Jessica Yue
Member
I just saw this picture in a Facebook tortoise group. Anyone knows if it is true?
thanks!
thanks!
Is Zoo Med tortoise food bad for tortoise?
- Thread starter Jessica Yue
- Start date
Herman_WA
Active Member
Well I actually own this food in a slightly bigger quantity. I even asked if it was ok for my tort too. At least I think it's the same stuff. They said it's great stuff it just might take a bit of time for your tort to get used to it.
if I am wrong, please correct me.
I posted a pic of the ingredients below and the label.
Now that I am reading the ingredients closer, it does say it has garlic extract, and all the other you listed.
I actually don't know, I'll let the experts take this one.
Sorry the pics are blurry, could not get my camera to focus correctly. Hope you can read them.
if I am wrong, please correct me.
I posted a pic of the ingredients below and the label.
Now that I am reading the ingredients closer, it does say it has garlic extract, and all the other you listed.
I actually don't know, I'll let the experts take this one.
Sorry the pics are blurry, could not get my camera to focus correctly. Hope you can read them.
Jessica Yue
Member
I checked my Mazuri ingredients. It indeed also has yeast and cintric acid. But it doesn't have juniper and China cassia bark. I also checked Juniper in tortoise table and it is indeed toxic to tortoise.
But I do like zoo med tortoise food for its high fiber. I may still feed but less amount. Maybe once per 1-2 weeks
Jessica Yue
Member
Since both Mazuri and zoo med have yeast and cintrinc acid, I guess they are something required or byproduct to make the pellets? Not sure. For China cassia bark, Garlic and Juniper, I don't know. They are obviously some plant extracts and should be easily removed from the food. I think zoo med is a big company about reptile stuff. It should have its own scientists and they may have a different understanding of those things.
Mazuri and zoo med are both exceptional supplemental food source for tortoises. Mazuri is more easily accepted by most torts but zoo med has been shown to be nutritionally better but you have work on getting torts to accept.
I agree with method89. Both are great supplemental foods. I use both types of Mazuri and both type of ZooMed pellets. My tortoises get each type about once a week, mixed in with a base of greens and assorted other food items.
Pastel Tortie
Well-Known Member
For what it's worth, juniper leaves are a natural food of Kinosternon baurii, the three-striped mud turtle, in Florida. Natural, as in they eat it all on their own in nature, with nobody feeding it to them.
That was a surprise to me when I first read it in Turtles of the United States and Canada (1994), but there are other references online if you search for "Kinosternon baurii juniper".
K. baurii are omnivorous, and they are certainly not grassland tortoises. Still, I don't think juniper listed as one of many ingredients would be anything to worry about.
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This reminds me of the copper issue.
Copper is extremely toxic to tropical fish like we keep in our aquariums, to the point that some people who still have copper pipes in the house cannot use tap water.
Yet most if not all fish food has copper in it, because it is a metal needed by fish in their diets, like zinc and iron.
I guess it all comes down to too much of a good thing is bad.
Copper is extremely toxic to tropical fish like we keep in our aquariums, to the point that some people who still have copper pipes in the house cannot use tap water.
Yet most if not all fish food has copper in it, because it is a metal needed by fish in their diets, like zinc and iron.
I guess it all comes down to too much of a good thing is bad.
