{"topic_id":"exotic_health_aquatic_turtle_hypovitA","category":"exotic-pet-health","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_health_aquatic_turtle_hypovitA\ncategory: exotic-pet-health\ntitle: \"Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A on diets deficient in preformed vitamin A; beta carotene not metabolized\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) and VCA Hospitals (vcahospitals.com) — non-Open-Access; paraphrased derived fact summary per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3.\"\nsource_file: [pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/merck_reptiles.html, pdf-raw/exotic-health/vca_turtles.html]\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-27\ntokens_estimated: 165\nverification:\n  method: paraphrase\n  claims: 3\n  passed: 3\n  date: 2026-08-27\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-pet-health/exotic_health_aquatic_turtle_hypovitA/01_exotic_health_aquatic_turtle_hypovitA.md\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference); VCA Hospitals pet-owner article\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A on diets deficient in preformed vitamin A; beta carotene not metabolized\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/reptiles/nutritional-metabolic-and-endocrine-diseases-of-reptiles\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-17\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: paraphrase\ncopyright_note: \"Sources Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) and VCA Hospitals (vcahospitals.com) are copyrighted and not openly licensed; per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3 all claims are paraphrased derived fact summaries (numbers and proper nouns preserved, sentences rewritten), not verbatim quotations.\"\nauthority_tier: T3\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T3:vet-ref\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-27\n---\n\n# Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A on diets deficient in preformed vitamin A; beta carotene not metabolized\n\nSource: Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) and VCA Hospitals (vcahospitals.com), both copyrighted veterinary references. Per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3, the points below are paraphrased derived fact summaries: numerical values and proper nouns are preserved from the source, but sentences are rewritten and not quoted verbatim.\n\n## Claims\n\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Among reptiles, hypovitaminosis A occurs commonly in aquatic turtles and in insect-eating lizards whose diet lacks preformed vitamin A (compare `exotic_health_leopard_gecko_hypovitA`).\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Many reptiles cannot metabolize beta carotene, a commonly used nutritional supplement.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* In turtles, full-thickness shedding of skin that leaves raw or bleeding areas is clearly abnormal; it can point to hypovitaminosis A (vitamin A deficiency) as well as bacterial or fungal infection, burn, or trauma.\n\n---\n## License & attribution\n\nSources: Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) is © Merck & Co., Inc. and VCA Hospitals (vcahospitals.com) is © VCA Animal Hospitals; neither is openly licensed. Per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3, every claim above is a paraphrased derived fact summary (numbers and proper nouns preserved, sentences rewritten), not a verbatim quotation.\n\n- https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/reptiles/nutritional-metabolic-and-endocrine-diseases-of-reptiles\n","sources":["exotic-pet-health — Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A on diets deficient in preformed vitamin A; beta carotene not metabolized (retrieved 2026-08-27)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-health","title":"Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A on diets deficient in preformed vitamin A; beta carotene not metabolized","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/reptiles/nutritional-metabolic-and-endocrine-diseases-of-reptiles","retrieved":"2026-08-27","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference); VCA Hospitals pet-owner article","verification_file":"[pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/merck_reptiles.html, pdf-raw/exotic-health/vca_turtles.html]"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference); VCA Hospitals pet-owner article","source_file":"[pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/merck_reptiles.html, pdf-raw/exotic-health/vca_turtles.html]","trust":{"authority_tier":"T3","fidelity":"paraphrase","license":"paraphrase","display_grade":"B"},"tokens_estimated":161,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}