Honey to treat tortoise injuries

[innocent]

I ran across some info on honey (and wax) being used to treat sea turtles that were injured, there are many articles about it (i think about the same turtles mostly). As a beekeeper and tortoise keeper this really sparked some interest with me. There was a great thread about it here back in 2011 https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/honey-the-natural-miracle-for-chelonia-wound-care.36278/ but most links are broken now. With this being known about for so long it surprises me that it hasn't become more common to put honey on injuries both here on the forum and on the internet in general. After what information I came across I feel confident I would use honey on one of my torts if it ever sustained a injury but I of course hope to never need this.
Tons of articles about honey on sea turtles.

Vet uses honey to repair turtle's shell

Thanks to some common household items, a sea turtle's shell is all better.

www.wtsp.com

Brevard Zoo

Wildlife Conservation through Education and Participation

brevardzoo.org

I often read about people here on the forum needing medical advice and don't remember ever seeing honey (raw unfiltered) being recommended. The usual standard store bought medications are talked about only. After the reading I have done on honey as treatment I will be using it on myself and any animals in my care. There is a ton of info of it being a super fast, safe and scar reducing treatment.

I found very little to zero info on honey being used on tortoises specifically and one thing I will be very cautious about if I use this treatment is not to leave honey on a animal outside. Bees may come in great numbers to take the honey. There are scientific articles about desert tortoises sharing their burrows with Africanized honey bees but I will avoid the chance of hundreds of bees on my torts shell while being injured.

There was also some info I came across about adding a small amount of honey very periodically to a tortoise diet for health benefits. Mazuri for example I think uses molasses to make it into pellets. As far as feeding honey it seemed to have no scientific backing and I will not experiment with it although if a tort accidentally ingested some I will not become alarmed.

Any one else use honey on animals? Has this worked for anyone?

 

[TammyJ]

Not acquainted with it in this context for application to wounds on tortoises, but I am acquainted with its attracting ANTS.

 

[Yvonne G]

The folks on our sister Forums, geckoforums.net and beardeddragonforum.com are always telling people to use honey on injuries.

 

[jsheffield]

I've used Manuka Honey to treat wounds on humans, dogs, and tortoises, and found it effective in preventing/defeating infections and in supporting the body's healing process.

Manuka honey comes from Australia and New Zealand and is made by bees that pollinate the tea tree bush.

Manuka Honey: Medicinal Uses, Benefits, and Side Effects

Manuka honey from New Zealand is touted as having antibacterial properties. We discuss the possible medicinal uses of manuka honey.

www.webmd.com

I think I'd only use it with animals living primarily inside, for fear of ants or yellow-jackets harassing them.

Jamie

 

[SuzanneZ]

Thank you for this. I forgot about the extra honey benefit. Drug companies would want to quash this information and I imagine they've already done so over the years.

 

[Ink]

I use manuka honey on my dogs and family members. It works good. My tortoise nor turtle ever had an injury, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on them.

 

[Tom]

I ran across some info on honey (and wax) being used to treat sea turtles that were injured, there are many articles about it (i think about the same turtles mostly). As a beekeeper and tortoise keeper this really sparked some interest with me. There was a great thread about it here back in 2011 https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/honey-the-natural-miracle-for-chelonia-wound-care.36278/ but most links are broken now. With this being known about for so long it surprises me that it hasn't become more common to put honey on injuries both here on the forum and on the internet in general. After what information I came across I feel confident I would use honey on one of my torts if it ever sustained a injury but I of course hope to never need this.
Tons of articles about honey on sea turtles.

Vet uses honey to repair turtle's shell

Thanks to some common household items, a sea turtle's shell is all better.

www.wtsp.com

Brevard Zoo

Wildlife Conservation through Education and Participation

brevardzoo.org

I often read about people here on the forum needing medical advice and don't remember ever seeing honey (raw unfiltered) being recommended. The usual standard store bought medications are talked about only. After the reading I have done on honey as treatment I will be using it on myself and any animals in my care. There is a ton of info of it being a super fast, safe and scar reducing treatment.

I found very little to zero info on honey being used on tortoises specifically and one thing I will be very cautious about if I use this treatment is not to leave honey on a animal outside. Bees may come in great numbers to take the honey. There are scientific articles about desert tortoises sharing their burrows with Africanized honey bees but I will avoid the chance of hundreds of bees on my torts shell while being injured.

There was also some info I came across about adding a small amount of honey very periodically to a tortoise diet for health benefits. Mazuri for example I think uses molasses to make it into pellets. As far as feeding honey it seemed to have no scientific backing and I will not experiment with it although if a tort accidentally ingested some I will not become alarmed.

Any one else use honey on animals? Has this worked for anyone?

The reasons I don't use it on tortoises are:
1. It makes a sticky mess all over everything.
2. My tortoises live outside on dirt, and the honey just makes a mess on them and everything they rub up against..
3. Ants. Seriously. I just lost a second tortoise to this over the summer. Devastating. Lost a Russian to ants 10 years ago.
4. Bees. In a dearth my colonies smell honey a mile away. I put the robber screens on in June and have not taken them off yet. Like you said, I don't want bees mobbing my tortoise.

I prefer to use Vetricyn spray gel. That stuff is like magic and doesn't have any of the above problems.

All that honey belongs in my belly! I'm overwintering 6 large healthy colonies this year and intend to split them all in spring before the nectar flow is on. I want to see how much honey I can produce. I got 8 gallons from two hives last year, but they were both brand new nucs. I also learned some checker boarding and rotating techniques for the supers, so that should make it even more. A guy in TN was pulling 120-160+ pounds from each hive. I don't know if our area can produce anywhere near that much, but time will tell...

I wouldn't feed honey to a tortoise because of the sugars. It would wreak havoc on their GI tract except for the fruit eating species. I might give some to a RF, but I don't think it would really do anything.

BTW, I LOOOOOOVVVVE honey. Always have. Its my primary reason for beekeeping.

 

[innocent]

The reasons I don't use it on tortoises are:
1. It makes a sticky mess all over everything.
2. My tortoises live outside on dirt, and the honey just makes a mess on them and everything they rub up against..
3. Ants. Seriously. I just lost a second tortoise to this over the summer. Devastating. Lost a Russian to ants 10 years ago.
4. Bees. In a dearth my colonies smell honey a mile away. I put the robber screens on in June and have not taken them off yet. Like you said, I don't want bees mobbing my tortoise.

I prefer to use Vetricyn spray gel. That stuff is like magic and doesn't have any of the above problems.

All that honey belongs in my belly! I'm overwintering 6 large healthy colonies this year and intend to split them all in spring before the nectar flow is on. I want to see how much honey I can produce. I got 8 gallons from two hives last year, but they were both brand new nucs. I also learned some checker boarding and rotating techniques for the supers, so that should make it even more. A guy in TN was pulling 120-160+ pounds from each hive. I don't know if our area can produce anywhere near that much, but time will tell...

I wouldn't feed honey to a tortoise because of the sugars. It would wreak havoc on their GI tract except for the fruit eating species. I might give some to a RF, but I don't think it would really do anything.

BTW, I LOOOOOOVVVVE honey. Always have. Its my primary reason for beekeeping.

The honey treatment on outdoor treatment may cause too many problems. It is something to put in the toolbox though.

As far as beekeeping goes I am overwintering three strong colonies. I want to take just a small split of capped brood and the queen and put in a nuc from each colony. Then push the three large colonies with the new queens into honey production and split the the other three at least once more. Hopefully if everything works out I will be overwintering next year 6 full colonies and 3 or more nukes. I am pretty sure I can keep between 10 and 20 hives on my property and the forage will be adequate without looking for a bee yard elsewhere. I'm torn as to purchase queens or use the ones I breed here. The africanized honey bees are always a concern. But I have been lucky with my origional queens daughters so far and it is cheaper using them.
I enjoy beekeeping and the honey. I really have no good reason to grow much larger but I just keep making plans and getting equipment lol.
Bee keeping is such a very local thing I am not sure what each hive can bring in elsewhere but I can get 30 to 60 lbs each here but it is very weather (rain) dependant and also based on how much I leave for winter.