food freshness

[animallover77]

Hi- I was wondering about food freshness and stability. I just ordered a 20 oz. container of Zoo Med turtle/tortoise food. I didn't notice that it was moist pelleted instead of dry like I thought until I sent the order. Does anyone have experience with this food? How well does it keep?? I assume that once I open it , it will need to be refridgerated. I got this food for a hatchling eastern box turtle, I'm afraid I just wasted 10 bucks because it wont last as long as it will take my baby to eat it all. What should I try to get a smaller supply instead or will it be ok??? HELP!

[wizzasmum]

Hi
I would throw it away anyway. Pre prepared turtle or tortoise food is a waste of money as it promotes rapid growth, resulting in sick turtles. Anyone wishing to see pics of tortoises or turtles reared on this stuff can email me privately for pics. The dried stuff is particularly bad for the kidneys too. You would do far better to give your turtle a balanced diet of fruit and veg and supplement it with meal worms or worms/slugs/snails you have removed from your garden. If you think this is gross just remember it is what they would eat if they were in the wild. Hope this helps :-)

[animallover77]

I have been advised by several turtle owners I know that feeding the pre-prepared food as a primary diet along with fresh fruits and veggies is best. That it can be more balanced diet(especially for picky turtles). I've never heard that they were so damaging.

[wizzasmum]

Hi
Basically it is just a convenience food, a bit like letting your kids live on chocolate and sweets. They love it and it's addictive, but once fed it is not easy to wean them onto the correct diet. If at all possible it is always far superior to feed as natural diet as you can. Think of it this way, tortoises and turtles have been getting it right for thousands of years with the help of mother nature alone, we have been getting it wrong for far less than this. There are literally thousands of chelonia every year in our vets with nutritional problems, most caused by feeding too high a protein diet or convenience foods.
I cannot seem to upload attachments to this site so I will add the url of the site concerned.
Hope this helps

[wizzasmum]

Hi Again animal lover
I have found the link I was talking about regarding dietry problems. If you go to http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/webdiet.htm you will see actual examples of tortoises and turtles raised on poor diets. If you scroll a fair way down the page you will see a particularly bad example of a box turtle. Take a look at an illustration of a normal specimen in the wild and see if your turtle looks like this. If the answer is no i.e. it is starting to get a lumpy appearance or its shell looks thickened, or it's body looks too big for its shell, then it may be a good idea to look at what you are feeding it. Only yesterday I picked up four hermanni 2 year old from an owner who loved his tortoises but could no longer care for them. Nothing would make this owner believe that he had fed these animals incorrectly and yet they were the size of 6 year old and had pyrammided shells. Too late to stop the lumpy shells, but hopefully not too late to save them due to their your age. Take a look anyway, I hope you are not too shocked.
Take care

[animallover77]

oh I'm well aware of pyramidding and poor diet effects. I never planned on feeding only pre-prepared food, just as an addition to fresh fruits,veggies, and live food. my hatchling is in perfect health, normal size/number scutes, healthy shell, plastron, beak, bright shiny eyes. A lot of turtles owners I know use it to guarentee that their turtles proper nutrition, while using veggies, fruits and such as supplements and treats. I'e also heard that freezing fresh food intended for turtles lowers its nutrient value. Freezing is the only way I see feasible for me to give my turtle fresh food. he's just one little hatchling and I can keep things fresh in a fridge for him because he eats such a small amount relative to the veggies and fruit. How do you prepare your turtle's food?

[wizzasmum]

Hi
I have 4 horsfield tortoises and 15 hermanni rescues at home at the moment and feed all of them nothing but fresh wild food, Occasionally if for one reason or another I can't hibernate any then they get organic food from the greengrocers during the winter. I never feed any of the cabbage family, spinach, fruits, cucumber or iceberg lettuce, just different varieties of lettuce (mainly romane), watercress and the odd grated carrot supplememnted with nutrobal and a daily dusting of limestone flour. Obviously being herbivores I don't have the problem of finding them fresh meat, but as you say there is never a shortage for just one little hatchling :-)
Take care

[wizzasmum]

Oops! I meant to say that many chelonia end up at vets with nutritional problems each year - not at my vets. I doubt he sees many in a year at all<g>