Why this is such a controversial topic is because nobody really knows the nutritional requirement of any reptile.



Every diet that I know of has been developed by trial and error. The diet is at first thrown together based on the creators assumption of what is required. If the manufacturer is good they will then test it out for at least a little while and tweek it as necessary before releasing it to the public commercially.



The idea of a 'natural' diet is no different than using say... u Mazuri Tortoise diet as a substitute to fulfill a component that was originally found in a tortoises native range. Note I said substitute.



Unless you go to the country of origin and collect all the plants that are known to occur and are known to be consumed you are using substitutes. There's a big problem outside of the first part of this picture. You have to know what the animal consumes in it's native habitat. Two tortoises, Leopards and DTs, come to mind that have some good studies done on the diet of these animals in their native range and both have an obvious flaws. The range of both animals is so extensive that there is no way all the animals are going to consume the same plants. Another point... if you have a free ranging tortoise and watch it go through it's daily routine you can't help but notice that they eat everything. Keeping this in mind you can't help but notice that not all of the same things are available all year around.



With this in mind... how can you come up with a nutritional requirement accept by trial and error.



Oh, lets not forget temperature. The metabolism is going to function differently at different temperatures which I would thing would lead to different nutritional requirements.
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Ed

Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

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