We are constantly asked about the
suitability/edibility of various plants for feeding Uromastyx.
Conflicting information abounds in the literature and on the internet.
Some sources list specific plants as edible while others list them as toxic
or otherwise undesirable as a dietary component. Top this with concerns
over the potential contamination of field-collected plant material with
pesticides or parasites and most readers are left dubious about the virtues of feeding a more
natural, "wild" diet. However, foods obtained from the
grocery store have similar shortcomings. While (hopefully) less likely to
be significantly contaminated with pesticides or out-right poisonous, most still
have similar "anti-nutritional" compounds. For example, foods containing
large amounts of oxalic acid (ex. spinach) or mustard oils (ex. collard greens)
can significantly impact the health of your herbivores if used as a major
component of the diet. Commercial production and storage practices can
also easily degrade the nutritional value of store-bought produce. Couple
these facts with the propensity of some Uromastyx's to become "bored" with
commonly available commercial food stuffs, and you're back to needing reliable
information on feeding home grown/ field collect vegetation, blooms, and fruits.
All in all, with the proper precautions and a little
guidance, a diet high in "wild" food plants is likely safer and healthier for
your herbivorous friends and easier on your pocketbook.
This section is designed to help you increase
the diversity of food items you can safely feed your Uromastyx while hopefully
increasing the quality of it's diet. I hope to cover the pros and
cons of using each food plant as well as it's nutrient content when the data is
available. Most of these plants grow
wild across North America or are easily grown in the home flower bed or garden.
Please take care to verify the plants you collect truely are the same
species we have listed here! If in doubt, please contact your local county
Agricultural Extension Agency to verify the
plants for you. They are usually listed in the Blue pages of your
telephone book under "Government Agencies" or under "Dept. of Agriculture".
Most have Weed Scientists on staff who will gladly identify the plants for you.
It's a free service so avail yourself of their expertise. We've taken as high a resolution
photo as practical of each plant listed here to help aid in your ability to
identify it on your own. However, if you are in doubt about the identity of
a potential food plant, please refrain from feeding it. We are also going to offer seed for the best
(nutritionally speaking) plants show here, so if you can't find them locally you
can purchase them here at a very reasonable cost .
See "About Deer Fern Farms" for ordering information.
Please note edibility (non-poisonous) and suitability
(nutritionally valuable, readily consumed) are not the same thing. Many plants listed as
edible on various web sites are of minimal nutritional quality or simply not deemed
"tasty" by most Uromastyx and thus generally ignored when offered as food.
We've focused on only those plants which either are of superior nutritional
quality (and when available we will list their nutrient contents) or are
valuable for enticing fresh imports or individuals otherwise off-feed to begin
eating again. Please note Uromastyx are individuals and a food plant one
might relish, another Uro might completely ignore. Their tastes also tend
to vary by season, some loving say dandelions in the spring but completely
rejecting them during the summer. Uromastyx are least
likely to go off-feed and most likely to eat new food items if they are offered
a mixture of food items on a regular basis. Avoid the habit
of feeding one or two food items one month, then completely switching to something else.
You can gradually alter the various components of the food mix daily, weekly, or
monthly, but try to change only a few items at a time. Leave at
least one or two items that you know they are still eating with vigor when
adding several new items to the mix. This practice is useful to wean Uros
addicted to insects back to a vegetarian diet. Add a few insects
(superworms or crickets with most the legs removed) to a very shallow bowl
containing torn up pieces of some of the plants listed below. Usually
within a few days or weeks, most Uros will be regularly eating the plants even without the insect appetizer.
Pollen from Wild Flowers in
General
__ Harvestable Pollen from Hibiscus and Hollyhock Flowers __
Regardless of the general nutritive value (or lack thereof) of
many plants, edible blooms in general supply pollen, a great nutritive additive
and feeding response stimulator in it's own right. For the die-hard field
collector, pollen can be collected by harvesting the anthers from plants which
are heavy bloomers and heavy pollen producers such as mallows and daylilies.
These can then be frozen for future use as pollen sources. For most
flowers, however, it's generally impractical for you to collect pollen on
your own. Human food-grade, bee-collected pollen is available in bulk from
many specialty and health food stores for a fairly reasonable price.
Bee-collected pollen is
generally found to contain notable levels of provitamin A, B-1 (thiamin), B-2
(riboflavin), B-3 (niacin), B-5, B-6
(pyridoxine), B-12 (cyanocobalamine), C, D, E, H, K, biotin, pantothenic acid,
folic acid, choline, lecithin, inositol,
and rutin. (Go-Symmatry 2002). It also generally contains significant
amounts of the minerals calcium,
phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper, iodine, zinc, sulfur,
sodium, chlorine, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, boron, silica, and
titanium*. It also
contains around 22 amino acids, 59 trace elements, 11 enzymes or co-enzymes,
14 fatty acids, 11 carbohydrates and approximately 25 %
protein.(Envirobee-2002). *(Values for minerals are
believed to be in the order of their average relative abundance, thus for
example, the calcium to phosphorous ratio is on average > 1 )
Many Uromastyx have a taste for pollen and
adding small amounts to the food dish often triggers a feeding response. Use
pollen sparingly or it will lose it's ability to readily entice feeding.
Also a few flowers have mildly toxic pollen (ex. rhododendrons) and
bee-collected pollen is from a mish-mash of plant species, some not particularly
desirable as food items. All in all however, commercially available pollen
is a great way to help balance the diet of your Uromastyx and to entice poor
feeders to more readily eat.
Hibiscus
__ Chinese Hibiscus Flower and Foliage __
Lets start with the king of Uromastyx food plants, the
Hibiscus family (Hibiscus, Mallows, Hollyhocks). This is a large family
containing over 250 species, many of which have been used by mankind over the
centuries for food (example okra) and their mild medicinal properties. Various members of this
family exist or have existed in recent history (archaeologically speaking) within the natural range
of many Uromastyx species. It's likely that during less arid epochs,
before the Uromastyx tribe was fragmented into various isolated species by
encroaching deserts, some form of hibiscus was a natural part of their
collective diet. Even today several hibiscus species are field cultivated within the Uromastyx home range (ex. H. sabdariffa in Egypt,
India, and Sudan).
For most Uromastyx enthusiast, the common Chinese
hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) is probably the best known of the
group. The Chinese hibiscus is a composite (man-made) species, most likely
created by migrating humans interbreeding various species of hibiscus from the
various locales they traversed. The roots, leaves, blooms and seeds of it and
many related hibiscus species are reputed to have medicinal and/or food value,
and thus were propagated by various peoples throughout history of man.
Hibiscus blooms are one of the few "sure bets" for enticing finicky (but
otherwise healthy) Uromastyx to eat. Some Uromastyx keepers find the
yellow blooms are best accepted by picky Uromastyx , but most Uros will readily
accept any color hibiscus bloom. The blooms possess a large pistol covered
with large anthers containing abundant pollen, and this structure is often
the first portion of the flower consumed.
While the bloom is the most common part used for food, the foliage is also
very nutritious and often readily eaten by Uromastyx. Following is a
listing of the nutrient value of the various parts of the Chinese
hibiscus:
Leaves (100 grams dry weight)
Water: 0 g., Protein: 15.4 g.,
Fat: 3.5 g., Carbohydrates: 69.7 g., Fiber: 15.5 g., Ash: 11.4 g., Calcium: 1670
mg., Phosphorus: 520 mg.,
Fruit (seed pods, dry weight)
Water: 0g., Calories: 353,
Protein: 3.9 g., Fat: 3.9 g., Carbohydrate: 86.3 g., Fiber: 15.7 g.,
Ash: 5.9 g., Calcium: 39 mg., Phosphorus: 265 mg., Iron: 17 mg.,
Thiamine: 0.289 mg., Riboflavin: 0.49 mg., Niacin: 5.9 mg., Vitamin C: 39 mg.,
Flowers (fresh weight)
Water: 89.8 g., Protein:
0.059 g., Fat: 0.4 g., Fiber: 1.56 g., Calcium: 4 mg., Phosphorus: 27 mg.,
Iron: 1.7mg., Vit. B1 (thiamine): 0.029mg., Vit. B2 (riboflavin):
0.05 mg., Niacin: 0.6 mg., Vitamin C: 4.2 mg. (PFAF 2000, +218]
The Chinese hibiscus is tropical in origin and suitable for outside growing only
in frost free areas of the country. Some varieties do well as pot plants
if kept in a sunny window and they are commonly sold by florists as house
plants. These are often available for more reasonable prices from larger
grocery stores and "Home Base" type variety stores. The flowers only last
one day before wilting so you don't have much time to enjoy the flowers before
having to pluck them for the Uros. Almost all nursery grown specimens have
been sprayed with pesticides so when you buy one, be sure to wash off any leaves before
using any for food. The blooms are shielded by the green calyx so
are usually safe from sprayed-on pesticides but may still be exposed to
soil-applied (systemic) ones. Ideally you should wait a month or more
after buying the plant before feeding any part of it to you Uros.
The field cultivated hibiscus, commonly known as Rosella, (H. sabdariffa)
is an annual species of hibiscus, commonly gown for it's fiber, dyes, and for
use in medicinal products. It's reputedly one of them more
medicinally active species, being cited as reducing fevers and high blood
pressure, increasing urination, reducing coughs, and even reputedly has antibacterial
activity (Kim 1995). It's nutritional data is as follows:
Leaves (100 grams fresh weight)
Water: 85.6% g., Calories: 43,
Protein: 3.3 g., Fat: 0.3 g., Carbohydrates: 9.2 g., Fiber: 1.6 g., Ash:
1.6 g., Calcium: 213 mg., Phosphorus: 93 mg., Iron: 4.8 mg., Vit. A (as
beta-carotene equivalent): 4135 ug., Vit. B1 (thiamine): 0.17 mg., Vit. B2
(riboflavin): 0.45 mg., Vit. C: 54 mg., Niacin: 1.2 mg (Duke, 1983)
Fruit (seed pods, dry weight)
Protein: 10.9% [amino acids
present: (g [16g N]-1):
Aspartic acid = 39.0g. Threonine = 1.8g. Serine = 2.0g. Glutamic acid = 6.9g.
Proline = 3.9g. Glycine = 2.4g. Alanine: 2.4g., Valine: 2.4g., Cysteine: 0.3g., Methionine: 0.7g., Isoleucine: 2.0g., Leucine: 3.0g., Tyrosine: 1.1g., Lysine:
2.6g., Phenylalanine: 1.7g., Lysine = 2.6g., Histidine: 1.5g., Arginine: 2.5g.],
Fat: 1.1%, Fiber: 10.7%, Ash: 11.5%, Carbohydrates (Starch: 2.8%, D-glucose: 3.5%,
D-fructose: 0.9%) mg., Aluminum: 66 mg/kg-1,
Calcium: 1.29%, Copper: 5 mg/kg-1,
Iron: 97 mg/kg-1, Phosphorous: 0.13%*, Potassium: 2.53%,
Magnesium: 0.33%, Manganese: 416
mg/kg-1, Sodium: 0.01%,
Sulfer: 0.13%, Zinc: 41 mg/kg-1. Ref: Abdelmuti, *
Note: the value for phosphorous was coded (presumably
incorrectly) as a second entry for potassium in the original document
Flowers (fresh weight)
Water: 86.2%, Calories: 44, Protein:
1.6 g., Fat: 0.1 g., Carbohydrates: 11.1 g., Fiber: 2.5 g., Ash: 1.0 g., Calcium:
160 mg., Phosphorus: 60 mg.,
Iron: 3.8 mg., Vit. A (as beta-carotine equivalent): 285 ug., Vit. B1 (thiamine): 0.04 mg., Vit. B2 (riboflavin):
0.6 mg., Niacin: 0.5 mg., Vitamin C: 14 mg. Ref:
(Duke and Atchley,
1984).
If you're looking for a frost-hardy, perennial species of hibiscus, you have two
choices, Rose of Sharon (H. syriacus) and the Rose or Swamp Mallow
(H. moscheutos). Rose of Sharon grows into a 4-6 foot woody shrub and is
hardy to USDA zones 5 -10. It's a heavy, late summer bloomer and may
best be used as a bloom source. We've yet to be able to thoroughly test
it's acceptability by Uromastyx, but limited reports from other breeders suggest it is
less-well liked than other hibiscus species. It's available as named
cultivars from many nurseries and does well in well drained soil in full sun.
Commercially available Rose Mallow is actually a hybrid of several related
species of hardy, weedy hibiscus native to the southern United States.
Rose Mallow dies to the ground each winter, resprouting from the roots late each
spring. Foliage production is likely to limited for all but minimal
harvesting, but it produces huge, showy blooms (up to 12" across) in late
summer. Plants are rarely offered for sale but seed is available from mail
order companies such as Parks Nursery, sold as the "DiscoBell" hibiscus (see
contacts list at the end of this document). It likes well drained but
evenly moist soil in a hot, sunny location. Unfortunately it does poorly
in the Pacific Northwest (too cool) so we don't have any feeding data for
it. Odds are at least the blooms should be well liked. Both these
species of hibiscus make very ornamental yard or garden plants and only you need
know they are really being raised for lizard food!
Hollyhock
Mallow
__Hollyhock Mallow Bloom Bud
Abundance Detail
and Full Plant __
This is our favorite Uromastyx food plant to grow ourselves. The
Hollyhock Mallow (Malva sylvestris.) is a close relative of the tropical
hibiscus (they were originally classified within the same genus) but is a cold
hardy species that the majority of us can grow in our gardens. Both
the flowers and leaves are edible, nutritious and highly relished by most Uros. It's
flower production is unbelievable (see bloom-bud abundance photo above), often producing
up to 25 bloom buds per leaf node (production is best if you harvest most the
blooms before they can go to seed). The plants branch readily near the
base, plus reach a height of 4 to 6 feet in fertile soil. So potential bloom
production per plant is over 1,000 per summer. The blooms last a little
longer than it's sister species so you can enjoy the flowers for awhile
before needing to pick them. If you wait too long and the flower
wilts, the immature seed pod is also eatable (it's essentially a miniature okra
but be careful if you eat it yourself, it tends to have laxative properties if you eat
very many). If that's not enough, most Uro's readily eat the
nutritious leaves. It's truly a great food plant. It's
normally only available as seed but it blooms the first year from seed so this
is not a significant problem. It's considered a short-lived perennial in USDA zones 4 to 8
but be sure to save back some seed each year incase you lose the parent plants. We will be offer seed
starting this fall for $2 shipped for 50 seeds selected from our best plants
(stockiest stems, best bloom counts). We'll add more data for mallows as
this site nears completion.
Dandelion
__ Dandelion Leaves (Smooth-Edge Morph and Notch-Edge Morphs __
The ubiquitous dandelion (Taraxacum
officinale) is is the most common "wild" food plant offered to Uromastyx and other herbivorous reptiles. It's
common throughout North America and much of Europe and is one of the first wild
flowers to bloom in the spring. No nutritional data
is currently available for the blooms, but they are exceptionally heavy pollen
producers so are likely very nutritious. Spring bloom
production is tremendous and it's tempting to try to store the excess for later
use. Unfortunately, the blooms turn into inedible mush if frozen in bulk.
However if you lay them out singly (non-overlapping) on a pan in the freezer and
essentially let them freeze-dry, they better retain their shape when thawed and
are much better accepted by most Uros. While dandelion is usually common in
most backyards, yields are often poor in mowed lawns. Collecting along
roadsides and parks can be risky as many Parks Departments spray herbicides
periodically during the summer and many roadside soils are badly contaminated
with lead and other toxic heavy metals. It transplants well in late
winter/early
spring and if planted in fertile soil and treated like a vegetable (watered,
etc.) it has excellent productivity. Blooms normally only occur in spring
but if pampered and not allowed to set seed, it can often be induced to
sporadically re-bloom throughout the summer and fall. Several other
species have blooms which are outwardly identical to the dandelion (see Cat's
Ear bloom inset photo below), but it appears all these are also edible. If
in doubt, use the foliage of the plant to properly identify species with
dandelion-like blooms.
The bloom is predominately offered but the foliage is also well
accepted by most Uros and is highly
nutritious. It's nutritional data is as follows:
Leaves (100 grams fresh weight)
Water: 85.6 g., Calories: 45 kcal
(188 kj), Protein: 2.7 g., Carbohydrate: 9.2 g., Lipids: 0.7 g., Fiber:
3.5 g., Ash: 1.8 g., Calcium: 187 g., Copper: 0.17 g., Iron: 3.1 g., Phosphorus:
66 mg., Potassium: 397 g., Selenium: 0.5 mcg., Sodium: 76 mg., Magnesium:
36 g., Manganese: 0.34 g., Zinc: 0.41 mg., Vitamin A: 14000 IU, Vitamin B1
(thiamin): 0.19 mg., Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): 0.26 mg., Vitamin B-6: 0.25 mg.,
Vitamin C: 35 mg., Vitamin E: 2.5 mg ATE, Folate: 27.2 mcg., Niacin: 0.8 mg.,
Pantothenic acid: 0.08 mg.. (Ref: 173 + USDA)
Dandelion foliage is
considered diuretic, so feeding large amounts to Uro's suffering from dehydration may not
be advisable. Otherwise it is one of the best food plants available and
should be considered as a staple in the diet. Spring growth and
young leaves are the most palatable (least bitter) with many Uros beginning to
reject older leaves as the summer progresses. They will also begin to
reject the blooms if fed in heavy amounts. It is grown as a vegetable crop
in parts of Europe and is even sold in some U.S. grocery stores in "wild-greens"
salad mixes. The named varieties 'Vert de Montmagny', 'Broad Leaved'
'Thick leaved', 'Cabbage Leaved' have been selected to be more productive, with
large broad dark green leaves, more deeply lobed along the axis of the leaf than
the wild form, with thicker and more tender leaves. These plants are semi-erect
in habit, and the leaves are easily blanched. In rich soils they can be 60cm
wide. They have been selected to be slower to bloom however. The
variety 'Amélioré à Coeur Plein' produces an exceptionally large number of
more normal sized leaves which form a clump instead of a rosette
[183 Facciola.
S. Cornucopia]. All these varieties are reputedly less bitter so
may prove better accepted by Uromastyx during the summer than the common wild
forms. Obtaining seed for these varieties is somewhat problematic, but if
we find a source, we'll post the data here.
Cat's Ear
__ Cats-Ear Leaf Detail and Bloom __
The "summer blooming dandelion", Cat's Ear (Hypochoeris
radicata) is often confused with the true dandelion when in bloom.
The blooms are essentially identical (see inset photo) and even the leaves can
be very similar. The key methods of distinguishing between the two
are 1) the pubescent leaves of Cat's Ear verses the smooth leaves of dandelions,
and 2) the tall, thin, wiry, branched bloom stems of Cat's Ear verses the
soft, relatively thick, unbranched bloom stems of dandelion. Both
the leaves and blooms of Cat's Ear are edible so mistaking the two species isn't
a critical error. It prefers drier ground, and is common along road beds
and fallow fields. No nutritional data is available and productivity is low with
all but the youngest leaves tending to
be bitter, so use the foliage sparingly. The key value of Cat's Ear lies
in their highly prized blooms and malleable bloom period. By mowing or clipping the
plant repeatedly in early summer, you can time it's blooming to coincide with
the hatchling of your Uromastyx. As dandelions are almost never in bloom
at this time, Cat's Ear is a valuable source of readily accepted hatchling food.
A
nearly identical species Hawksbeard, (Crepis trectorum), has very similar
properties and looks like a cross between dandelion and Cat's Ear. The
leaves are usually deeply notched, more sparse, and much smaller than the other
dandelion-like plants. The flower spikes are stiffer and more heavily
branched than Cat's Ear (and thus produces many more flowers per bloom spike),
but the flowers are much smaller, often half the size of a dime. It's value as a
food plant is identical to Cat's Ear - late summer blooms. The bloom is
outwardly identical to dandelion and it's one-bite size makes it perfect for
hatchlings. The foliage is edible but tends to be overly bitter and too
unproductive to be a common food item. It's equally reduced size and
notched leaf-structure also makes it useful for feeding to hatchlings.
Both Cat's Ear and Hawksbeard are listed as noxious weeds in various states so
the odds of obtaining commercial seed is essentially nil. Both are very
common weeds throughout North America and much of Europe and finding some
locally shouldn't be too problematic. Cat's Eat is perennial and transplants
reasonable well in early spring. Hawksbeard isn't really amenable to
transplanting and collecting seed for planting in your garden is your best bet.
Save seed each year as it tends to be an annual.
Alfalfa & Birds Foot Trifoil
__ Alfalfa Blooms and Leaves /
Birdsfoot Trifoil Blooms and Leaves __
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and
Birdsfoot Trifoil (Lotus corniculatus) are both members of the
legume family . Both have highly nutritious foliage and
flowers highly attractive to hungry Uromastyx. Per 100 grams, fresh
(live) young alfalfa contains approximately
52 calories, 82.7% moisture,
6 g protein, 0.4 g fat, 9.5 g total carbohydrates, 3.1 g fiber, 1.4 g ash, 12 mg
calcium, 51 mg phosphorous, 5.4 mg iron, 3410 IU Vit A, 0.13 mg Vit B-1
(thiamine), 0.14 mg Vit B-12 (riboflavin), 162 mg Vit C and 0.5 mg niacin.
It reputedly also contains good levels of Vit K but no values were given.
(ref:218). On the negative side, it tends to be high in tannins (27,000
ppm, Highfield, 2000) which binds proteins, and contains various estrogenic-like
compounds which, in theory, in high levels may have negative impacts on growth
or reproduction.
Most Uros readily eat the foliage and are especially fond of the
fragrant blooms. The blooms are a great means of enticing specimens
off-feed or overly finicky to beginning eating again. The foliage is
a high protein food, good for supplying essential amino acids to the diet
without having to use insects (and their inherent disadvantages). Alfalfa
is believed to have been native to some areas currently inhabited by Uromastyx
and it may actually have been one of their natural food plants before human
activity and changing climatic conditions denuded much of the natural plant
cover. It's a hardy perennial easy to grow over much of the U.S. in
moderately fertile, well drained soil. Growth habit is weakly erect if
sown thickly. While not particularly ornamental, you could sneak a patch
into a flower bed without it looking like a weed. It's attractive in bloom
and mildly fragrant (fruity) when planted in-mass. It's most productive
and is most nutritious when grown on well-limed soil and actually improves soil
fertility by fixing nitrogen. Once established, it can be very productive,
but if you wish blooms available when your eggs hatch, leave a portion of the
patch unharvested. This is a great base diet food plant being both highly
nutritious and well accepted by most Uros. Keep it less than 10% or so of
the diet and acceptance by your Uro's will stay reasonably high and you should
avoid any potential adverse effects from it's high tannin and other
anti-nutrient compounds.
No fresh foliage data is available for
birdsfoot trifoil, but based on data for dry hays, it's extremely similar
nutritionally. It's equally hardy and is much more tolerant of wet soils
relative to alfalfa. It also initiates growth earlier in the spring
Under
Construction!
Email:
douglasdix@deerfernfarms.com
Copyright © 1992-2005 by Douglas
Dix. All rights reserved for all photos and text
