Is zuccinni really bad for torts?

[fgately]

I just read another thread about someone losing torts from feeding zuccinni and cucumber. The author of the post said something like "I know for a fact, that zuccinni and cucumber are bad for torts".

Is this true? If it is, why?

My Russians love zuccinni and eat lots of it from the zuccini plants I grow in my yard. And the zuccinni flowers are basically tort crack! I honestly find it very hard to believe this is harmful, but I am listening.

Frank

 

[Tom]

They are fine in small amounts once in awhile. In the one thread it is believed that they were tainted somehow.

The problem with them is they aren't very nutritious and if your tort is filling up on that, then they aren't filling up on the good stuff that they should be eating. Same with romaine or iceberg lettuce.

 

[dmarcus]

I agree with Tom, I will only give it every once in a while and my tort only gets romaine on special occasions a a treat..

 

[dmmj]

I try to explain it like this, would I love to eat doritos and ho-hos all day long? yes I would. Should I do so? no I shouldn't. Feeding your russian zucchini once or twice a month is not gonna hurt, the other thread you are talking baout ther ewas more than likely something wrong (tainted) about them.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I feed zucchini to my torts as a treat once or twice a week or so. I also feed the flowers and I personally don't think that it is bad for them at all. With that said, I also feed a wide variety of stuff to my tortoises and believe they eat very healthy so if zucchini is bad for them they already eat good so it doesn't hurt them to feed the squash. However, I have been feeding zucchini to my tortoises for a long time and don't believe it is bad for them at all. As long as they are fed a good diet...

 

[terryo]

I've never fed the zucchini to my cherries, but they LOVE the flowers, and eat them all Summer.

 

[Len B]

I feed mine the whole thing,flowers, fruit, leaves, and stems,been doing it for years and never had a problem, it's sort of a seasonal treat. I don't buy it from the store I used what is grown local from friends and what I can grow.Not just zucchini also yellow squash, cantaloupe, cucumber, watermelon ,and pumpkin. I am trying to grow butternut squash for the first time this year. Len

 

[GBtortoises]

Like Len above, I have fed my tortoises complete vegetable, fruit and flowers of zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkin, basically all other squashes & cucumber for several years. Never a single issue. Mostly the times of year when they're in season here, late summer through fall. But whenever else I have the foods available too.
Comparatively speaking, cucumber isn't that nutritious, but it does contain notable amounts of vitamin A, fiber, potassium and some other nutrients. Cucumber is techically a fruit, not a vegetable.
Zucchini is high in vitamin A & C, potassium, beta carrotene and several minerals.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sorry to disagree with the poster on the other thread, but I actually BUY zucchini to feed to my tortoises. Its one of my staples. What I can usually buy for 69cents a pound is now costing me 1.99 a pound! But I still buy it and feed it almost every other day. Of course, zucchini isn't the only thing they eat. There are lots of greens and other veggies in the mix too.

 

[Madkins007]

Zuchinni and cucumbers are both fruits (in general, if it has seeds, it is a fruit), so may not be great in excess for tortoises that generally don't do well with fruit, and they have poor Calcium: Phosphorous Ratios of about 0.52:1 and 0.67:1 respectively (with peels), so are not a great primary food source, but there is nothing wrong with hem in a varied, balanced diet.

There is a lot of old, bad. and mis-information about foods for tortoises out there. There are not many fruits or vegetables a human can eat that are DANGEROUS for a tortoises- but that does not mean they will like them all or that they are all great choices.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

We hardly ever feed it.