Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a quick question. I have an ackie thats an adult and a timor thats also an adult. I was wondering why its not beneficial to feed them an occasional treat of raw eggs. I apologize because I know its a bit of an unexperienced question but Ive always wondered why they can eat it in the wild raw but in captivity it must be boiled. My monitors dont eat them cooked....only raw and Ive only fed one ever.

you are running a small risk of salmonella.

you are right though, monitors have a high tolerance to bacterias, but i think their immune systems change in captivity (being indoors, not having had to fight off certain diseases to build the system up). monitors are a whole lot tougher than we assume, but why take a chance? just feed them something that is consistent and is balanced, you don't need to worry about feeding lots of different foods, it certainly doesn't benefit the monitor more than one kind of a nutritionally balanced food.
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Varanus Creations

np

Raw egg will not hurt them and it may actually be of some benefit. All long as its not a major part of their diet.

Dusted crickets are proven to allow rapid growth and reproduction. They are a suitable base of your diet.

Please understand what base means. It means the largest part of a diet, it does not mean all.

On the otherhand, if your monitors eat it and their are problems, then do not feed it. F

"it certainly doesn't benefit the monitor more than one kind of a nutritionally balanced food

...because you simply don't know this to be true. You can say that it "doesn't seem to you that there is any benefit" but this really is as far as you can go. Furthermore, you don't really know what "nutritionally balanced" means with reference to a monitor. Only by observing what is consumed in the wild can you even venture a guess - then, why would you ignore that data and feed something they never eat as a sole food source?
As was mentioned, rodents are a good base. Other items are definitely desireable as suppliments at least. It's nothing more than common sense.

Regards
Jim

Jim, I only speak of what I do here and what has worked and continues to work. I keep a lot of monitors on a limited diet. They do well, breed well, and grow well. Can you say the same?

Cheers
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Varanus Creations

It works for many! That's different though than saying that the monitor doesn't benefit from other foods.

Best of luck.
Jim

i would seriously reconsider feeding your guy a raw egg. We had a beautiful 2.5 foot blackthroat in perfect health in our house untill he had a raw egg. immediatly affterward he stopped eating and would vommit ferquently. In my opinion its just not worth it.