Food and Health

[ketzie79]

Hi,

I shop every week at my local organic store for our Tork. I pick up a lot of dark leafy green vegetables. Kale, Collard Greens, Endive, spring mix, and Radicchio. I wanted to know if Kale is safe. I read somewhere about high oxalates. I found the list on the russiantortoise.org but wanted other ideas. I cannot use any weeds that grow in my community because everyone treats their lawns. Weeds are very hard to find unless I pull over on a main highway and pick some. I found the seed mix from Carolina supply and ordered them to make grazing trays.

The organic store sells a lot of flowers and I wanted to pick some up to plant for my RT. Any recommendations of flowers. He loves roses a lot. I actually brought him to the vet for a checkup and the poor guy was loaded with all kids of stuff. He is on medication which I put on a rose petal for him to eat since he will not open his mouth for me. I do not want to buy everything from the store and would like to grow stuff for our RT.

Any sites, lists, or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ketzie

 

[GBtortoises]

While kale is supposedly high in oxalic acid, so are many other foods that people feed to tortoises. I personally don't shy away from any food since even though they may contain something like high oxalic acid most also contain other very beneficial vitamins and minerals that benefit the tortoise. It is widely accepted that oxalic acid can deprive the absorbtion of calcium in humans[i/] but even at that most researchers also agree that it has little effect on an already healthy person. The true effect that oxalic acid may have on tortoises really is not known for certain but is assumed to have the same effect on tortoises as it does humans which may very well be true. Most people err on the side of caution and feed foods that are known to be hign in oxalic acid sparingly.

I believe that the best method is quality and variety, lots of variety. I feed mine kale, collard greens, endive and much, much more. Incidently, according to the USDA collard greens and endive actually contain a higher percentage of oxalic acid than kale does! According to their chart collard greens contain 0.45% by volume. Or less than half of 1%.

I would concentrate on a varied, high fiber diet, lots of hydration in the form of drinking water and not let a vet over-medicate the tortoise to the point that all of it's beneficial gut and intestinal bacteria are killed off. Once that's done a tortoise loses it's ability to properly digest food and absorb necessary nutrients. This will in turn can often cause an irreversable digestive system shut down on an already stressed and weak tortoise.

 

[dmmj]

Mine love hibiscus and dandelion flowers.