Salad Dressing?

[TommyZ]

I saw this is in Petco today, wasnt thinking of getting it, just thought it was interesting.

 

[T33's Torts]

Is it dense? Like a syrupy texture? That's really weird..

 

[wellington]

The worse part is they say to use every day and it has not only calcium, but also the D3. Every day is way too much.. Oh, my Petco has it too. I love the idea of finding more things too feed. But, I think I will take the foods I feed, blend it well, add some water, cucumber or watermelon juice and make my only salad dressing.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Honestly, I work at Petco and I don't even know what that stuff is...it never sells in our store (but we don't have many tort customers either, if any at all other than me!). I thought about getting it...from what I gathered it's a syrupy texture, but I decided against it because I didn't know enough about the ingredients...and what I did recognize, gave me the impression that it's just sugary vitamins...I'd rather feed regular calcium powders, cuttlebone, etc. with occasional fruits or tomatoes, etc. as treats than use that product. Then I know exactly what I'm getting, and I personally prefer as natural and unprocessed of a diet as possible for my pets.

 

[TommyZ]

Re: RE: Salad Dressing?

Is it dense? Like a syrupy texture? That's really weird..

Nope, it was oddly quite liquidy. Not at all dressing like, lol

 

[StarSapphire22]

That's a great idea on making your own!

I use watered down Repashy Grassland Grazer as a dressing sometimes. There's a thought for you too.

 

[Puckles🐢]

Ugh how disgusting, I would never intentionally feed my tortoise xanthan gum. Haha I remember doing research on spring mixes with joesmum and now I know what she meant by no salad dressing

 

[nickpanzee]

That's not cool. Tortoises don't need salad dressing. They don't need to get addicted to artificial additives in foods and extra sweeteners. People don't need that stuff either.

 

[LLLReptile]

We just started carrying that stuff recently too. It smells pretty tasty, actually. I can see it being helpful for stubborn feeders or new animals that aren't feeding yet. There's blends for beardies and iguanas it looks like, too.

Alright, went and got a bottle.

Ingredients:
Water, Sucrose, natural strawberry flavor (lol the front says melon flavored), calcium lactate, xanthan gum, citric acid, potassium sorbate, lycopene, lutein, canthaxanthin, methylparaben, Vit D3

Total fat: 0 g
Total carb: 1.17 g
CA: 215 mg
Vit D3: 30 i.u.
out of a serving size measured as 15 grams.

Calcium lactate is for calcium. (imagine that). Xanthan gum is a thickening agent, helps it be less liquidy. Potassium sorbate is a food preservative, and is probably why it's a bit heavy on the calcium side. I would think they not only have enough calcium in there to bind with the potassium, but some extra for the animals to absorb. Lycopene is for color; it is a carotenoid but does not add vitamin A. Lutein is for color as well, this time yellow, but the wikipedia article goes into some interesting things about how it's utilized in plants too. Canthaxanthin is another carotenoid, I think for vitamin E? Maybe just color. That first bit of the article is confusing and I didn't read in depth. Methylparaben is an antifungal, so presumably its in there as a preservative.

Lastly, the 30 i.u., or 30 international units of D3? That's the same per serving as most normal supplements, about 10,800 per lb. Reptivite has 10,390 per lb, while Rep Cal has 400,000 iu per lb! Minerall, for anyone curious, has 4,400, and ZooMed's plain calcium has 10,390 as well. Just for comparison's sake.

Not bad, and as far as additives go for flavoring, if you've got a stubborn eater or want to entice a sickly animal, this stuff doesn't seem so bad. Just my thoughts, though. Hopefully the ingredients and brief breakdown helps out Doesn't seem to be for everyone but again, doesn't seem too awful to me.

-Jen

 

[TommyZ]

Hmph...well when ya put it that way....point conceeded, lol. Smarty pants

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Real strawberries work pretty darn good on those stubborn feeders who are sickly, and I can eat the extras. Just saying, if that's the driver, use real strawberries, they are available 365/year. In short, it's crap you don't need. Provides nothing a quality selection of weeds/greens/grocery produce would not already have. I go grocery shopping no less than once a week, so 'handyness' is hardly a driver for me either. Great label and marketing of garbage. Will

 

[DevilsLettuce]

Real strawberries work pretty darn good on those stubborn feeders who are sickly, and I can eat the extras. Just saying, if that's the driver, use real strawberries, they are available 365/year. In short, it's crap you don't need. Provides nothing a quality selection of weeds/greens/grocery produce would not already have. I go grocery shopping no less than once a week, so 'handyness' is hardly a driver for me either. Great label and marketing of garbage. Will

Well put will

 

[nickpanzee]

Will, that's exactly what I was thinking. You put it so much better though

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

What bugs me about this stuff is that there is a bearded dragon salad dressing as well. The tortoise one claims to be mango flavored and the bearded dragon one is strawberry flavored, supposedly. However if you look at the ingredients they are exactly the same, only difference is the tortoise one is yellow and the beardie one is red. Very fishy to me, I'll just stick with my Repashy Superveggie mixed with water as a daily supplement.