Chicken Necks Working!

[carcharios]

I just got back from CA and checked out the dragons. Frieda is walking with body held off the ground for the first time that I can remember. And what's more is that I for the first time saw lots of stool composed almost entirely of what looks to be digested bone - solid formed, white stool, that breaks down into a fine powder when touched, not the black and yellow stool that I'm used to. What does this mean?

Well, given the fact that Frieda is now walking normal and given the change in her feces, my guess is that even with the powdered calcium and mineral supplements I had been giving her, she still was lacking enough calcium / phosphate. I know sunlight wasn't the limiting factor because their cage is outside and gets plenty of direct sun throughout the day. Perhaps the chicken necks did the trick and she's now excreting the excess calcium, because early on, there was no digested bone being excreted at all. Makes sense if you think about it. Perhaps feeding chicken necks is a new great way of reversing MBD? I hope others out there give it a shot and let me know what their findings are.

 

[jamelyn77]

awesome!! great news! .. I have not been able to find chicken necks in my part of the world but have upped the whole prey intake and seen similiar improvement! good to hear yours is doing better!!!

 

[carcharios]

Well, Frieda is still moving around perfectly now. No dragging or twitching whatsoever. I'm still amazed at the turn-around. For anyone worried about MBD, I definitely recommend the chicken neck diet. If your Tegu is too small to eat them whole, then you can cleaver them up into smaller pieces. I do this with Diego and he does just fine. Also, if your supermarket doesn't have chicken necks, look for "chicken backs", which also have plenty of bone in them - but would need to be cut up into smaller chucks. Aside from walking better, Frieda is also MUCH more active than ever before. Can't believe the turn-around!

 

[Nessie]

That is really cool to know, thanks for that! So my little guy is just over 2 months how large of pieces would I give him?? The size of his head?

 

[carcharios]

I'd give him a piece half the size of his head perhaps. They can probably swallow one as big as his head but I wouldn't push it because of the bone. You don't want any injuries. I know with my cleaver, I can get the pieces pretty small and Diego has no problems getting them down.