iguanas and plantain
last name: Anthony
I have followed all the diet recommendations for igs with interest. In
the summer ours get a lot of naturally occurring greens -- dandelion,
violet, nasturtium, and lots of plantain (along with store bought
healthy stuff). I choose only things that I know are edible for humans,
to be safe, and it sounds like I've made o.k. choices, but what about
the plantain? The plant I'm referring to is a common lawn weed with dark
green oval leaves that grow in a rosette shape close to the ground. BTW,
none of this is treated with anything, we live in the country and grow a
pretty wild lawn.
--S.B.(Pat) Anthony
J. McGuire
EyeD...@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>
> last name: Anthony wrote:
> > I choose only things that I know are edible for humans,
> > to be safe, and it sounds like I've made o.k. choices, but what about
> > the plantain?
>
>
And quite tasty.
-- jmm
Wintertree Software
http://www.io.com/~wtsoft
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing" -- Edmund Burke
EyeD...@ix.netcom.com
last name: Anthony wrote:
> I choose only things that I know are edible for humans,
> to be safe, and it sounds like I've made o.k. choices, but what about
> the plantain?
Perfectly safe. Common plantain is high in fiber an Ca.
Kevin
Davina Tung
The back 40 can be a great resource for iguana food. Here are some of my
(or rather, Smaug and Izarra's) favorites, in rough order of preference:
"weeds"
--dandelions(Taraxacum officinale), esp. flowers
--anything leguminous: clovers and bur-clovers (Trifolium spp.), vetch
(Vicia spp.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), sweet melilot (Melilotus spp.)
--mallow (Malva spp.)
--chickweed (Stellaria media)
--miner's lettuce (Montia perfoliata)
--wild lettuce (Lactuca spp.)
--pigweed (Amaranthus spp.)
--sow's thistle (Sonchus oleracea)
--plantain (Plantago spp.) < not very popular; I think it's too tough
--oxeye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) < also pretty tough
etc.
"non-weeds"
--again, anything leguminous: bean plants, pea plants, fava plants
--squash flowers
--carrot tops (they'll eat these, but tend to shun other plants in the
carrot family, eg. parsley, celery leaves, fennel, dill)
--any greens you happen to be growing.
... and so forth...
Please be sure as to ID, as many look-alikes and relatives (esp. of
leguminous plants) can be toxic. Use a _reliable_ field guide or
gardening manual. Collect in unsprayed, uncontaminated areas.
Happy hunting!
J. McGuire
The part of plantain that's tough is the long, fibrous veins in the
leaves. Hold the leaf at the base and yank the stem, veins and all,
toward the tip of the leaf along the underside. This strips out the
veins and it's pretty much like any other green after that.
Harley is personally (igually?) responsible for the fact that there are
no dandelions in our yard any more; I yanked each and every one of them
for him. First time I ever thought that perhaps I should have left some
dandelions for seed! 8-)
-- Jean
last name: Anthony
J. McGuire wrote: <snip>
>
> Harley is personally (igually?) responsible for the fact that there are
> no dandelions in our yard any more; I yanked each and every one of them
> for him. First time I ever thought that perhaps I should have left some
> dandelions for seed! 8-)
>
> -- Jean
> Wintertree Software
> http://www.io.com/~wtsoft
>
Yes, I get quite proud of my beautiful dandelions and plantains. It's
amazing how lovely they are when you think of them as lizard food
instead of weeds. And my igs don't think they're(plantain) too tough,
though I do tend to pick them so that those strings get pulled out by
the picking motion.
Thanks for all the input eveyone. --S.B.
Woodrow W. Baker
last name: Anthony (pant...@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us) wrote:
: J. McGuire wrote: <snip>
: >
I feed mine mullberry leaves. They love them, and they are easy to
collect and grow :) Sweet potato leaves are excellent also.
Right now you can pick pumpkins up for cheap. They keep well, and make good
iguana food.
Cheers
Woody
--
Woody Baker Postscript consultant/ hired software gun /flintknapper
kna...@bga.com wo...@knapper.cactus.org
"If you ain't bleedin' you ain't knappin'" -->go ahead, ask me!