Is it good to feed the tortoise by carrot?

qiangzhu

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I was in a vacation trip for 2 weeks and let my friends to take care of my tortoises. It looks he fed the tortoise a lot of carrots during my absence. I remember I read an article before that feeding carrots to tortoise may have some problem but don't remember the details

Thanks a lot
 

KarenSoCal

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I was in a vacation trip for 2 weeks and let my friends to take care of my tortoises. It looks he fed the tortoise a lot of carrots during my absence. I remember I read an article before that feeding carrots to tortoise may have some problem but don't remember the details

Thanks a lot

I don't recall what kind of tortoise you have, which does make some difference.
But the general rule of thumb is that torts should NOT be fed carrots. Carrots contain a lot of sugar. Tortoises in general do not have the ability to process sugars, so this messes up the balance in the gut. End result is diarrhea, a stomach ache, and a sick tort. If this happened a few days ago and you've seen no evidence of illness, maybe you dodged a bullet this time.

The only other thing I've seen about them is to make sure you cut them small. There was a post a while back that someone cut carrots into longish lengths, and a Galapagos tort choked on it and died right in front of his keeper. Heartbreaking!
 
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qiangzhu

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I don't recall what kind of tortoise you have, which does make some difference.
But the general rule of thumb is that torts should NOT be fed carrots. Carrots contain a lot of sugar. Tortoises in general do not have the ability to process sugars, so this messes up the balance in the gut. End result is diarrhea, a stomach ache, and a sick tort. If this happened a few days ago and you've seen no evidence of illness, maybe you dodged a bullet this time.

The only other thing I've seen about them is to make sure you cut them small. There was a post a while back that someone cut carrots into longish lengths, and a Galapagos tort choked on it and died right in front of his keeper. Heartbreaking!
Thanks

I had a Sulcata and a radiated tortoise. I soaked them just now and they both look pooping normally. When I fed them, I provided a lot of fiber so maybe it helps this time. I will continue to monitor them.
 

Tim Carlisle

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Carrots are generally not recommended for sulcatas because they are high in oxalic acid. Once in a while is fine. The tops of carrots are fine in small quantities.
 

Yvonne G

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I was in a vacation trip for 2 weeks and let my friends to take care of my tortoises. It looks he fed the tortoise a lot of carrots during my absence. I remember I read an article before that feeding carrots to tortoise may have some problem but don't remember the details

Thanks a lot
Carrots contain a lot of sugar, but besides that, there have been instances of tortoises choking to death because a bite of carrot got stuck in their throat. If one must feed carrots to tortoises it's best to peel off slices of carrot with a peeler instead of feeding it whole.
 

Gillian M

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Carrots contain a lot of sugar, but besides that, there have been instances of tortoises choking to death because a bite of carrot got stuck in their throat. If one must feed carrots to tortoises it's best to peel off slices of carrot with a peeler instead of feeding it whole.
What about cooked (ie boiled) carrots?
 

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