Solids

[Staceydavis]

I'm getting ready to give my Dusty Girl some broccoli but Im not sure if I give it to her at room temp, warm just a bit or is cold ok? This is her first solid food besides the rodent block.

[Grinderhead]

room temp, warm just a bit or is cold ok?

All of above is fine. She may like it one way better then the other.

[Diggie's Friend]

Boiling stalked, and tap root vegetables supports a greater calcium availability to the body when boiled vs. consumed raw. Same with the heavier leafy greens like headed cabbages, Asian cabbages, turnip greens, mustard greens, and some kales. For though raw contains a slightly higher amount in the raw plant, raw does not translate to a higher amount in the bloodstream, but a lower one than broccoli boiled. This is due to the calcium lowering anti-nutrient (oxalates & goitrogens).

This chart shows the level of calcium in raw vs. boiled broccoli prior to ingestion. The amount shown for boiled is moreover bioavailable to the body as boiling reduces calcium robbing oxalates. The amount noted for raw though is as available to the body upon digestion after oxalates reduce it far more than boiling, which by comparison is minimal.

Folate is increased in broccoli when boiled for up to 20 minutes; and though Vitamin C. is decreased, the fruit portion of the diet supplies more than enough of this water soluble vitamin to the diet.

For heavier leafy greens boil (5 to 10) minutes as needed, just not so long as the greens turn to glop. For stalked and tap root vegetables, as oiling can be up to 20 minutes depending upon the sizes of the pieces boiled, for chopping them into smaller pieces reduces the boiling time.

Including immature (baby) greens of lettuces, arugula, escarole, watercress, and garden cress, which are nil in calcium lowering anti-nutrients compared to the high levels contained in their mature counterparts that again lower calcium availability to the bloodstream upon their digestion. Blanching (boiling short-term) for (1 1/2) minutes destroy possible bad bacteria, worms, worm eggs, and some viruses that may have hitched a ride on leafy greens.

In general, boiling makes vegetables easier for rodents to digest. Sufficient boiling of many sources of vegetables allows them to be included in the diet of tree squirrels as to not promote the formation of (kidney and bladder) calcium (crystals) stones. This due to reducing the high alkaline pH of raw vegetables to where the whole diet supports a mid (6) range (slightly acidic), which studies in gray squirrels to be the norm for mean urine pH for tree squirrels species.

A diet that promotes alkaline mean urine pH, over (7.0) (neutral), promotes urinary calcium loss, and in turn promotes (CaP) calcium crystals (kidney or bladder) in rats, and tree squirrels. Likewise, a diet that promotes highly acidic urine, under (6.0), generally from an to close or inverted ratio of Calcium to Phosphorus in the diet, promotes (CaOx) calcium crystal formation.

(To determine mean urine pH take three readings an hour after meals the first day, and then one the next day prior to the first meal; total the reading values, and divide by four (for four readings) to get the mean urine pH .)

[Staceydavis]

Thank you that is some very useful information.