# 15% fat ground turkey ok?



## Jason has a tegu (Aug 30, 2016)

I have a black and white Argentine Tegu and was wondering if 85% lean turkey was ok for her to eat. I plan on mixing in some cut grapes, but I dont really know what else, any ideas welcome as well. Thanks!


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## dpjm (Aug 31, 2016)

Your tegu will probably eat it, but plain meat has almost no minerals so this should not be a staple part of the diet. Use whole animal prey as a staple. Ground turkey is often encouraged on this site but I don't think there are many benefits to using it. You have to add a lot to it to make it balanced.


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## Walter1 (Aug 31, 2016)

dpjm said:


> Your tegu will probably eat it, but plain meat has almost no minerals so this should not be a staple part of the diet. Use whole animal prey as a staple. Ground turkey is often encouraged on this site but I don't think there are many benefits to using it. You have to add a lot to it to make it balanced.


For what it's worth, I'm with DPJM that whole animal prey should form the staple of its diet.

Perhaps 25% or so of my tegus' diet is high-quality wet dog food, organ meats (gizzards, livers, hearts), strawberries, which they like, and cut-up raw chicken tenders. Everything heavily-dusted with calcium. My three are around 2 yrs old.


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## MorganM (Sep 2, 2016)

If all you have is ground turkey (when I'm in between whole rodent orders, it is what I use), make sure you mix it with a calcium or mineral powder so your baby is getting the nutrients he/she needs.


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## CameronJayBauer (Sep 3, 2016)

I rarely use ground turkey, but when I do i always go for ground breast at 99% lean and 1% fat. I just try to avoid extra fat if I can.


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## dpjm (Sep 3, 2016)

According to Merck Vet Manual, omnivorous reptiles diet should contain 3-6% fat on a dry matter basis. So 15% fat in the turkey is high unless turkey is not the main component of the diet. If the diet was say, turkey and vegetables, then the lower fat in the vegetables could fix the high fat in the turkey. The 1% fat turkey is a bit low, but again depending on what else you are feeding.

Note that almost all vertebrate and insect prey fall well above 3-6% fat, rats are roughly 25-30% for example.


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