Why is eating protein bad for a tortoise diet?

[FlapJackrage]

I feed y Sulcata organic red and green leaf lettuce. It has a little protein in it. Does this affect the torts health?

 

[reticguy76]

its not enough to cause damage, and its a different type of protein than say, animal meat protein or soy, etc

 

[dmmj]

Protein is not bad, it is the amounts and types, animal protein is not good for herbivorous tortoises.

 

[EricIvins]

What is a herbivorous Tortoise? How do we know animal protein isn't good for these "herbivorous" ( Which are really omnivorous ) animals, when they are naturally attracted to carrion and "hunt" other animals.......

 

[Tom]

There is a persistent myth that protein causes pyramiding. It's not true, but this is what we were told for many years, and many people still believe it. As Eric pointed out, tortoises are opportunists and will actually eat animal based protein in captivity and in the wild. There is not enough protein in the leafy greens to cause any harm, but if you fed cat food or ground beef and nothing else, you would likely see some pretty serious problems pretty quickly. A little bit once in a while is probably good for them, but this is debateable...

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

LOL...where is that thread of someone posting a video of their adult sulcata munching a fledgling bird it found?

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Hey guys, sorry but I have to disagree with all of the above comments. Here's why:

Re: plants vs. animals in diet
It's not so much the type of protein, as the quantity. Sure, animals have muscles and plants don't, but that doesn't matter much when it comes to digestion. The big difference is that animals contain a lot more protein than plants. All animals need protein in their diet, just some more than others.

Re: pyramiding
Although humidity does appear to affect scute development, the amount of protein in the diet still matters. Being herbivores, tortoises are adapted to a low-nutrient diet. This means that they have evolved to eat foods that are high in fiber and low in protein. They also require a lot of calcium for their shells. If tortoises consume too much protein, their shells grow faster but become less dense. This contributes to pyramiding. If you do a necropsy on a pyramided tortoise, and look at a cross-section of the shell, you find that compared to a normal tortoise, the bone has more volume but more space inside. This is because not enough calcium was incorporated into the skeleton, and having too much protein in the diet is part of that.

Another issue is the kidneys. Protein breaks down to nitrogenous waste, which is then excreted in the kidney. Our bodies get rid of nitrogen (N) as urea, which is fairly toxic and requires a lot of water to flush out. Although this forces us to drink more, it also allows us to eat more meat. Moist habitat tortoises (redfoot, yellowfoot, hingeback) also use urea, and sure enough, they also eat more meat. But more arid-land tortoises (Testudo, Gopherus, sulcatas, leopard tortoises) use uric acid to get rid of their excess N instead. This allows them to conserve water, but it also means they can't take in as much protein, because without much water they are liable to develop kidney stones.

So basically, tortoises are adapted to a low-protein diet. If they get too much protein, their skeletons become weak and their kidneys get overloaded.

 

[baron101]

protein is good in moderation but if you feed it too much it will cause pyramiding