# ground beef?



## omgtaylorg (Jan 11, 2009)

Alright so i know about ground turkey being great because my tegu sure loves it, BUT what about ground beef? at the store i shop at the ground beef comes in little basically bite size pieces perfect for my tegu...i know that the quality of the product would be great for a tegu (protein etc) but do they like it i guess is what im asking? and does anyone here use it

Thanks


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## Kazzy (Jan 11, 2009)

I'd stay away from red meats for the tegus. They tend to be a lot less healthy.


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## omgtaylorg (Jan 11, 2009)

so just stick with the ground turkey?


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## Kazzy (Jan 11, 2009)

Yup. White meats and fish. And, of course, mice and such. 

Hmm...are mice white or dark meat? lol


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## omgtaylorg (Jan 11, 2009)

lol probably white meat i really dont know, but i get mine for free bc my friend works at a pet shop, he deff gets his mice/rat fix


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## Kazzy (Jan 11, 2009)

lol that's awesome!


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## laurarfl (Jan 11, 2009)

I would think rodents are red meat, being mammals. 

I've offered my tegus ground beef, but all 4 of them rejected it...weird. They don't care for beef liver, either.


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## Kazzy (Jan 11, 2009)

Hmm...didn't think about it that way...ha


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## Tux (Jan 11, 2009)

Red meat has separate definitions in the culinary and nutritional world, in the former it means meat which is red in color when raw where as the later it means meat from mammals, age can also play a roll, the difference is from a culinary point duck and goose are considered red meats even though their not mammals while pork and rabbit are whites even though they are. The USDA uses the amount of myoglobin in comparison to chicken and fish when defining them as red, this means almost everything that's not chicken or fish. My view on it would be formed based on nutritional breakdown rather than source.

A rat at adult stage is around 61.8% protein and 32.6% fat.

Ground beef at 80% lean is 20% fat by weight but has less protein at 26.9%. The % gets alot better if you use 95% lean which only has 5% and under fat content though. Cholesterol is fairly high either way though which could be a concern.

Turkey typically only has 16.9% protein by weight but it's fat content is next to nill.

All and all as a once and awhile thing I don't see an issue but rats should still be the main protein.


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## omgtaylorg (Jan 11, 2009)

thanks for that knowledge Tux, comes in handy


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## laurarfl (Jan 12, 2009)

Very interesting and helpful...thanks!


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## zorndike (Mar 18, 2009)

first of all hi to all im just new here and just purchased a b&w tegu. just a quick question is ground pork good for the tegu? :?: thanks in advance


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## laurarfl (Mar 19, 2009)

Pork has a higher fat content than ground turkey, and I definitely wouldn't feed it raw.


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## ashesc212 (Mar 19, 2009)

zorndike said:


> first of all hi to all im just new here and just purchased a b&w tegu. just a quick question is ground pork good for the tegu? :?: thanks in advance



Welcome! Congrats on your B&W. Where'd you get it? 

If you go to this site's homepage, you'll see a lot of helpful information including a care sheet, which provides good advice as to husbandry requirements. Things you can feed it are ground turkey with a little cod liver oil (1 tsp. of cod liver oil per 1 lb ground turkey), cooked egg, pinkies, fruits like raspberries & blueberries, beef liver, chicken liver, etc. 

If you need setup advice, don't hesitate to ask!


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## zorndike (Mar 19, 2009)

thanks!!  im just wondering if ground pork would be ok, ive read a lot of care sheets and i never saw ground pork as a stapple. now i know thanks to laurarfl.  by the way i got it from a forumer. mine still a hatchling, im giving it some ground beef. i rarely see turkey being sold in the market here in the philippines.


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## ashesc212 (Mar 19, 2009)

zorndike said:


> thanks!!  im just wondering if ground pork would be ok, ive read a lot of care sheets and i never saw ground pork as a stapple. now i know thanks to laurarfl.  by the way i got it from a forumer. mine still a hatchling, im giving it some ground beef. i rarely see turkey being sold in the market here in the philippines.



I asked about ground beef myself before...I was told it has to be like less than 5% fat or something like that.


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## zorndike (Mar 19, 2009)

i see, thanks ashesc. ill just have to look more for a ground turkey. thanks again


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## laurarfl (Mar 19, 2009)

I checked around for a comparison since turkey is hard for you to find. Even lean ground pork is still 17% fat and has a lot of unhealthy saturated fat.

Are small quail or chicks available for you? Another option is to find a butcher or meat market that will grind for you. Many will grind chicken parts or turkey parts for customers if you ask.


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## zorndike (Mar 19, 2009)

quail chicks are available but few. ive started feeding it with chicken this morning, no problem with it  someone told me a place where i could get some turkey, problem is its far from my place.... ill just check it out this sunday i wont be having time to check it right now, due to work. for the meantime ill just stick with ground beef, chicken, crickets and some pinkies. 

thanks for helping me out i really appreciate it.


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## laurarfl (Mar 20, 2009)

No problem...

I know it's difficult to feed reptiles in Phillipines. I know of someone on-line who has an iguana and sometimes he has difficulty finding a variety of greens that we are familiar with in the US and would recommend.


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## herpitoman (Mar 20, 2009)

I'm from the Philippines originally, and I'm pretty sure that turkey is not so popular as a source of protein tough to eat and more of a farm pet). You could actually feed your tegus 2-3 day old chicks if they are still babies, or graduate to the larger chickens as they mature. You would even want to try all sorts of fish picked up at the wet market, such as smelts, herrings, sardines, or other small sized schooling fish. My tegu here are fed smelts, tilapia fillets, shrimps, crayfish, etc. amongst the usual berries, mangoes, rat pups and so on. Just think about what our water monitors eat in the wild, you can simulate the diet for them.


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## zorndike (Mar 20, 2009)

many thanks to you guys, thanks herpitoman, ill try that out.


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