# What does your gu' love to eat?



## Bwindi (Mar 20, 2011)

I like these long running threads so I thought I would try to start one.

What are some of your gu's favorite foods!? (Meat is the obvious answer but what are some other unique things that have been tried?)


Cricket likes orange juice and tomatoes!


----------



## Rhetoric (Mar 20, 2011)

i havent tried many creative foods  ive tried a few baby foods (left over from beardie) and thats seems to be they only way itll eat fruits and veggies.. im excited to see what others have tried.


----------



## reptastic (Mar 20, 2011)

Nero's favorite food(after rats) was telapia and gizzards, pyro's was chicken breast/w papaya and eggs, achilles was chicken livers and hearts, gozar was inlove with telapia and veal kidneys ..i mean they all got an assortment of foods but these were foods i noticed they really liked these particular mixesNero's favorite food(after rats) was telapia and gizzards, pyro's was chicken breast/w papaya and eggs, achilles was chicken livers and hearts, gozar was inlove with telapia and veal kidneys ..i mean they all got an assortment of foods but these were foods i noticed they really liked these particular mixes

Nero's favorite food(after rats) was telapia and gizzards, pyro's was chicken breast/w papaya and eggs, achilles was chicken livers and hearts, gozar was inlove with telapia and veal kidneys ..i mean they all got an assortment of foods but these were foods i noticed they really liked these particular mixes


----------



## Rhetoric (Mar 20, 2011)

lol my tegu loooves fish too


----------



## Toby_H (Mar 20, 2011)

My Tegus two top pics are:

F/t 3 day old chicks & live fish (3" Jack Dempseys)


----------



## chelvis (Mar 20, 2011)

Fish (dead or live) Blackberries oh they love them, Clams, rabbit, frog, strawberries and of course rodents. They are liking snails more and more now. I thaw too many for Bacardi so they get the left overs.


----------



## Draco D Tegu (Mar 20, 2011)

Ok....off the wall question here.....

We feed fish raw....we feed snails raw....our turkey comes from a processing plant and goes through may different hands before it's packaged....


Sooooo....why the heck are we boiling eggs when all of our other food sources could be potentially contaminated with salmonella?Ok so it looks like my edit button doesn't work too well. I'm just thinking.....we focus on feeding raw, unprocessed foods....yet each food is equally at risk of having salmonella and we pick eggs to cook?

This is a random musing.... 


Draco D Tegu said:


> Ok....off the wall question here.....
> 
> We feed fish raw....we feed snails raw....our turkey comes from a processing plant and goes through may different hands before it's packaged....
> 
> ...


----------



## Toby_H (Mar 20, 2011)

Draco D Tegu said:


> We feed fish raw....we feed snails raw....our turkey comes from a processing plant and goes through may different hands before it's packaged....
> 
> 
> Sooooo....why the heck are we boiling eggs when all of our other food sources could be potentially contaminated with salmonella?



We do not cook eggs to avoid salmonella or any other bacteria...

We cook eggs because it causes a chemical reaction in the egg. Without cooking it there is too much of a "bad chemical" and cooking it turns it into a "good chemical".

If you search through the Folder that covers feeding you will find this topic covered in full detail with many references to confirm the theory. I do not remember they names of the chemcials in question but they are listed in that thread.


----------



## chelvis (Mar 20, 2011)

I also boil them to make it easier to feed


----------



## Rhetoric (Mar 21, 2011)

chelvis said:


> I also boil them to make it easier to feed



I usually boil eggs as well, do you feed the shell? I tried once but I saw the shell pass through my tegu. Their temps were spot on, not sure if it had problems digesting them or if it was normal but since then I remove the shells.


----------



## Draco D Tegu (Mar 21, 2011)

Toby_H said:


> Draco D Tegu said:
> 
> 
> > We feed fish raw....we feed snails raw....our turkey comes from a processing plant and goes through may different hands before it's packaged....
> ...



Hmmm well it was more of a musing than a serious thought. 

I will go re-read, however, eggs by thier very chemical composition are raw protein. When you cook protein, you denature it or degrade it to the point of being no good/unfit. I work with various proteins in the lab and have yet to see a protein turn from bad to good by cooking it.... Most of the arguments I've seen have been the "avoid salmonella" argument.


----------



## Little Wise Owl (Mar 21, 2011)

Raw egg whites contain a protein called Avidin which binds Vitamin B/Biotin. This protein is usually inactivated by heat (although not entirely) but cooking will alter the protein making it "unfit" as stated above. Feeding egg whites exclusively will give anyone (tegu, human, dog, cat) a vitamin B/Biotin deficiency.

But consider that raw egg YOLKS are _very_ rich in Vitamin B(6 & 12)/Biotin. Technically, feeding a WHOLE raw egg shouldn't give an animal a Biotin deficiency because the yolk and white will balance out but I'm not entirely sure on that. When I feed raw eggs to my dogs/cats/ferrets, I'll usually feed 2 yolks to 1 white or just yolks. SOMETIMES, I will cook the white seperately and then add the yolk after.

I always thought it was peculiar that all meats are meant to be fed RAW to tegus but not eggs because of salmonella (or avidin/biotin concerns) :S 

Though salmonella is said to be found in the intestinal tract of most animals and yet we feed WHOLE small animals to tegus (and other exotic pets).


----------



## Toby_H (Mar 21, 2011)

In regards to cook, or not to cook, eggs...

In post #11 here http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=1333



VARNYARD said:


> Raw eggs also contain an enzyme called avidin, this enzyme decreases the absorption of biotin and can lead to skin problems in reptiles. When you cook the eggs you neutralize this enzyme, thus changing the makeup of the egg.


----------



## Little Wise Owl (Mar 21, 2011)

He doesn't state that egg *whites* are the only part that contain avidin. Yolks are one of the richest sources of biotin though so, technically, if the entire egg (yolk, white) is consumed this shouldn't be an issue. Avidin is deactivated by heat but I've read that this isn't entirely true and some is still present even after cooking.

Thus why I feed *two* yolks to *one* white or no white at all.


----------



## Toby_H (Mar 21, 2011)

Little Wise Owl said:


> I always thought it was peculiar that all meats are meant to be fed RAW to tegus but not eggs because of salmonella (or avidin/biotin concerns) :S
> 
> Though salmonella is said to be found in the intestinal tract of most animals and yet we feed WHOLE small animals to tegus (and other exotic pets).



I agree, it is strange...

From what I understand, our reptiles are in no way affected by salmonella, but it is in our best interest to prevent our reptiles from getting it so they do not pass it to us...


----------



## Little Wise Owl (Mar 21, 2011)

If we wanted to prevent the transmission of salmonella, we should look at hygiene rather than diet... If we were to eliminate feeding salmonella contaminated foods to tegus then we'd have to stop feeding whole animals, raw meat, etc... And then the tegu would suffer from an improper diet.

I personally think salmonella is a little over-exaggerated. Just have proper hygiene and common sense and you won't get salmonella.


----------

