Raptors, cuckoos, herons, and snakes are the only natural predators of West Indian iguanas, and then usually only of juveniles. West Indian iguanas are almost exclusively herbivorous, consuming a wide variety of plant foods. For this reason, West Indian iguanas are likely to be important seed dispersers for many endemic plants. To understand rock iguanas and the problems they face, it helps to know about their habitats. Like all creatures, the seventeen varieties of iguana found in the West Indies need suitable homes in which to live.
All rock iguanas live in a tropical dry forest ecosystem.
Introduction of goats and sheep has resulted in vast decline in the plants available for iguanas to eat. Iguanas are left eating what the goats and sheep leave behind. These lower quality food items include plants that are toxic and normally consumed only in very small quantities by iguanas. The reduced variety of food results in decreased fitness in iguanas. Introduction of grazing mammals is but one way that humans have altered the fragile dry forests of the West Indies.