On another thread, the person asked if he/she could give their baby leopard fruit. My thought on this was NO and I said so.
My reasoning was because I had read about the "bloom" of things, not good things, in the stomach when tortoises are stressed and fruit sugars can trigger this bloom.
I see it like parvo with puppies that are taken from their mother before they have been able to build up enough good flora/good bacteria, they get an attack of the bad, have no defense and can die if not treated. Some holistic methods for parvo involve probiotics and herb combinations that increase the good gut flora and boost the immune system.
When I read about hatchling failure syndrome, I always wonder if the baby had been fed fruits and the sugars triggered a bloom, and, well ... boom. Dead.
I do know, from reading here, that they get renal failure since the kidneys also regulate calcium metabolism and when kidneys fail calcium has to come from bone and this calcium taken at all costs makes the shell soft. That is why oxalic acid foods are especially not good for babies also, right? And keeping them hydrated, of course, eases stress on those little kidneys. Which is why warm and humid is good thing. Again, amateur just thinking out loud here.
So I wonder, and would like your thoughts. Could fruit sugars cause a toxic bloom reaction and kill a baby tortoises? No one has asked after the fact if they gave their babies fruit as part of their diet? And I suppose we have never asked if they ate high oxalic acid foods for that matter.
I ask because it is so heart breaking to read the my baby died out of nowhere posts and perhaps this is another tortoise keeping consideration, especially for inexperienced keepers. Thank you in advance.
My reasoning was because I had read about the "bloom" of things, not good things, in the stomach when tortoises are stressed and fruit sugars can trigger this bloom.
I see it like parvo with puppies that are taken from their mother before they have been able to build up enough good flora/good bacteria, they get an attack of the bad, have no defense and can die if not treated. Some holistic methods for parvo involve probiotics and herb combinations that increase the good gut flora and boost the immune system.
When I read about hatchling failure syndrome, I always wonder if the baby had been fed fruits and the sugars triggered a bloom, and, well ... boom. Dead.
I do know, from reading here, that they get renal failure since the kidneys also regulate calcium metabolism and when kidneys fail calcium has to come from bone and this calcium taken at all costs makes the shell soft. That is why oxalic acid foods are especially not good for babies also, right? And keeping them hydrated, of course, eases stress on those little kidneys. Which is why warm and humid is good thing. Again, amateur just thinking out loud here.
So I wonder, and would like your thoughts. Could fruit sugars cause a toxic bloom reaction and kill a baby tortoises? No one has asked after the fact if they gave their babies fruit as part of their diet? And I suppose we have never asked if they ate high oxalic acid foods for that matter.
I ask because it is so heart breaking to read the my baby died out of nowhere posts and perhaps this is another tortoise keeping consideration, especially for inexperienced keepers. Thank you in advance.