Chicken necks question.

[Neeko]

saw some of you guys feed chicken necks, is it staple meal? or only used as a supplement? Mixed in with turkey, liver, and fish oil? Do you chunk it up or grind it down? I've hear bone fragments ripping up intestines before. I cant get them cheap from food lion i think just don't want to end up killing my tegu if fed improperly.

 

[tora]

They're fed whole unless it's a small tegu, then it's hacked up to an appropriate size. It is fed as a staple as far as I've read. I unfortunately can't find any though. As far as safety, bones don't splinter unless they're cooked. So just feed them raw.

 

[Kebechet]

Bone fragments are only a problem if they're cooked. Uncooked is fine. I feed them to Link all the time, along with staple foods. They're mainly for the calcium. There isn't a whole lot of meat on them.

 

[Neeko]

thanks for the quick responses.
@ tora you might have to ask the butcher people if they have them if you haven't, i had to ask mine and she gave me a weird look them came back and said she'd have some tomorrow.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I use them and backs as a supplement

 

[tora]

I have, I've even called around to smaller shops and nada. Maybe I'll try some hispanic superstores?

 

[Neeko]

Maybe ask your local supermarket to put an order in for you? I'd be worried about the quality if you didnt go some where "mainstream" Though they do eat less then fresh meat in the wild. Im sure your tegu its parents haven't eaten anything other then fresh.

 

[tora]

I figure if it's safe for humans, safe for lizards! Trust me though, I won't go buying funky meat just because I want to add more variety lol.

 

[Neeko]

thats good, im trying to find button quail to raise but everyone only sells eggs and i dont have an incubator. Avian eggs need to be turned so a scheduled life with turning eggs wouldn't be practicle to use a home made one, I dont know of anything to rig so it would turn eggs.

 

[jdpFL]

Just saw a quail egg incubator for sale on one of our local sites....for $50. No idea if that's a good price...I can send you the link if you're interested.

 

[tora]

Do you have any feed stores near you? I know my local Pet Barn sells different sized rotating incubators.

 

[jtpowers]

Chicken necks are available at every mainstream grocery store here in FL and most parts of the south that i'm aware of. Same with gizzards, livers, etc. We use a meat tenderizing mallet and beat the heck out of them to crush the bone, then dice them. I would be more concerned about a possible whole vertebra having some difficulty passing (with a juvenile tegu) than crushed bone causing trouble; it only splinters if cooked and otherwise crushing just increases the surface area for digestive juices to act on it. Tegu digestion has evolved to deal with and use bone, so I like it for an easy calcium source.