Feeding raw eggs??

[varnyard]

Eggs have recently been approved for irradiation by the US Food and Drug Administration but are not yet available.

You should avoid uncooked eggs, the egg cleaning process is poor at best. Salmonella is found in the intestinal tracts of reptiles, birds, animals, insects and humans. It is found on the outside of the egg shell before the egg is washed or it may be found inside the egg if the hen was infected by Salmonella.

It is always best to cook the eggs before feeding them to your animal. Salmonella is best distroyed by heat, so cooking is the best way to insure that there is no Salmonella being past on to your pet.
I hope this better helps you to understand why we cook our eggs prior to feeding.

There is another reason not to feed raw eggs. Raw eggs contain an enzyme called avidin, this enzyme decreases the absorption of biotin and can lead to skin problems in reptiles.

 

[TheFragginDragon]

Spot on Bobby.... my jaw dropped to the ground when I read in a popular reptile hobbyist magazine a couple of years ago from a column by Dr D Mader questioning the logic of a letter writer on feeding cooked chicken egg to a monitor in lieu of raw ones (his argument is they wouldn't find cooked eggs in the wild). I considered writing a response to his column, but then reality set in, as i've written said magazine a few times about this and that and never got a response.

 

[varnyard]

Thanks John!!

As to them eating raw eggs in the wild, yes the eggs are raw, but they are also almost always fertile (alive). They are also not run through vats of dirty re-used water where many other un-fertile eggs are/have been washed.

 

[The BoidSmith]

You should avoid uncooked eggs, the egg cleaning process is poor at best. Salmonella is found in the intestinal tracts of reptiles, birds, animals, insects and humans.

Excellent point! Salmonella is a common inhabitant of the digestive tract of mice, baby chicks, and quails.

There is another reason not to feed raw eggs. Raw eggs contain an enzyme called avidin, this enzyme decreases the absorption of biotin and can lead to skin problems in reptiles.

Good point! Avidin, also called vitamin H, is present in egg white in amounts that bind the same amount of biotin present in the yolk; the net balance is thus "0". That is why vitamin supplements are recommended with any complete diet. Always remember, the concept of healthy foods is a fallacy (eat just apples and you'll see what happens), we should speak about healthy diets, or better yet healthy diets/lifestyles.

Best regards.

 

[varnyard]

You bet ya, good clean eggs, no need to worry that they are not clean at all:

 

[The BoidSmith]

As a kid I remember eating raw whisk yolks with sugar, were they a treat! I would certainly eat one again anytime (even from the eggs of those hens!). Now, if someone offered me a toast spread with raw mice feces or chicken guts I would have a hard time accepting that.

Best regards,

 

[varnyard]

As a kid I remember eating raw whisk yolks with sugar, were they a treat! I would certainly eat one again anytime (even from the eggs of those hens!). Now, if someone offered me a toast spread with raw mice feces or chicken guts I would have a hard time accepting that.

Best regards,

You bet Dan, I guess you did not know many things can pass straight through the shell. Good luck with your raw eggs, I will take mine cooked.

 

[The BoidSmith]

Bobby,

You have a point, and that's undeniable. If you eat or feed raw egg there is a chance, as you very well said that you may contract Salmonella.

Now, if you eat the intestines of a mouse or the feces contained in a baby chick, rest assured you are eating scores of Salmonella and E. coli. Will you get sick? It will depend on the strains present and in your defenses.

Of course you could always microwave a prekilled mouse or chick before feeding it but it has been proven to be a messy practice. The problem is some people dream of a Salmonella or E coli free pet, when as you very well said it:

Salmonella is found in the intestinal tracts of reptiles, birds, animals, insects and humans.

The best you can do is profilaxis; that is wash and sanitize your hands after handling your reptiles or after going to the restroom.

Best regards,

 

[shrap]

I KNEW Rocky was going to get sick when he drank all those raw eggs..... well, it made ME sick watching him do it.

 

[shrap]

Dan, you obviously have some kind of hard on for Bobby. Bobby just said in his opinion that it is best to cook eggs before feeding them. Not that feeding raw is wrong or a bad thing. Why you are taking some kind of exception to that I have no idea, but it sure looks more like it is personal than anything else.