Opuntia fruit

[Raymo2477]

My grocery store sell opuntia fruit (prickly pear) would that be ok to feed my Hermann's tortoises? I know fruit is generally a no no with them.

 

[Missy]

I feed them to my Leopard and Sulcatas, they love them.

 

[wellington]

Yes that is one fruit most or all of them can have. However I was told to still give sparingly. Maybe a little once a week is what I do when I can get it for my leopard

 

[GBtortoises]

Most fruits should not be fed to Mediterranean tortoises on a regular basis. Opuntia fruit (prickly pear) is an exception. They have great nutrional value especially fiber, calcium and vitamin A.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I err on the side of caution and only give it to them once a week.

 

[Bow]

Do you have to remove the seeds before giving it to them?

 

[GBtortoises]

I feed them "as is" other than just washing the fruit off. I don't remove seeds from anything that I feed my tortoises. I also don't feed it to my tortoises year round because I don't have it available year round. But when I have prickly pear available I don't worry about how much they're getting. Based on nutrional data that I've read it contains no sugars and very little of anything else that would be considered bad for a tortoise's diet. In fact, based on nutrional content prickly pear is loaded with a lot of good nutrients.

One site I refer to often for nutrional values of raw greens, vegetables and fruits is: www.nutriondata.self.com

 

[Kristina]

I ditto what GB said. It is the one fruit that I give to my "grassland" tortoises. The only thing I do is slice it for the smaller torts.