# Tegu Diet



## JokersTegu (Feb 16, 2010)

Whats up everyone... Just wanted to ask a questions and wanted some opinions...
" Is it ok to feed a tegu frozen rodent almost everyday..with also feeding turkey and egg, crickets in between?" I find it easier to feed frozen food to my tegu and put inbetween turkey and egg... can I get some other suggestions on food...
My gu is about 71/2 months old.


thanks again :jes


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## Toby_H (Feb 16, 2010)

One of the foremost concerns with feeding rodents is the amount of fur consumed... I avoid this concern by simply feeding thawed/frozen hairless mice.

As for convenience...

I buy Ground Turkey by the pound... When I get it home from the grocery store I break it into portions with each portion in a seperate sandwhich bag. Then all portions are put in the freezer. 

When it is time to feed I remove Turkey portions or frozen mice from the freexer and drop it in a cup of hot/warm water. About 10 minutes later everything is thawed and is ready to be eaten.

I usually dust one mouse with Calcium and feed it first (to ensure it gets eaten), then when it is gone I give her the rest of the food.


I used to mix an egg yolk (no whites) with the ground turkey. Although this is good for her, I found it made the turkey 'soupy' and hard for her to eat. I'll continue to toy around with ways to add egg yolk to her diet practically, but until I do she won't be eating much egg.


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

I was thinking about giving ground turkey every other day, and ground beef every other day, with beef liver and cod oil mixed in a few times a week, and a mouse once a week. A feeding every day, just staggered for variety....I'm far from an expert, I don't even have my tegu yet  just speculating.

Since calcium was mentioned above. How often should I dust food with calcium and/or vitamin powder, and how much should be added?


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## Toby_H (Feb 16, 2010)

I feed quite a bit of adult mice, which provide a small amount of calcium...

My method is I put a teaspoon of calcium/vitamin powder into a plastic bag. Then I put one mouse in the bag and shake it around. This coats the mouse with powder.

I do this with one mouse approximately every other day.


I look forward to hearing how much/often others use calcium as well...


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

Me too, I wanna make sure I give enough calcium, but not too much...I know Bobby recommends without D3.


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## Toby_H (Feb 16, 2010)

I don't see anything wrong with using calcium with D3... we just cannot expect this supplement to replace UVB light. In other words, D3 supplement AND UVB is good; D3 supplement INSTEAD of UVB light is not good. 

I'm not sure if that's how Bobby sees it or not... He may have information I haven't stumbled across...


When I was younger I over fed my Iguana calcium powder and it ended up forming a large calcium deposit on it's tail. I was assured by a vet it was harmless, but it was wasting calcium and other ingredients in the powder may cause other complications.


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

O I see, I was just going buy what I was reading in the care sheet on his site. And it definitely won't replace uvb lol.


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## HorseCaak (Feb 16, 2010)

Toby_H said:


> I used to mix an egg yolk (no whites) with the ground turkey.



Can I ask why egg yolks but not whites? Most the nutrition and protein are in the whites. The yolks have very very high cholesterol.


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## Marlene (Feb 16, 2010)

I like to use the Blue Iguana brand calcium powder, it doesn't seem to clump up as much as other brands, and it's not made from crushed oyster shells.

Here's a link to some of their calcium product info: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.blueiguanaproducts.com/pages/products/cal-stron.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.blueiguanaproducts.com/pages ... stron.html</a><!-- m -->

As far as feeding goes, I'm keeping my tegu on insects for quite a while, with meats being provided once a week. I just boiled up some chicken livers over the weekend and he LOVED it. He also got to eat some dubia cockroaches dusted in calcium powder as well. I typically feed my tegu until he's full, which isn't that much right now, since he is still a baby. When you do feed them a lot of food, you will want to make sure to get your tegu to exercise! I'm not sure how good chicken livers are for tegus, but they were on sale and he loved it! I would also recommend boiling any meat you may give to him, with the exception of mice, of course. Our meat here isn't what they may find in the wild and our meat may have other bacteria/diseases, not to mention growth hormones and other chemicals, that they aren't immune to, so I would definantly boil the meat.


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## Toby_H (Feb 16, 2010)

The yolks are very high in cholesterol... which is why yolks are regarded as "unhealthy" for humans... But there is a lot of other Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Å?good stuffÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ in themÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

You can do a search on this forum and find more detailed conversations on this topic than I could provide. Then using terms from those conversations you can cross reference the information elsewhere. ThatÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s what I did to confirme the conclusion offered here that yolks are good for Tegus and whites arenÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢tÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


Basically, we need to remember that Tegus and humans have quite different dietary needsÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m no expert on this topic, IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ve just read up on it. Sorry I couldnÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢t provide better detail.


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

Toby_H said:


> The yolks are very high in cholesterol... which is why yolks are regarded as "unhealthy" for humans... But there is a lot of other Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Å?good stuffÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ in themÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦
> 
> You can do a search on this forum and find more detailed conversations on this topic than I could provide. Then using terms from those conversations you can cross reference the information elsewhere. ThatÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s what I did to confirme the conclusion offered here that yolks are good for Tegus and whites arenÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢tÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦
> 
> ...



So the egg whites are bad for tegus? Glad I saw this cause I was planning on scrambled.


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## Marlene (Feb 16, 2010)

You don't want to feed too many eggs, the overuse of infertile eggs, such as store bought chicken eggs, can result in a lack of biotin.

You could hard boil the eggs and give your tegu the yolks, mixed with the ground turkey, while you enjoy the whites! ^_^


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

Marlene said:


> You don't want to feed too many eggs, the overuse of infertile eggs, such as store bought chicken eggs, can result in a lack of biotin.
> 
> You could hard boil the eggs and give your tegu the yolks, mixed with the ground turkey, while you enjoy the whites! ^_^


 
That's an idea, and it's especially good because I love the whites but don't really care for the yolks.


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## Marlene (Feb 16, 2010)

I'm the same way, with the exception of deviled eggs! I haven't given my tegu any eggs yet, but he's not exactly a picky eater, lol


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## reptastic (Feb 16, 2010)

can you please explain the exact reason that egg whites are bad for tegus, i have fed my tegu whole boiled eggs probably 1-2x a week since day one and havn't seen any ill effects1


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## Jefroka (Feb 16, 2010)

There is a huge difference between commercially produced eggs & free range eggs. Free range eggs are higher in omega 3 fatty acids (the good fats) and lower in cholesterol. Check this out about cholesterol: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.westonaprice.org/The-Benefits-of-High-Cholesterol.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.westonaprice.org/The-Benefit ... terol.html</a><!-- m -->

I give mine free range "whole eggs".


...Jefroka


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## Toby_H (Feb 16, 2010)

Please keep in mind that human needs and Tegu needs are not the sameÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


Using the search feature on this forum I found this thread amongst others on the topic - <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4813" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4813</a><!-- l -->


This thread suggested that too much Avidin in the egg whites is what makes it Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?â??badÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â for our TegusÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ by binding with Biotin causing Biotin deficienciesÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

So I then googled: Tegu biotin avidin

This gave me a handful of links to do further reading confirming what was said in the TeguTalk link posted above. 


From what I read about the topic, it doesnÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢t seem that free range eggs would be any lower in Avidin. While I do believe that free range eggs would be healthier in general for both Tegus and humans, I still would not suggest frequently feeding free range egg whites.


This is also not to suggest that egg whites are Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?â??poisonousÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â. So it makes sense that some people may have been feeding them and not seeing any negative effect. Also the suggested negative effect is a Biotin deficiency. It is not likely that we would see the effects of biotin deficiency and associate that with eating to many egg whites.

In the same way without reading about the topic, who would think that weak bones or trembling would be the result of improper lightingÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


It is true that eggs are a common part of a wild Tegus dietÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ but these are fertilized, developing eggsÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m by no means an expert on this subjectÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m just sharing what IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m reading and how IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m finding itÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


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## rmzsuzuki89 (Feb 16, 2010)

Helpful info here, this should help a lot of people...Only yolks for my tegu when it's here.


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## fireimp141 (Feb 17, 2010)

Bobby posted 2 great stickys in Tegu Care. One titled Tegu Food List and Tegu Care Sheet. I read those thoroughly and they answered all my questions. He recommends ground turkey with beef liver and cod oil once to twice a week, with rodents, insects, eggs and fruit in between. And it seems almost all tegus eat full hardboiled eggs and scrambled eggs readily with no negative effects. As far as calcium supplement, he reccomends Zoo Med Reptile Calcium without D3 because its not made of oyster shells as mentioned before. Read the tegu food list, its mind blowing what these guys will eat. I got mine on turkey with beef liver and cod liver oil about every 2-3 days with shredded chicken breasts and salmon, eggs, blue and blackberries, crix, rodents and shrimp in between.


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## S&amp;S_Dragons (Feb 26, 2010)

Gezz I'm glad I read this, I was giving my guy eggs with the white and all. So it's just yoke now and boiled, thanks guys..


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