Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have noticed that many people supplement their boxies' diets with dog food. From a nutritional standpoint, why dog food as opposed to cat food, etc.?

"Nutrition" is probably my weakest point of knowledge, so as a general rule I tend to stick to store-bought boxie foods that I then supplement with fresh fruits & veggies.

I try to feed them a variety of things, but I want to know they are being fed properly.

Not me!

My Easterns get fed home made food and they have an enclosure with forage....rotting logs and leaf piles with lots of worms, crickets, slugs, grubs, beetles, cicadas and so forth. We had a big storm yesterday and they were out grabbing all kinds of snacks.

People may feed dog food more out of convenience than anything else. Dog food tends to be cheaper than cat food. And dog food frequently has other 'stuff' in it because dogs are more omnivorous than cats, strictly speaking, so nutritionally dog food may be more varied.

I don't think it's worth it.

Well, I use dog food to varied his diet. In captivity there is no way I can offer the stuff they would otherwise eat in the wild or offer enough varieties. My three toed that I've raised from a tiny juvy was fed salad, Reptomin, a little bit of soaked, low-fat, dried, dog kibbles, and inverts, mainly crickets and roaches. I've been giving him a lot more salad since he started developing some pyramiding, and I have to say it is almost gone. I find that the turtle food like Reptomin and probably Mazuri cause less pyramiding, so you can give them more as a source of protein. I usually give them low-fat, dried, dog kibbles to her/him only once a month or every other months. Feeding too much protein to young turtle cause severe shell deformities! I always provide the cuttle-bones for him to help him keep the beak trim when he bite on it and it helps with their high physiological demand for calcium. I think UVB light help them regulate the vitamin D3 and the calcium level in their blood better, so this way they won't develop pyramiding as easily.

I always go with low fat dog food if I was going to feed to reptiles since they are cold blooded, or ectotherms to more precise. Too much fat and protein is really bad for them.

I would have questions about the nutritional value (to turtles) of dog kibble, due to the grain content. Grains really aren't known to be a significant part of the box turtle diet...in fact it is probably a negligible part of their diet at best. I don't even like giving kibble to my dogs as a staple, LOL.

I have never had a problem with pyramiding, and the protein source I feed most often is boiled chicken, or very lean beef. They get an assortment of vegetable and fruits too, of course. Occasionally my cat will kill a small rabbit and leave the carcass in the turtle pen and I do toss in any (dead) baby birds that I find, so they get protein from a variety of different sources here.

Given the fact that places like Walmart sell 10lb bags of chicken quarters (thigh/leg) for less than 65 cents a pound, and the content is pretty much all high quality protein from muscle meat, I don't bother spending money on pelletized mystery protein and protein meal.

You know instead of offering animal protein, I try to offer more plant protein. For examples, I give a lot of grated parsnips and well cut beans that are still in the edible pods. Parsnips especially are high in protein and possibly the most nutritious vegetable in the world. It also has a lot of fiber, which is good for the digestive tract, and carbohydrate for energy. Plus it is most commonly available in the supermarkets, especially in Europe. Asparagus is also good, but is more expensive and have more calcium oxalate. You can also buy some of those alfalfa tea bag at the health food stores, which only contain the leaves. The leaves is what you want. Alfalfa has more plant protein than any other plants. That's why they feed them to horses.

If a healthy wild box turtle typically has a diet comprised of approximately 50% protein, and I try to replicate that in captivity, I would have to feed an awful lot of parsnips (2g protein/100g) or far less chicken (20g protein/100g).

A turtle can only eat so much.

Oh, I meant for my box turtle, which is still not fully grown. [chuckle] I'm worried he is going to develop more pyramiding.

Well, most vertebrates require the same thing...more or less. Except that most commercial food made for dogs and cats are a lot richer in fat and protein, and probably contain a lot more other vitamins and minerals, since they are endotherms, metabolizing the nutrients very fast. I've read that reptiles can develop gout buy eating much of these stuff, especially cat food. Cat food is even unhealthy for dogs! LOL

High fat content is not really good for them either, though.