Turtles and their dietary preferences can be very strange, sometimes turtles will eat everything that is in front of them (even if they shouldn’t), and other times they will become some of the pickiest eaters in the world. But how do they feel about cabbage?
Can turtles eat cabbage? Yes, turtles can eat cabbage, but not too much. Like most vegetables, cabbage contains phosphorus, which can be harmful to turtles in high quantities.
So cabbage is ok for turtles, but too much can be harmful. But how much is too much? To find out the answer we must look at the calcium: phosphorus ratio.
The Calcium Phosphorus Ratio
Almost all vegetables contain calcium and phosphorus. And as a result, most of them have a calcium to phosphorus ratio. So let’s take a look at what calcium does for turtles, what phosphorus does for them, and what is good calcium to phosphorus ratio.
Calcium is essential for every animal in this world that has bones. And since the shell of a turtle is made out of bones, calcium is even more important for turtles than for any other animal. Vegetables are one of the main sources of calcium that a turtle has, so making sure that you feed them vegetables with high amounts of calcium is important.
For humans phosphorus is a very important mineral that helps filter waste, repair tissue and cells, etc. But for turtles phosphorus is not that great. Phosphorus is what gives turtle shells a little flexibility, which is great because this little extra flexibility makes them more resistant to bites and other types of impact. But too much phosphorus can also make the shell a lot softer, and as a result much weaker when it comes to defending the turtle from predators.
In short, we can say that calcium is great for turtles and phosphorus is not so great for turtles in high quantities.
Most vegetables have a calcium to phosphorus ratio, this ratio can be 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 1:2, etc.
A 1:1 ratio means that the amount of calcium is equal, or almost equal to the amount of phosphorus. So a vegetable with this ratio is not that great for turtles, but it’s not harmful either. But if possible such a vegetable should be avoided.
A 1:2 calcium to phosphorus ratio is really bad, there are not many vegetables with this ratio, so don’t worry too much about them. Just remember that if a vegetable has more potassium than calcium you should keep it away from your turtle.
A 2:1 ratio is great, and this is what you should be aiming for, if the ratio goes higher it’s ok, but ideally this is the ratio that you are looking for.
Cabbage has a 2:1 ratio, so it’s good for turtles in moderate quantities. And here is a list of some of the most common vegetables and their Calcium to Phosphorus ratio:
| Collards | 14.5:1 |
| Spinach, Mustard | 7.5:1 |
| Turnip Greens | 4.5:1 |
| Lambsquarters | 4.3:1 |
| Dill Weed | 3.2:1 |
| Beet Greens | 3.0:1 |
| Dandelion Greens | 2.8:1 |
| Chinese Cabbage (pak-choi) | 2.8:1 |
| Lettuce, Loose leaf | 2.7:1 |
| Mustard Greens | 2.4:1 |
| Parsley | 2.4:1 |
| Kale | 2.4:1 |
| Chicory Greens | 2.1:1 |
| Spinach | 2.0:1 |
| Watercress | 2.0:1 |
| Cabbage | 2.0:1 |
| Endive (Escarole) | 1.9:1 |
| Celery | 1.6:1 |
| Purslane | 1.5:1 |
| Cilantro | 1.4:1 |
| Lettuce, Butterhead (Boston, Bibb) | 1.4:1 |
| Okra | 1.3:1 |
| Swiss Chard | 1.1:1 |
| Turnip | 1.1:1 |
| Squash (Winter, all varieties) | 1.0:1 |
| Green Beans | 1.0:1 |
| Lettuce, Romaine | 0.8:1 |
| Sweet Potato | 0.8:1 |
| Rutabaga | 0.8:1 |
| Broccoli | 0.7:1 |
| Cucumber (with skin) | 0.7:1 |
| Endive, Belgian (Witloof Chicory) | 0.7:1 |
| Carrots | 0.6:1 |
| Squash (Summer, all varieties) | 0.6:1 |
| Brussels Sprouts | 0.6:1 |
| Cauliflower | 0.5:1 |
| Kohlrabi | 0.5:1 |
| Pumpkin | 0.5:1 |
| Alfalfa Sprouts | 0.5:1 |
| Parsnips | 0.5:1 |
| Peppers, Green | 0.5:1 |
| Peppers, Red | 0.5:1 |
| Sweet Potato Leaves | 0.4:1 |
| Beets | 0.4:1 |
| Asparagus | 0.4:1 |
| Tomato | 0.2:1 |
| Corn, White | 0.02:1 |
With the help of this table, you should be able to get a general idea of what vegetables you should feed your turtle.
Another short thing that I want to cover in this article is what to do if your turtle doesn’t eat the vegetables, this can happen a lot, especially if they are babies, juveniles or if they are just not used to eating them.
What to Do If Your Turtle Doesn’t Eat CAbbage
The first thing that you have to do is to determine the cause. And there are two possibilities.
The first possibility is that you got your turtle used to eating only meat, pellets, and similar things, and now it doesn’t want to eat anything else. But fortunately, this is a common problem that has a simple situation. You just have to stop feeding your turtle so much meat and pellets, and start giving it cabbage as well. Start by reducing the amount of food that you give it and replacing it with vegetables. If it still doesn’t eat, replace more of its food with vegetables.
Do this until it starts eating the cabbage. Don’t worry about starving your turtle, in the wild they are used to going for entire months without food, and you are not taking all the food away, you are still giving it the possibility to eat a lot of food. The only reason it doesn’t eat is that it’s used to other types of food, that is not as healthy, but a lot tastier.
After a couple of weeks or a month of using this method, your turtle will start eating vegetables soon enough, and in the end, it will also start to enjoy some of them.
The second possibility is that your turtle is too young. It’s not uncommon for baby and juvenile turtles to not eat cabbage or other vegetables. When they are at those life stages they are growing a lot faster than adult turtles, and to grow this fast they need a lot of protein that they get from meat. So eating vegetables or anything else won’t do them any good. If your turtle is you then it’s perfectly normal that it won’t eat vegetables. Just wait until it reaches maturity, then you can try again to feed it vegetables.
If you are not sure how old your turtle is, then read this article: How Long do Turtles Live? there you will find a few methods that will help you approximate the age of your turtle.
Conclusion
So turtles will normally eat cabbage, as well as other vegetables. Just be careful not to give your turtle too much cabbage since it can be bad if consumed in excess.
I hope this article answered all your questions, but in case you have any questions left you can always leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.
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