Posted by:
shiveley
at Wed Jul 21 12:29:44 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by shiveley ]
Commercially-prepared "tortoise chow" (no matter who makes it) is a particularly bad idea for sulcata tortoises. G.sulcata needs high fiber plant material for proper nutrition. Their digestive tract has evolved to handle large amounts of cellulose. The cellulose is broken down into soluble fatty acids in the torti's complex fermenting digestive system. These are the source for the torti's nutrition. Where do processed foods fit in a system like this? They don't. I believe there are long-term health problems such as changes in the kidneys and digestive organs. I think there are malnutrition problems also. By the way, they can become constipated without their massive amounts of roughage keeping stool structure firm. Andy [Highfield, Director of the Tortoise Trust] has seen some necropsies of this sort of thing, ask him. This same diet of gobs of plant fiber keeps internal parasites and undesirable bacteria in check. Throw in some high energy processed foods - you will have worms, protozoa and bacteria thanking you. The torti will most likely accelerate his food intake to account for the loss of nutrition. Those foods are a gimmick; they play on today's fashion of being convenient.
Commercial foods of any kind are NOT good for reptiles of any species. Bonnie Key wrote a very enlighting, eye-opening article about commercial reptile foods (unfortunately no longer available online) for the Veterinary Information Network website. Despite what their advertising copy may claim, the companies manufacturing these foods DO NOT do any real research into whether their foods are good for reptiles! As Bonnie said in her article, pet-product companies are in business to make money for their shareholders, not to benefit pet owners and their critters. With the increasing popularity of reptile pets, these companies realized that they had a golden money-making opportunity in selling often useless (and sometimes dangerous) items to reptile owners. Thus pet stores have shelves full of pelleted and canned diets for a variety of reptile species that may not actually benefit from such foods. And as Brad stated above, reptile owners need to get past the "convenience factor" of such foods and realize that these products can actually ruin the health of their pets.
[ Hide Replies ]
|
RE: I just got a 3 week sulcata for 50 bucks.have some questions? - shiveley, Wed Jul 21 12:29:44 2004