Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is banana ok to give to a res? if so how often? just as a treat?

n/p

Banana is very high is potassium and phosphorous both of which turtles in captivity generally get too much of and both of which can interfere with the calcium metabolism in the body.

(Or at the very least it has much more phosphorous than calcium and in general, its a good idea to seek out foods which have more calcium than phosphorous when selecting things to feed to turtles turtles)

Far worse is the fact that banana is "addictive" for many animals and turtles are no exception. Some will hold out and refuse all other foods after having been offered banana regularly or even a few times.

But because its so palatable for them some people reserve banana for times when oral medications need to be given to a turtle or when a starved or sick turtle is not eating well.

nutritional profile for banana

I'd say once every six weeks is okay for a captive RES though.