Johum mentioned he thought torts were like goats with shells. I think I'd disagree with that one since goats are small ruminants. One big difference between ruminants and hind gut fermenters is that the bacteria do there thing in ruminants before the digesta gets to the abomasum (absorbable part of the stomach.) In hindgut fermenters the digesta passes through the stomach first and then the bacteria do their thing in the large intestine. So the hindgut fermenters only absorb the fatty acids and not other products of bacterial fermentation. That is why horses eat more than cows and their poop contains more nutrients (better for growing stuff.)
As far as the phytate thing is concerned I would guess the bacteria in the ruminant stomach break it down somehow so they don't absorb it in their abomasum. I would guess a hindgut fermenter like a tortoise would absorb it before the bacteria had a chance to do anything with it.
I'm not voting either way on the Mazuri thing with phytates yet. I feed it as a part of my tort's diet and the sucess the zoos have had with it make me hesistant to stop due to this new research. It is an interesting (and important) subject and I plan to research it when I get some free time.
As for now, VARIETY, VARIETY, VARIETY!!!!!!
