{"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; beta-carotene not metabolized by many reptiles\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — reptile / miniature pig husbandry, nutrition, health, toxicology\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-b3/reptile_nutrition.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-29\ntokens_estimated: 31\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A; beta-carotene not metabolized by many reptiles\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/reptiles/nutritional-metabolic-and-endocrine-diseases-of-reptiles\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-29\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A; beta-carotene not metabolized by many reptiles\n\nThe text below is reproduced verbatim from the first-hand source (Merck Veterinary Manual).\n\n> Hypovitaminosis A is common in aquatic turtles and insectivorous lizards fed a diet deficient in preformed vitamin A. The commonly used nutritional supplement beta carotene cannot be metabolized by many reptiles.\n\nSource: `pdf-raw/exotic-b3/reptile_nutrition.txt` (first-hand professional veterinary reference, tag-stripped).\n\n## Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)\n- `Hypovitaminosis A is common in aquatic turtles and insectivorous lizards fed a diet deficient in preformed vitamin A. The commonly used nutritional supplement beta carotene cannot be metabolized by many reptiles.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-health — Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A; beta-carotene not metabolized by many reptiles (retrieved 2026-07-29)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-health","title":"Aquatic turtle health — hypovitaminosis A; beta-carotene not metabolized by many reptiles","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/reptiles/nutritional-metabolic-and-endocrine-diseases-of-reptiles","retrieved":"2026-07-29","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-b3/reptile_nutrition.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-b3/reptile_nutrition.txt","tokens_estimated":31,"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."}