portobello mushroom? safe?

[shane1111]

are portobello mushrooms safe for my 2 cherry heads to eat? i have heard they like mushrooms.

 

[Jacqui]

Very much safe and usually well liked.

 

[shane1111]

wow my little one loves them more then berries!

 

[Becki]

Are they safe for sulcatas too?

 

[Jacqui]

They would be safe for any type of tortoise and are really not a bad food item value wise. How often you might want to feed them might be different. For example my forest type tortoises would find them frequently in the wild, so I feed them often to my Homes hingebacks. My sulcatas aren't going to be finding them too much in their native area, so with them it's more like an occasionally fed item.

 

[Madkins007]

The interesting thing about mushrooms is that they are not much nutritionally- other than vitamin D2, and they are pretty loaded with that. It is likely that a lot of herbivores and omnivores that live in low-light conditions (like true forest tortoises and Eastern Box Turtles, etc.) get a decent amount of supplemental D this way.

Another interesting element is that many turtles and tortoises can eat poisonous fungi without harm. Native Americans in the New York area used to consider local Box Turtles poisonous- they ate enough of local toxic fungi that it tainted the flesh. (Of course, that did not stop the people from using the turtles in other ways and very likely making them locally endangered or extinct.)

 

[terryo]

Thanks for that little history lesson Mark. I always learn something from your posts.
Pio LOVES Portobello ...or any kind of mushroom.

 

[HLogic]

Another little note, mushrooms tend to pass through the chelonian digestive tract almost unchanged. That may explain why they tend to eat the ones that are slightly beyond 'fresh' in the wild -- the decomposition breaks down the cell walls allowing better absorption of the contents within.

 

[Jacqui]

Another little note, mushrooms tend to pass through the chelonian digestive tract almost unchanged. That may explain why they tend to eat the ones that are slightly beyond 'fresh' in the wild -- the decomposition breaks down the cell walls allowing better absorption of the contents within.

I didn't realize this part.

 

[Kristina]

Mushrooms are basically useful for forest tortoises (and turtles) to get the fiber they need for digestive tract health. Fruits and insects contain very little fiber, but mushrooms are pretty much all fiber.

Grazing tortoises that eat a lot of fibrous greens and weeds really do not need mushrooms, but I doubt they would be harmful in any way.