Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle food and Ethoxyquin

[Sassamo]

Yesterday I went looking for different kinds of turtle foods, I found wardly, repto-min, hagen and the HBH food that came with my turtle. HBH is the only food that did not contain the perservitive Ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is banned for use in human foods, since it is a known cancer causing chemical, the only products that are allowed too have it in is spices to perserve the color, the percentage of use can not be higher then 0.01%ppm. It has also been known to build up in the liver and is fatal too fish, yet it is in most fish foods available.
Ethoxyquin was made to stablize rubber and soon became a pesticide. Then made it's way into pet foods.
I for one will not feed any of my pets food that contains this chemical, hopfully it is not as harmful too our turtles as it is too other pets. I just thought I'd give everyone a heads up about it.

[BullDog]

Wow! That's very interesting! I wonder if it's regulated in pet food (ie less than x%)

[spaceapple]

Hm...that's kind of disconcerting. Maybe turtles are immune to its carcinogenic effects?

[Raphulk]

i personally use hbh turtle bites as well. so good haha
but im pretty sure that if reputable brands like repto-min are safe, they have been used for so long and are recommended so highly.

but, again i have no idea haha

[chrisinva]

I sure also hope it's safe...

[Squishy]

My bottle of food from Hagen doesn't mention ethoxyquin (Ethoxyquin?) anywhere.

[marisa]

Ethoxyquin is/has been used as a preservative and it's safeness has been questioned for a while now. Most turtle pellets contain it or some other substance to increase the shelf life of pellets, and I imagine if HBH doesn't contain it, another preservative is taking its place. Unease over it makes a good case for increasing the fresh foods in a turtle's diet and not relying too heavily on pellets.

[Sassamo]

Wow! That's very interesting! I wonder if it's regulated in pet food (ie less than x%)

They are currently trying to regulate it in dog foods now, so hopefully they look at other pets as well.

Marisa you make a wonderful point, that maybe a pelleted diet is not the best choice. In fact comercial food is not really the best choice for any animal. Their diets should really represent what they would normally eat in the wild. I try too give my other pets what they eat in the wild, like my rabbits diet is hay, veggies and small amounts of pellets, my dog eats alot of raw meat, my mice have mix of different seeds and human food products ect.

[marisa]

The vet I took one of my painteds to last year was really pretty negative about a diet that relies too heavily on pellets (she did concede that it was convenient for the keeper, though). I do use pellets for my RES and eastern painteds, though, mainly for that very reason (I try to use several brands and rotate them them) but I really try to include a good amount of fresh foods as well. I've been caring for a NA wood turtle for a few months, though, and he's never had any pellets (I don't think he'd know what to do with them if they were placed in front of him). He's been living on worms, slugs, bugs, berries, pinky mice, the occasional piece of cooked chicken and whatever else I can think of to give him. He seems to be doing just fine without the pellets.

I was talking to a dog owner a few days ago who's dog was having health problems. She put him on something called the Bravo diet (all raw foods, I think) and says he's been doing fine ever since.

I don't know how you can completely avoid preservatives, all you can really do is balance out the diet with other foods.