Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female bearded dragon, and she is currently on her third clutch of eggs this year. She is doing great keeping her weight between clutches, but my questions is can Bearded Dragons be fed raw ground turkey? I would assume the answer is yes, because they can digest raw meat like pink mice, but I am not sure. I recently got an Argentine B/W tegu, and she was given to me with a "bite" mark, which was not, it was a BURN to her face. I have been doing research on the tegu's diet, and because they are omnivorous like the Beardies, I wondered if their diets could be quite similar, hence the turkey question. Please let me know if you have any info for me. Thanks!!!
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~Laura

Rejoice, the age of the fall has begun
We'll dance as the palaces burn.
--Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn

I wouldn't give dragons raw turkey or other poultry meat at all. Yes they can eat the occasional pinky mouse but this should be a treat and to help females who are laying eggs to regain some calcium and fat.

As part of a healthy diet, better to feed insects as your primary source of animal protein, with a variety of both insects and greens the best to aim for. Insects can be superworms, butterworms, silkworms, hornworms, crickets and various kinds of roaches. Insects should all be well fed a quality food./gutload at least 12 hours before feeding to your dragon to ensure they get the most from their food.

I wouldn't recommend feeding raw turkey or chicken to even Tegus, sticking instead to frozen thawed rodents of appropriate size plus insects etc as appropriate. However I am not an expert on Tegus, it may be perfectly fine to feed them turkeys.
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PHLdyPayne

Beardies are omnivores, but more like insectivores rather than animal protein in their diet. Tegus can be fed raw ground turkey and it is quite a common practice. However it is important to remember that ground turkey does not contain a proper calcium to phosphorous ratio and will need to be supplemented. I feed my tegus rodents or chicks a few times a week and a ground turkey mixture just once or twice a week. Of course, fruit is added to the mix, sometimes veggies. The beardies get calcium rich greens and not as much fruit as the tegus. They do still have quite different diets even though they are both omnivores.

Thank you so much for the input, I really appreciate the help!!! Thanks!!! Any other info or helpful hints would be great!
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~Laura

Rejoice, the age of the fall has begun
We'll dance as the palaces burn.
--Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn