Gotta question for you folks (regarding supps and whole prey items)

[ragnew]

How goes it guys. So Brahm has taken to frozen rodents and chicks pretty well after all. And I'm thinking about making the whole prey items the main part of his diet and supplementing it with the raw turkey and the like once in a while.

My question though, is regarding the supplementing of the whole prey items. On the turkey and other raw foods I use Rep-Cal w/D3 and Herptivite powdered supps when preparing the food. Would it still be a good idea to dust the mice and chicks with the supps? Or would these guys be okay without getting the dustings?

I'm using a Solar Glo Mercury Vapor for his heat source and UV needs and have had nothing but satisfactory results as of yet.

Thanks guys/gals!

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

As long as the whole prey is old enough to where the skeleton is developed you should be good. No supplements needed. But still add fruits, some veggies and supplements to the turkey and other meaty meals.

 

[Dana C]

I think you are on the right track as Bubblz indicates. With frozen rodents, just be careful to watch you Tegu's weight. The fat content approaches 30% which is double ground turkey and three times more than ground fresh chicken.

 

[Alldaytegus]

if anyone is interested i have a blue/red hybrid male adult that i need to trade for a female tegu has to be adult she will be for my other male if anyones interested please pm me thanks.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

I think that whole prey items are a significantly more natural form of food, and you should be fine. Dana, where did you get your information on the fat content of mice, ground turkey, and ground chicken? Here's a layout of ground chicken. http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/chicken-ground As you can see, percentage of fat is 26%, which is barely under your claim of 30% in whole prey items. Ground turkey I saw reports of 7-20%, and the only articles I could find on mice said 7-13%. I could easily be wrong, but from some simple googling that is what I found.

 

[ragnew]

Thank you guys/gals very much for the replies! I thought I was on the right track, but just wanted to shoot it out to my tegu family to see what your ideas were. Thanks again folks! I've got to get some updated Brahm pictures up. The beastie is getting big.

 

[Dana C]

Here is the web site that I found the information. It is compiled by Rodent Pro. You can draw you own conclusions. You should note that many brands of ground turkey is mixed with beef fat so it will stick together. I don't know about all brands but Foster Farms has it on their label. As for the chicken, I grind boneless, skinless chicken breast myself which contains 3.6 grams of fat per 100 grams or 3.6%. I don't buy ground chicken as it is expensive and the contents of a package, like ground turkey contains a lot of water.
http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Okay, that's valid information. Adult mice, which is what I was talking about, are at 23% which is still high. However, I have and always will keep my tegus on a mostly whole prey item diet. I think that a lot of obese tegus simply come from people who overfeed. No matter what you're feeding, if you overfeed it then the tegus going to be a bit on the heavy side.