Zoo Med’s canned Tropical Fruit Mix-ins are an easy way to add fruit to your box turtle’s diet. They come in five flavors, so you can choose the one your pet likes best. These fruits should not be your pet’s main food, but most boxies just love fruit. So they make a great treat and can also make pelleted foods more interesting to her.
If your turtle’s not eating, they may also encourage him to start. You’ll want to be sure you store the leftovers refrigerated so they will last for several feedings.
Keep reading for more about Zoo Med’s Tropical Fruit Mix-Ins:
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. Sizes and Flavors Ingredients How to Use
. Do Boxies Like It Pros & Cons Where to Buy
Sizes and Flavors of Zoo Med’s Tropical Fruit Mix-Ins
Zoo Med makes five different flavors:
- Papaya
- Red Banana
- Mango
- Papaya and Red Banana
- Mango and Papaya
Not all stores sell every flavor. The most common ones we’ve seen are single-flavor cans of papaya or red banana. We saw mango a little less and the mango/papaya combo not at all. Of course, inventory changes often, so you might find something different today.
All the flavors come in 4-ounce cans.
Ingredients and Analysis
The main ingredient in these cans is fruit. There’s water added for processing, along with vegetable oil, guar gum (a thickener; probably to thicken the sauce) and potassium chloride.
It’s low in protein (0.2% to 0.4%, depending on flavor), fat (0.1% to 0.4%) and fiber (0.6% to 0.7%). But that’s to be expected. Fruit is not particularly high in any of these.
It’s also up to 92% moisture. Again this percentage varies some (83% to 92%) depending on the flavor.
This product is not intended to be a major part of your turtle’s diet, so the nutrient values aren’t that important. We’re including them only so you can see for yourself that your turtle needs other foods, even if he prefers fruits.
How to Use Zoo Med’s Tropical Fruit
In general, fruit should be around 10% (and not more than about 20%) of your box turtle’s total diet. So for most feedings you’ll mix just a little into other foods. The fruit is in sauce, so it makes a good choice for moistening pelleted foods, like Zoo Med’s Natural Food for Box Turtles or Rep-Cal’s Box Turtle Food.
Of course, you can mix it with other fresh foods, like greens and meat, too.
You can leave it in whole chunks or mash it, depending on what your pet prefers. Zoo Med does recommend mashing for babies and other small animals.
If you only have one or two box turtles, you’ll have leftovers. Store them refrigerated to keep them fresh. Dog and cat food can covers will fit on these as well. Or Zoo Med makes canned food covers. They come in packs of two.
Do Box Turtles Like Canned Fruit?
Most box turtles love fruit of all kinds! Of course, that doesn’t mean yours will, but it’s likely. And even if she doesn’t like one flavor, she might love another. If you’re interested in using these, you might have to experiment.
Reviewers generally have good things to say, too. Pretty much all their reptiles, from sugar gliders to yes, box turtles, eat it up every time.
Pros and Cons Summary
There’s not really much to say here. You and your boxie will either love it or not. It’s more a matter of preference (yours and his) than any pros or cons associated with the product itself!
Pros:
- Convenient
- Box turtles love it
- May encourage reluctant animal to eat
Cons:
- Leftovers must be stored properly (refrigerated)
- Need to find or buy lids (not really much of a con 🙂 )
Overall, this is a great addition to your pet’s diet. Just remember it should be only a small part of his overall diet.
Check Price & Availability
Most stores have at least two flavors available. If you want a different one from the one linked, just search for that flavor. PetSmart has a drop-down list that lets you choose your flavor.
As of this writing:
- As of this writing, PetSmart sells only the Papaya flavor
- Papaya, red banana, papaya/red banana and mango were available on Amazon.
- Buy.com (Rakuten shopping) had the papaya/red banana and mango flavors.