Hermann Tortoises

Question
Can Hermann Torts eat cooked cabbage and cauli, because mine won't eat them raw

Answer
Hi Karen, The two chemical elements in greens that you have to keep in mind are oxalates which bind dietary calicium and goitrogens which can interfer with thyroid levels if fed in high quantities. Cabbage and cauli are both quite low in oxalates, only .10 grams of oxalates/100grams cabbage and .15 grams ox/ 100 grams cauli. To give you some perspective chicory has .21 grams and collards have .45 grams/ 100grams So oxalate levels and calicium binding are not a real concern with these two veg.

Both of these are in the cabbage family which means that the goitrogen levels are fairly high (collard and kale are also in this family). Feeding a large amount of greens from this family can lead to thyroid problems.

Now to get to your question (finally!), boiling greens actually reduces the goitrogen levels (and the oxalate levels). Otherwise, there is only a slight difference in the nutrient levels between boiled and raw cabbage and cauli according to the USDA nutrient level database. Some nutrients like calcium are higher in boiled then in raw. If he prefers boiled, it may actually be better then raw in this case. I wouldn't make a staple of it but certainly you can include it in the mix without worry.

This is the list for the oxalate levels of various veg from the USDA site.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9444


This is the link for the U.S Dept. of Agriculture Nutrient database. It has a search function and is full of information.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/