# Egg? Good or bad?



## Kai (Jun 5, 2012)

Curious about eggs, I fed my baby tegu raw egg today, just the yellow part, and he loved it. Just wondering if the eggs can make him sick since they are farm made or whatever. I know it's not food as an every day meal


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## Ujarak (Jun 5, 2012)

From what i understand raw eggs can lead to a biotin deficiency but it would need to be a lot of raw eggs to actually affect anything. I usually just cook mine to be on the safe side but occasionally will feed raw.


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## got10 (Jun 5, 2012)

i give my guys eggs scrambled raw or cooked


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## Johnnydr (Jun 5, 2012)

I usually scramble and microwave mine. It's specifically something in the yolk that binds to biotin and can literally makes it unusable for them, but like Ujarak said...it would take a lot of raw eggs to do any damage.....but biotin is good for skin and shedding and such, so I make sure the Gu gets all he can 

Eggs are one of my Tegu's favorites.....


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## laurarfl (Jun 6, 2012)

It is avidin in the white that binds the biotin. As a fertilized egg develops, the avidin is used up. I have read vet reports that it would take an almost 100% raw egg diet to develop a biotin deficiency. Because avidin is an enzyme and therefore a protein, heating will denature the protein. However, heating will also denature all the other proteins in the egg as well.

The yolk has a lot of vitamins in it. It also has minerals such as iron. There is calcium, but also phosphorous. The ideal ratio of Ca to P in the diet is about 2:1. Eggs without the shell are a bit backwards, being about 3:1. So it would be a good idea to either supplement, feed the shell, or make sure the rest of the diet is balanced.

I feed raw, scrambled, boiled. I mix it up. Some claim that eggs should not be fed raw because of the risk of Salmonella, but the risk is quite low. We all have at least some 27 strains of Salmonella living in our guts anyway.


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## m3s4 (Jun 6, 2012)

Not to mention if you want to feed raw, you can filter out the whites and only feed the yolk - which is healthier and severely reduces the chance of biotin deficiency, which is already minimal for most unless they are on a 100% raw, un-separated egg yolk/white diet.

Shells are a good source of calcium and when ground up with the yolk and light supplementation, can make for a staple food source that is especially good at getting even the finickiest tegus to eat.


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## tresh (Jun 6, 2012)

My gal loves raw eggs...but they're a very rare treat for her. She doesn't like them scrambled, but loves hardboiled eggs as well. She just makes an awful mess with them, lol


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## dragonmetalhead (Jun 6, 2012)

Feeding tegus whole hard-boiled eggs is, in my opinion, more entertaining than watching them devour a rat. Kodo LOVES eggs and the one thing he will always go for is a hard-boiled egg yolk. As long as the eggs are part of a varied diet, you won't likely run into issues. A lot of my research indicated that tegus are notorious ovivores, with regional nicknames like "Chickenwolf" and "Iguana Egg-Eater."


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## laurarfl (Jun 7, 2012)

m3s4 said:


> Not to mention if you want to feed raw, you can filter out the whites and only feed the yolk - which is healthier and severely reduces the chance of biotin deficiency, which is already minimal for most unless they are on a 100% raw, un-separated egg yolk/white diet.
> 
> Shells are a good source of calcium and when ground up with the yolk and light supplementation, can make for a staple food source that is especially good at getting even the finickiest tegus to eat.



Which is a great idea

All of my tegus love raw eggs. How much more nutrition can you get? It is the beginning of a life form in a neat little package.


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## m3s4 (Jun 7, 2012)

laurarfl said:


> m3s4 said:
> 
> 
> > Not to mention if you want to feed raw, you can filter out the whites and only feed the yolk - which is healthier and severely reduces the chance of biotin deficiency, which is already minimal for most unless they are on a 100% raw, un-separated egg yolk/white diet.
> ...



Amen!

Like many monitors, I have a distinct feeling that tegus have an innate ability to find clutches of eggs in the wild - be it from burrows/buried reptile eggs (turtles, snakes, other large lizards) to various bird eggs that have fallen to the ground from nests. 

There seems to be something they really like about eggs, and like you mentioned, it's the beginning of life in a neat little package. 

Of course, Ally my adult B&W won't touch them anymore - the only thing she's even interested in is frozen mice and that's something new this year - at least ever since she came out of hibernation. She won't touch turkey, chicken gizzards, eggs or anything else she used to be fond of.


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## laurarfl (Jun 7, 2012)

I have a tegu that gets like that toward the end of summer. She just wants rodents and minimal fruit from end of summer to hibernation. I figure it is a building thing.


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