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I was wondering if there are vitamin A supplements and where I would get them?
Vitamin A
- Thread starter Thalatte
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Carrots are rich in vitamin A if that's on your torts food list. That's want my vet told me to give my Russian when I took her to the vet. Just not to feed her a lot of it.
Sweet potatos;
Carrots;
Kale provides the most vitamin A with 15376IU (308% DV) per 100g serving, 10302IU (206% DV) per cup.
It is followed by Turnip Greens (232% DV), Mustard Greens (210% DV), Dandelion Greens (203% DV), Spinach (188% DV), and Collards (133% DV). ;
Dark orange squash has a delicious nutty and sweet flavor. 100 grams baked provides 11155IU (223% DV) of vitamin A, or 22868IU (457% DV) per cup.
The kind of lettuce matters when it comes to vitamin A content. Dark colorful lettuces provide the most vitamin A with Red and Green Leaf lettuces providing 7492IU (150% DV) per 100 gram serving, 2098IU (42% DV) per cup shredded, and 1274IU (25% DV) per leaf. Iceberg only provides 502IU (10% DV) per 100g, 361IU (7% DV) per cup shredded, and 75IU (2% DV) per leaf.
Cantaloupe and other yellow/orange melons are a great source of vitamin A. Cantaloupe provides 3382IU (68% DV) of vitamin A per 100 gram serving. That is 5986IU (120% DV) per cup of mellon balls, or 2334IU (47% DV) in a medium sized wedge.
These are just some suggestions
Sweet potatos;
Carrots;
Kale provides the most vitamin A with 15376IU (308% DV) per 100g serving, 10302IU (206% DV) per cup.
It is followed by Turnip Greens (232% DV), Mustard Greens (210% DV), Dandelion Greens (203% DV), Spinach (188% DV), and Collards (133% DV). ;
Dark orange squash has a delicious nutty and sweet flavor. 100 grams baked provides 11155IU (223% DV) of vitamin A, or 22868IU (457% DV) per cup.
The kind of lettuce matters when it comes to vitamin A content. Dark colorful lettuces provide the most vitamin A with Red and Green Leaf lettuces providing 7492IU (150% DV) per 100 gram serving, 2098IU (42% DV) per cup shredded, and 1274IU (25% DV) per leaf. Iceberg only provides 502IU (10% DV) per 100g, 361IU (7% DV) per cup shredded, and 75IU (2% DV) per leaf.
Cantaloupe and other yellow/orange melons are a great source of vitamin A. Cantaloupe provides 3382IU (68% DV) of vitamin A per 100 gram serving. That is 5986IU (120% DV) per cup of mellon balls, or 2334IU (47% DV) in a medium sized wedge.
These are just some suggestions
Carrots;
Kale provides the most vitamin A with 15376IU (308% DV) per 100g serving, 10302IU (206% DV) per cup.
It is followed by Turnip Greens (232% DV), Mustard Greens (210% DV), Dandelion Greens (203% DV), Spinach (188% DV), and Collards (133% DV). ;
Dark orange squash has a delicious nutty and sweet flavor. 100 grams baked provides 11155IU (223% DV) of vitamin A, or 22868IU (457% DV) per cup.
The kind of lettuce matters when it comes to vitamin A content. Dark colorful lettuces provide the most vitamin A with Red and Green Leaf lettuces providing 7492IU (150% DV) per 100 gram serving, 2098IU (42% DV) per cup shredded, and 1274IU (25% DV) per leaf. Iceberg only provides 502IU (10% DV) per 100g, 361IU (7% DV) per cup shredded, and 75IU (2% DV) per leaf.
Cantaloupe and other yellow/orange melons are a great source of vitamin A. Cantaloupe provides 3382IU (68% DV) of vitamin A per 100 gram serving. That is 5986IU (120% DV) per cup of mellon balls, or 2334IU (47% DV) in a medium sized wedge.
These are just some suggestions
Sweet potatos;
Carrots;
Kale provides the most vitamin A with 15376IU (308% DV) per 100g serving, 10302IU (206% DV) per cup.
It is followed by Turnip Greens (232% DV), Mustard Greens (210% DV), Dandelion Greens (203% DV), Spinach (188% DV), and Collards (133% DV). ;
Dark orange squash has a delicious nutty and sweet flavor. 100 grams baked provides 11155IU (223% DV) of vitamin A, or 22868IU (457% DV) per cup.
The kind of lettuce matters when it comes to vitamin A content. Dark colorful lettuces provide the most vitamin A with Red and Green Leaf lettuces providing 7492IU (150% DV) per 100 gram serving, 2098IU (42% DV) per cup shredded, and 1274IU (25% DV) per leaf. Iceberg only provides 502IU (10% DV) per 100g, 361IU (7% DV) per cup shredded, and 75IU (2% DV) per leaf.
Cantaloupe and other yellow/orange melons are a great source of vitamin A. Cantaloupe provides 3382IU (68% DV) of vitamin A per 100 gram serving. That is 5986IU (120% DV) per cup of mellon balls, or 2334IU (47% DV) in a medium sized wedge.
These are just some suggestions
Yes, you can buy beta carotene / vitamin A drops at most pet stores. You just sprinkle them on the food and the turtle ingests them along with his meal. You can also add a few drops directly to the eyes if the turlte has dry, puffy eyes.
Note: beta carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body. Beta carotene is water-soluble, vitamin A is fat-soluble. So, you can't really overdose on beta carotene, because whatever the body doesn't need just gets excreted in the urine. Vitamin A can be overdose, though. However It's hard to overdose on these drops so they're quite safe. When you hear of vitamin A overdoses, it's usually from injections, not eye drops or food supplements.
Note: beta carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body. Beta carotene is water-soluble, vitamin A is fat-soluble. So, you can't really overdose on beta carotene, because whatever the body doesn't need just gets excreted in the urine. Vitamin A can be overdose, though. However It's hard to overdose on these drops so they're quite safe. When you hear of vitamin A overdoses, it's usually from injections, not eye drops or food supplements.
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My hatchling box turtle has just woken from hibernation with puffy eyes and the newest desert tort also has the dry puffy eyes so I was thinking the drops would be good but I will also add more carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash to their diet.
Thanks guys.
Thanks guys.
One of my Russians had that problem last year. Yeas, use the drops, as well as those foods, plus daily warm carrot baby food baths.
The reason they can come out of hibernation with eyes swollen shut, is that they may not have been brumating deeply enough. If their metabolism was still relatively high, they would've burned through their supply of vitamin A too quickly. Without enough vitamin A, the tear ducts around their eyes get dry, and then their eyes get inflamed and swollen. Respiratory tract infection can also lead to swollen, puffy eyes.
Treat the vitamin A deficiency, as well as any infection or runny nose that may come with it. It's quite treatable at home. If you don't see any improvement after a week, though, take them to the vet, because they might need antibiotic shots at that point.
In the future, you may be able to prevent it by letting them brumate for a shorter time, and/or controlling the temperature more carefully.
The reason they can come out of hibernation with eyes swollen shut, is that they may not have been brumating deeply enough. If their metabolism was still relatively high, they would've burned through their supply of vitamin A too quickly. Without enough vitamin A, the tear ducts around their eyes get dry, and then their eyes get inflamed and swollen. Respiratory tract infection can also lead to swollen, puffy eyes.
Treat the vitamin A deficiency, as well as any infection or runny nose that may come with it. It's quite treatable at home. If you don't see any improvement after a week, though, take them to the vet, because they might need antibiotic shots at that point.
In the future, you may be able to prevent it by letting them brumate for a shorter time, and/or controlling the temperature more carefully.
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I was keeping the temps high to stop them from brumating as they are too small but for some reason moe brumated anyways. Jack and manny didn't and they gained a lot of a weight and size. No clue why moe insisted on sleeping. Either way she is gonna get a special diet to help her gain size.
As for the desert tort I got him extremely malnourished and am just slowly working towards putting weight on him.
As for the desert tort I got him extremely malnourished and am just slowly working towards putting weight on him.
Thalatte said:
Sometimes tortoises try to brumate even if temperatures have not dropped, probably just because day length is shorter and stimulates them to burrow and try to sleep away the "cold" dark months.
We got our WC Russians almost 2 years ago, and the first winter we had them, they both tried to brumate, even though we kept them indoors. I chalk this up to it being their first winter in captivity. If I were to let them try to brumate at room temperature, they would have run out of fat reserves and starved. So, I prepped them for brumation for a couple weeks, and then put them in a refrigerator to brumate from December - March.
After three months, the female came out fine, but the male had the symptoms described above. He also moved around more while in the fridge. It seems he did not fully brumate, even though the female did. Hard to say why, although it could be because the female had more fat reserves than he did. Also could be because he did not have enough space to dig, etc. At any rate, I gave them both beta-carotene and vitamin A supplements, warmth, carrot baby food baths, etc. as described above, and they were both fine.
This winter, thankfully, neither one of them has tried to brumate. It seems they have gotten used to captivity now. Perhaps someday when I keep them outdoors, they will brumate again. But for now, I am happy to overwinter them indoors every year. They're both doing great this year, staying active, and eating like champions everyday.
So, my thought is, it's fine to overwinter tortoises, but sometimes some of them just want to brumate, possibly because they're not used to captivity yet. In that case, I think we should accommodate such individuals, and provide them the best brumating conditions we can (prep them for brumation, and put them in a refrigerator at the right temperature with as much space for them as we can manage). Otherwise, they will just continue to try and brumate at too warm a temperature, and slowly starve to death.
Hopefully next year, your little guy will be content to overwinter instead of try to brumate.
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