Junk information

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Posted by girlzilla on March 27, 2003 at 17:14:41:

In Reply to: Re: commercial/pellet diet posted by bexley on March 27, 2003 at 14:53:51:

Your post caused me to re-read mine!

I don't know where I got the notion that iguanas have no saliva! I have been searching everything I read when I first got Bud, and cannot find anything to back that up. I don't know why I would say that, as I can clearly tell from my own experience that they do have saliva; when Bud licks me, it is wet! I apologize for that!

However, I don't feel that the evidence of the senses alone should be your guide in choosing a diet. That your ig looks well and has gained weight is not enough to convince me. Of course, if you've gone to the vet and had blood drawn, a fecal sample tested, all the chemical levels checked, there's nothing at all I can argue with !! :) Many of us have had healthy-looking iguanas simply drop dead, though. And I do find strong evidence against commercial diets in studies written by members of the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians, one of which I posted a link to (http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/comfood2.html) in my last post.
From this study, I see that the Ca:P ratio of the Rep Cal Iguana Diet is 1.56 : 1.

You write:
:After years of both small and large animal care, I still can't believe some of the garbage information that gets propagated. If your pet does well on something, as mine do on commercial foods, keep doing it.

In large part, I agree with you. But you mention other animals: Foods for dogs, cats, and even hampsters have sound, scientific nutritional information to support their ingredients (although I hear they didn't always!). The information available about commercial diets for iguanas is not nearly as abundant!

Also, iguanas and other herps are not as quick to show signs of illness as other animals. It all depends on what you mean by "doing well", as I said before... Looking good, and gaining weight, or testing well at the vet's?

My wariness of commercial food for igs is not so much the product of a reliance on junk information, or some kind of over-all anti-commercial attitude, as it is a suspicion about any food product being sold on scant information.

Iguanas have enough to contend with in their fight for captive survival, what with abusive former owners, the fact that they are not domesticated, and the low heat/humidity levels in the places they've been transplanted to. Until I see more compelling scientific evidence that a commercial diet is better for my animal than the one I make, the one I feel (from my own research) has scientific evidence to back it up, I won't give my ig something that may just be an additional hurdle.

I hope you are absolutely right about commercial diets, and wish never to see a day when you have to post that your iguana is ill due to the diet you fed him.

Follow Ups:

Actually... bexley 03/27/03 (3)
- That's true- girlzilla 03/28/03 (2)
  - Where did I say "mammal"? bexley 03/28/03 (1)
    - Still waiting for help! girlzilla 03/31/03 (0)