I still remember the first time feeding my iguana and wondering to myself whether iguanas can choke. This made me kind of nervous as I was feeding it a little too fast and it was spitting some of the food out. I slowed down my pace of feeding and right after the food is finished, I went online to try and find the answer. Here is what I found.
Iguanas can choke if the food is too tough or when it’s not the right size. This rarely happens if the iguana is eating its staple food as they are mostly soft, green leafy vegetables which are hard to choke on.
Learning how to properly feed your iguana is the key to preventing them from choking. It can be potentially dangerous if their chokes are not taken care of promptly.
Preventing Iguanas From Choking
This is one of the most important things you need to know when you get an iguana as a pet. Choking is a real thing that can happen to any iguana if you are not providing it with the right food and the right size.
The smaller the iguana, the more important this becomes as smaller iguanas are more prone to choking. Without further ado, here are 3 things you should do to prevent your iguana from choking.
Avoid Hard Food
If you want to make sure your iguana does not choke, avoid hard foods. What I mean by hard foods are things such as stems, apples, and etc.
These can choke your iguana especially if it’s still a baby. When feeding vegetables with stem, try to destem them and feed your iguana the leaf part only. That way, the chances of choking are almost nonexistent.
Cut Food Into Smaller Pieces
Any sort of food you feed to your iguana, you must cut them into small pieces. Preferably cut it into around the size of its head. When you do that, it will be very hard for them to choke.
With this method, you can feed it the hard food listed above. Some harder food such as broccoli is very beneficial to iguanas as they are full of nutrients.
However, make sure to cut them into even smaller pieces before feeding it to them.
Hand Feeding Your Iguana
Feeding your iguana by hand is the best way to ensure that you are not choking it. Some people will use a syringe to feed their baby iguana because they are lazy.
However, I do not recommend that unless you really have to. Using a syringe can push the food down the iguana’s trachea which can cause it to choke.
This has little to no chance of happening when you are hand feeding your iguana. When an iguana is eating willingly without a syringe, they know when they should open or close their trachea.
Moreover, hand feeding your iguana will also create a very strong bond between both of you.
Food That Can Choke Baby Iguanas
As I’ve mentioned, hard food can choke an iguana especially if they are not adults yet. Baby iguanas are much smaller and their jaws are not as strong. The chances of them choking are high.
You need to pick the right food so that they don’t choke. Here is some food to avoid for a baby iguana unless you cut into very small pieces or blend them up.
- Apples
- Stems of leafy green vegetables
- Carrots
- Brocolli
- Cauliflower
When your iguana becomes an adult, feeding these in larger chunks will be no problem at all.
When Iguanas Are Choking
Identifying when iguanas are choking can be quite tricky. The first sign of them choking is that they are opening their mouth constantly and pushing their tongues out.
When they do that, try to look into their mouth and see if you can find anything that is stuck in their throat. If they are really choking because of food, you can usually see that pretty clear when they open their mouths.
Moreover, breathing can also become a harder task when iguanas are choking. If they are struggling to breathe and opening their mouth, pushing their tongues out constantly, it’s a sign that your iguana is choking.
What to Do When My Iguana Choke?
If the food is stuck in your iguana’s throat and it’s not too severe, you can try to fix it at home. Feed some additional food to your iguana and see if that helps.
The new food might be able to clear the throat by pushing down any food that is tuck there. If the choking does not stop, don’t force your iguana to eat more, get it to the vet as soon as you can.
Conclusion
Don’t think that iguanas are super animals that can just eat anything without choking. They do choke when you give them something that is too large to fit into their mouth or food that is too tough. Choking is pretty rare when you feed iguanas their staple food.
To prevent or lower the chances of your iguana choking, you should avoid hard food, cut their food into small pieces, and hand-feed them.
Using a syringe to feed baby iguanas has a higher chance of choking, so don’t be lazy and use your hand and have patience. There is some food that you should avoid feeding to a baby iguana as they can be choking hazard unless you cut them into extremely small pieces or blend them up.
When iguanas are choking, they usually open their mouth and push their tongues out constantly, and have trouble breathing.
Lastly, when your iguana does choke, try to feed it a bit more food to get the food down. If that doesn’t work, you should bring your iguana to a vet.
