If you have iguanas on your property, the first question is usually: what are they eating? The answer is probably your landscaping. Green iguanas are herbivores, and they eat a lot. A single adult iguana can consume several pounds of vegetation per day. If you have a garden or lush landscaping, your property is a buffet.
What Iguanas Love to Eat
Iguanas are opportunistic feeders. They prefer tender new growth, flowers, and fruit over tough mature leaves. Here are the plants they target first:
- Flowers: Hibiscus, orchids, bougainvillea, impatiens, roses, nasturtiums, geraniums, carnations, dandelions
- Fruits: Mangoes, figs, berries, bananas, lychees, papayas
- Vegetables: Tomatoes, squash, leafy greens, beans, peas
- Trees and shrubs: Ficus, hibiscus bushes, ixora, jasmine (some varieties)
If you have any of these plants in your yard, iguanas will find them. They are especially drawn to hibiscus and orchids, which are among the most expensive plants to replace in a Southwest Florida landscape.
What Iguanas Won't Eat
The good news is that iguanas are picky about some plants. If you replace their favorites with these iguana-resistant alternatives, your property becomes much less attractive:
- Oleander - Toxic to iguanas, they avoid it completely
- Milkweed - Not palatable to iguanas
- Crotons - Colorful, widely available, and iguanas leave them alone
- Citrus trees - Iguanas do not eat citrus leaves or fruit
- Jasmine (confederate/star) - Some jasmine varieties are ignored by iguanas
- Society garlic - Strong odor deters iguanas
- Lantana - Tough, drought-tolerant, and not preferred
- Pentas - Butterfly-friendly and iguana-resistant
- Philodendron - Not typically eaten
How Much Do Iguanas Eat?
A single adult green iguana can eat 2 to 3 pounds of vegetation per day. On a property with multiple iguanas, the cumulative damage adds up fast. A hibiscus bush that took years to grow can be stripped bare in a single afternoon. Flower beds get demolished overnight. Vegetable gardens become iguana feeding stations.
Using Plant Choice as Deterrence
The most effective long-term deterrent is removing what attracts them. If your property does not offer food, iguanas have less reason to visit.
- Replace hibiscus with crotons or oleander
- Swap orchids for society garlic or pentas
- Plant citrus instead of mango or fig trees
- Use lantana as a ground cover instead of impatiens
- Remove fallen fruit from the ground immediately
Plant replacement alone will not solve an iguana problem if burrows are already established. But it makes your property less attractive to new iguanas once the existing population is removed.
Don't Feed Iguanas
This should be obvious, but some homeowners intentionally leave fruit or vegetables out for iguanas. Do not do this. Feeding iguanas creates dense concentrations that attract more iguanas, lead to more burrows, and make the problem worse for you and your neighbors. It also attracts rats, raccoons, and other unwanted wildlife.
The Bottom Line
If iguanas are eating your landscaping, plant replacement helps but it is not enough. You need professional removal to clear the existing population, burrow remediation to destroy nesting sites, and ongoing suppression to prevent new iguanas from moving in. Rocky's handles all of this with FWC-permitted methods across Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero, Port Royal, Sanibel, and Captiva.
Call (239) 922-5992 for a free property inspection, or visit iguanaswfl.com to request one online.