Should I soak my tortoise in carrot juice ? Myth-Busters: Episode 11 (and why AI can be bad for your tortoise's health)

Giant tortoises soak in a natural pond - but should it be carrot juice?

Carrot juice soaks are often suggested on pet-keeper groups.

It is frankly bizarre that such a question even arises, but it does, regularly. We'll get the easy part out of the way right up front: No. Absolutely not. You would think that this would be obvious, but sadly not.

As usual we will start by reviewing what various pet-keeping forums and social media groups that routinely advise this strange practice have to say on the topic. There are also (predictably) quite a few videos advising this to be found on YouTube and TikTok.

• "With tortoises or turtles that have stopped eating, the swollen eyes are almost always because of a vitamin A deficiency"

  
  

• "The main function of a carrot juice bath is to get vitamin A into a turtle or tortoise that isn't eating"

  
  

• "They can soak up vitamin-A through the skin. They do not need to drink it"

• "A sick tortoise may not eat but they still usually drink even if they're not drinking they still absorb small amounts through the cloaca"

• "Sweet potatoes are good too"

• "Vitamin-A is completely safe so there is no need to worry about overdosing"

Taking these claims in turn:

• Swollen eyes in tortoises and turtles can have many causes, from local irritation to bacterial infections. These require prompt professional, expert diagnosis, not wild guesswork or 'folk remedies' .which lose precious time. Despite popular belief, vitamin-A deficiency is certainly not the most common cause. We believe that this idea dates back to the 1950's and early 1960's when hundreds of thousands of baby Red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) were sold every year with totally unsuitable housing and with grossly deficient pellet diets: needless to say, most died within a few months from a combination of nutritional deficiencies and pneumonia. Veterinary knowledge in those days was quite limited, and the typical recommendation was for a vitamin-A injection or vitamin=A eye drops. Once ideas like this 'take hold' in the popular consiousness changing them is never easy. The most common causes now, in our experience, are bacterial infections followed by poor environmental maintenance. The latter is very common indeed, especially in species from moist habitats, such as box turtles or humid habitat tropical species where if they are kept too dry the eyes will remain closed and may swell. In this latter case, simply soaking for an extended period in tepid, clean water may be all they need (in combination with correcting the environment). Even arid habitat species can develop such symptoms if 'baked' for extended periods under damaging artificial heat sources, such as basking lamps or exposed to poorly designed or defective UV-B lamps (this condition is known as photokeratitis). Other frequent causes of swollen eyes include kidney disease or severe calcium deficiencies. Automatically assuming that all, or even most, cases derive from a vitamin-A deficiency is a serious mistake that will inevitably cause delay in identifying the real cause and can lead to irreparable damage, pain, distress and even death. Unfortunately, online 'AI' advice tends to be extremely misleading here too, as it often suggests correcting the assumed vitamin-A deficiency by "feeding the tortoise carrots". This would be an additional serious error in the case of typical arid habitat species, as carrots are far too high in carbohydrates mostly in the form of sugars and can cause severe gastric disruption. They will also contribute to Metabolic Bone Disease over time (they are rich in phosphorus but very poor in calcium with an average inverse ratio of 1:0.6). Beware of AI generated advice. It might sound convincing and authoritative, but it often gets critical details wrong.

• If the "main function" of carrot-juice bath is "to get vitamin-A into a tortoise" then it is destined to fail. Only absolutely minimal amounts could possibly be received by such a route. The levels would be so low as to be utterly irrelevant. If an animal was really deficient in Vitamin-A then corrective doses would be required and these would far surpass anything that could realistically be obtained by soaking in carrot juice where only very, very small quantities would be received orally. There are, as usual, anecdotal claims of near 'miracle cures' with this practice, but as always, it is critical to reliably separate cause and effect, We suspect many such 'miracles' would have ocurred had a simple plain water soak been used (swollen eyes often do repond positively to this). Others could be mere coincidence. They are certainly not due to absorbing vitamin-A from carrot juice.

• On that topic, is often claimed that "tortoises can soak up vitamin-A through the skin". Human skin can indeed absorb small amounts of vitamin-A via this route (which is why many cosmetic products include it), but reptile skin, scales and scutes are completely different and are highly resistant to the passage of fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamin-A. It is important to note that similar claims that they "can drink or rehydrate through the skin" are also false and misleading. The skin of tortoises is highly impermeable and protective and that entire purpose would be defeated if it allowed fluids to pass through easily. Unfortunately anyone relying on claims such as these could be depriving a genuinely deficient tortoise of effective treatment, while doing nothing useful at all to help a tortoise suffering from dehydration. False information such as this (and the advice based upon it) can have very serious, sometimes even fatal consequences.

• Similar comments apply to the idea that tortoises or turtles could absorb useful amounts of fluids (or vitamin-A) via the cloaca when soaking. The cloacal bursa are used for oxygen absorption in aquatic turtles, however, and this may be where the confusion arises. There have been a number of studies and reports in the veterinary literature on this topic and the overwhelming conclusion is that no significant absorption of fluid occurs in this way, for example, “There is no evidence to support the idea that reptiles might (drink) via the cloaca, though some authors have misreported the results of studies on the hypothesis” (Dr. P.M. Gibbons DVM, MS, writing in 'Critical Care therapy in Reptiles' 2020). See also "Negative test for cloacal drinking in aquatic and semi aquatic turtles, with comments on the functions of cloacal bursae". C.C. Peterson & D. Greenshields, in Exp Zoo 2001; 247-254. For a full overview of how tortoises really access, use and conserve water, see our explanatory article: "Hydration and Your Tortoise".

• Sweet potatoes are certainly not good for typical arid habitat or grassland tortoises, neither is the juice for the same reason that carrots or carrot juice are unsuitable.

• Vitamin-A is also not "completely safe". Overdosing is possible. Overdosing with the precursor, betacarotene, is rare, but not entirely impossible. Overdosing with 'pure' vitamin-A, on the other hand, can occur quite easily. Some years ago the Tortoise Trust received a large confiscated shipment of Stigmochelys pardalis juveniles (Leopard tortoises) from Africa. They presented with an initially baffling range of symptoms. Skin sloughing off, eyes closed, respiratory distress and similar problems. Many died within the first week. They were treated topically while lab tests and post-mortems were conducted. The aim was to stabilise with support therapy, and to try to overcome the numerous secondary infections that arose. More sadly died during this period. Over time the symptoms decreased. The lab tests were inconclusive. Eventually it emerged that these tortoises had all received a very high dose of vitamin-A by injection prior to departure. This dose was so high that acute toxicity occurred. The motive for giving such an injection was never established, but it certainly highlights that vitamin-A toxicity certainly can occur in tortoises, and that the consequences can be devastating.

Juvenile leopard tortoise with the effects of a severe vitamin-A toxicity. The skin is raw and sloughing off. Even the claws on the feet are affected and are falling out. Many of these tortoises did not survive. Others took over a year to recover fully.

We mentioned above about how 'AI' generated advice can be totally incorrect, misleading and dangerous. This is what Google's AI summary says on carrot juice soaks:

"Carrot juice baths can be a helpful way to provide supplemental nutrition and hydration for sick or lethargic tortoises, especially those with decreased appetite. The juice, rich in Vitamin A, can be absorbed through the skin and cloaca, aiding in eye health, appetite stimulation, and overall energy boost. However, it's crucial to use it appropriately, mainly for sick or struggling tortoises, and not as a regular bath"

As we have seen above, this is dangerous nonsense and is a really good example of why you should certainly never - ever - rely upon AI to reliably answer questions about tortoises. These systems work by aggregating things they find on the internet, but if there is a large amount of incorrect information out there the AI system might conclude that it is widely accepted and is accurate. There is a very old computing term that said 'GIGO' ('garbage in, garbage out). That evidently still remains the case!

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Copyright 2025 A. C. Highfield/Tortoise Trust