Poison? Does it effect our torts?

[wellington]

If there is a recall on any of the foods we feed our torts, like any of the greens, etc, because of contaminations, such as salmonella poisoning, and we bought one of the recalled items, should we worry? Will it effect our torts? Should we throw it away or is it safe to still feed to them? Don't panic, i was just wondering for the future, hasn't happened recently, that I know of. I know there was a recall a few years back on dog food, and if you had that brand, you were not to keep feeding to your dog, the same for torts?

 

[dmarcus]

If I buy a food item and then its something that becomes recalled, I would not feed it at all straight to the garbage it would go. If I have already feed some to my torts I would watch them very closely and the first sign that something is not right I would take them to the vet...

 

[Tony the tank]

Like Dalano said i would also discard any recalled produce...But since the recalls are always late to come..I try to be safe ..since most of the contamination in produce is cross contamination...One way to avoid any situation..is to thoroughly wash all the produce well before storing and again before feeding..

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

I think yes even for salmonella because I just don't think it is worth the risk to expose them because they are all different and you just don't know how their system will react. Also if you know of a recall can you post it on here because we buy a lot of the same greens and such.

A while ago there was a member who gave her tortoises zucchini from Trader Joes and some died and some were very sick because they were contaminated with ammonia. It was heart wrenching to hear about.

 

[Tom]

If its bad for us then its bad for them too.

 

[dmmj]

I wouldn't even compost it myself, into the garbage it goes.

 

[Laura]

It was Cucumbers from trader Joes that was the culprit, and amonia on them but not sure it was ever proven... it was very sad.. In fact I dont think she has been here for a while.. anyone heard from her??

 

[Madkins007]

Tortoises are amazingly resistant to toxins. They eat levels of oxalates that would kill a much larger human and poisonous mushrooms readily. There is also the point that while tortoises can carry Salmonella, they themselves are not affected by it as far as we can tell (Mader, "Reptile Medicine and Surgery, p.1020). Heck, these guys gladly eat dog poo!

If a recall is issued, I would try to get rid of the stuff just to be safe, but I would not worry about it. I also doubt the toxins would survive the heat and chemical processes of composting but I understand the concerns.

 

[freefood]

A while ago there was a member who gave her tortoises zucchini from Trader Joes and some died and some were very sick because they were contaminated with ammonia. It was heart wrenching to hear about.

Awww . Did Trader Joe's do anything about the contaminated products they were selling? She should have sued, but of course, nothing can replace a turtle, not even a new one. They have like a special section in our brains, and once a piece of that is lost, it can never be regained.

Moving on from poetic stuff, salmonella only affects warm blooded animals. Same with rabies. However, never feed your tortoise stuff you wouldn't eat yourself as a general rule (obviously if you don't like veggies don't follow this). You could give yourself the disease, and worse, infect your turtle.

Turtles can handle tons of poison that could seriously hurt a human. American box turtles can eat highly poisonous mushrooms without too much harm.