older iguanas to obtain the needed gut symbionts for food processing).
Ditto what Hummingbird said. Current research shows that juvenile iguanas in the wild do NOT eat insects unless there is no other option. Insects are too high in protein as is cat or dog food and herbivorous reptiles will develop kidney disease very quickly. Protein will help them grow quickly, as many iguana breeders will do to get them big fast enough to sell, but it will damage their kidneys. They can live for several years after the initial damage is done but it may in time catch up with them, especially if their diets remain high in protein.
Granted you are both right, This was over ten years ago mind you, I just wanted to prove a point that they do eat crickets.
this is NOT just making the point that "some iguanas will eat crickets". this sentence alone (much less the rest of your post) says that feeding an iguana crickets is correct. you said the only way the cartoon was wrong was if it said that iguanas ONLY ate crickets, but the cartoon would *still* be wrong even if it just hinted that iguanas could just sometimes eat an insect or two. no iguana should ever eat an insect even as a once-in-a-while or accidental snack. my whole point was that they should NOT eat crickets, but you posted about how they DO eat crickets so you gave people the impression that it's a good idea to feed them insects. and the only ways i can ever imagine an iguana eating crickets is if they are fed nothing else, don't know any better (that's all they've ever been fed), or accidentally ingest them (if the insects are on the greens and veggies). but don't sweat your mistake - all of us have made them (especially as newbies) and it sounds like your igs have a healthy diet now.
Yeah, I saw an iguana on a TV show on Animal Planet eating Pizza a few months ago. Just because they can doesn't mean they should. Iguanas should not be consuming animal protein.
Mine certainly would. Pizza, hot dog, egg McMuffin... whatever. If you are holding it, it must be a treat, right? I won't let him eat these things but he tries hard for them (and succeeds at times)
