Hurray For Chicken Necks!

[carcharios]

Well, Frieda, who only ate one chicken neck defecated today and there were no signs of the bones. My guess is that she digested them. I never see any mouse bones either, just hair balls. I'm thinking that the bones get digested and absorbed.

Kimo, on the other hand has not pooped yet and I'm concerned about him because he's been ingesting some of the cyprus mulch when he eats. I need to finish their new cage ASAP!

 

[Dom3rd]

I think i am going to just keep an eye on posts about this topic and i might try chicken necks with mine when i return home from deployment..

 

[Herplings]

Kimo, on the other hand has not pooped yet and I'm concerned about him because he's been ingesting some of the cyprus mulch when he eats. I need to finish their new cage ASAP!

You could try giving him a warm soak. The warm water, plus the swimming in the tub seems like it makes them poop a lot.

Keep us posted.

 

[carcharios]

I'd give him a soak but that would entail getting my hand ripped off. He's got attitude lately. I may have to feed him first to get him calmed down and then try the soak. Of course, I'll be wearing gloves when I handle him.

As for the chicken necks, make sure you can find them. I live in MD and right now is crabbing season so our local markets are stocked up. Again, they're super cheap - a dollar or so for a whole carton, which would probably feed both my adult tegus for an entire week! In fact, I went to Giant yesterday and purchased 6 more cartons to hopefully last me much of the summer. They also happened to have gizzards and hearts so I purchased a few cartons of those too.

 

[carcharios]

Verdict is in: Kimo finally defecated (a huge one I should add) and there are ZERO bones in his stool - and he's eaten at least 7 necks over the past week or so.

There are however some pieces of cyprus mulch, which means he's at least passing some of the what he's ingested. Anyway, thought you guys would like to know. Guess they do digest the bones.

 

[Guest]

i agree.expecially if u feed them younger chicken,seeing as they are not fully developed.although the necks are prolly from older ones.the bones in a neck are not as hard because they need to bend there neck to look around so im guessing that they would be less likely to splinter.but thats just my opinion.=]

 

[brutus13]

I think I would rather be safe than sorry!

 

[carcharios]

There is no danger in feeding these guys chicken necks. I have fed my tegus them all summer long with no issues whatsoever. You have to remember that the throat and stomach of these reptiles is pretty tough. Think about the food items they consume in the wild. They're eating birds, fish, other lizards, crustaceans, carrion, etc.

Also, my adults consume entire chicken necks so the bones are covered with flesh and not exposed. They literally slide down their throats. I do cut the necks up for my younger tegu but you can see that even when cut up, the bones are pretty rounded and smooth. They're not like fish spines or the smaller thinner bones found in chicken wings.

 

[Guest]

Raw/uncooked chicken bones do not splinter and are not brittle like cooked bones. Raw bones are soft and easily broken down, believe it or not.

My dogs, cats and ferrets are fed raw, natural diets with raw bones and anyone who feeds raw can tell you that raw/uncooked bones are SIGNIFICANTLY safer than cooked.

There are always these scares about chicken bones and chicken meat being dangerous to consume. I'd be more concerned if you were feeding you tegu chunks of WEIGHT bearing bones such as from cattle femurs, ox tails, pork leg bones, etc.

I personally think a large tegu could handle some soft chicken bones. My ferrets who're much smaller than an adult tegu can take down chicken AND turkey necks with ease.

 

[Guest]

The chicken necks that you would buy are from 4 or 5 month old chickens .. The ones they sell for animal [mink ect ] are called spent hen and have feathers and feet and all they should be run through a commercial grinder . They are the old birds ..

 

[eddyjack]

So I'll be paying more attention to the "Little Wise Owl"! Seems to have the skinny on the bones! Great Post!

 

[Guest]

So I'll be paying more attention to the "Little Wise Owl"! Seems to have the skinny on the bones! Great Post!

D'aww, thanks.

People usually just shrug my advice off and always argue with me. I didn't learn about raw diets for nothin' Not to mention, I'm going to college for animal care and I've learned a thing or two as to WHY there's so much scare about raw diets and the like.

I'm not an expert on Tegus but I do know a thing or two about how raw diets process in our more common carnivorous pets (dogs, cats, ferrets, etc) and I can tell you that most, if not all, healthy cats/dogs/ferrets can easily and safely eat a natural, raw diet. Heck, maybe a diet VERY similar to that of a tegu.

People will go on and on and ON about how my animals are going to get impactions from bones or salmonella or whatever but I don't think we're giving our pets much credit. Cats are still partially wild... Dogs are successful scavengers who eat the most bizarre things and live healthy lives... They weren't made to eat bowls of heavily processed food. No animal is. These animals are designed to hunt, kill and consume other animals. Raw meat, organs bones and all.

From reading one of Bobby's articles on Tegu's dietary habits in the wild... I just think we might be underestimating their ability to handle food. From what I read, they seem to be very successful scavengers. They break into beehives to eat honey, they break into chicken coops, they're unaffected by fire ants... They can swallow whole animals and digest their ENTIRE skeleton, meat and organs... They will eat carrion, pet food, insects, invertebrate.... And they also successfully digest fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens (something dogs, cats and ferrets CANNOT do naturally) I think they're well equipped to handle chicken bones, rabbit bones, quail bones, etc (Though anything larger than these animals might be pushing it. Turkey wings are more dense than chicken wings. Same goes for turkey legs.) Raw chicken bones are often recommended as the best starter raw food for cats/dogs/ferrets because their bones are the softest and easiest to digest.

Don't quote me on this (regarding tegus). I'm just merely speculating and kinda putting two-and-two together with my knowledge on raw meat/bone diets and how they're handled by the common pets that people think only eat commercial food.

I just think we under estimate our scaley (and furry!) friends sometimes. They're a lot tougher than you'd think.

[SIDE STORY regarding swallowing whole bones]:
When I was starting my boston terrier puppy (tiny dog) out on a raw diet, I brought her a chicken wing and was holding it tightly in my hand so I could get her used to the chewing of bones... Little did I know how strong she was. She RIPPED the whole wing out of my hand and swallowed it whole... I nearly had a heart attack. I worried all day about her getting an impaction... My worrying was for nothing. Later that day, she pooped and there was absolutely no trace of the chicken bone. To be sure, I waited for her to poop a few more times and same result. No evidence of bone....

Just an interesting story to share. PUPPIES can even digest whole bones. Tiny puppies too. lol

 

[Guest]

I raised eight to ten thousand mink for years .. Mixed raw chicken and raw fish with crumbles through a huge grinder and then a mixer .. Several thousand pounds a day .. Dogs tho will twist a gut on that tho after time ...

 

[Guest]

I'm confused as to what you mean by "twist a gut" lol

I'm also a little perplexed as to what you're getting at as well. :chin

Technically, a dogs diet should consist of a vast variety of protein sources (not just chicken and fish and also given that the dog doesn't have a certain sensitivity to a certain protein source i.e chicken)

 

[tora]

I think they might be talking about when a dogs stomach flips, I guess it normally happens when a large breed dog eats too much. Otherwise, I have no idea what they are talking about. lol.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, that's bloat. Which is actually pretty serious ):

But has nothing to do with a dog eating raw meat.

 

[tora]

Maybe they were implying that real meat is more appetizing, so they eat more? Idk.

 

[Guest]

Possibly. lol

Guess we just have to wait for a reply.

OP, how have you tegu(s) been since you've been feeding them chicken necks?

 

[Guest]

Twist a gut is bloat when the stomach flips and they bloat .. You shouldn`t feed your dog a raw diet They can have lots of raw things but I learned that .. The cereal [ crumbles ]has wheat and vitamins and you add extra medicines and vitamins as needed ...It is true it really dosn`t have much to do with anything other than we were talking raw diets chicken and fish. bones ect . I have experence with feeding truck load after truckload of it ...

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I know what bloat is and it's more likely to happen with a dry food kibble diet rather than a raw diet.

In a quick search to help back up what I'm talking about, I came across a few websites. This one had a pretty helpful list of how to prevent bloat and I'd have to say I agree with what they say.

"-Do not feed dry food exclusively,
-Feed a high-protein (>30%) diet, particularly of raw meat,
-If feeding dry food, avoid foods that contain fat as one of the first four ingredients
-Reduce carbohydrates as much as possible (e.g., typical in many commercial dog biscuits)
-Feed a high-quality diet (Whole, unprocessed foods are especially beneficial)
-Avoid brewer's yeast, alfalfa, and soybean products"
Source

Sorry for hijacking the thread, OP.