A good way to get your torts to eat hay

[mtdavis254817]

I like to put hay in just about every meal I make for my guys. They usually eat around it or pick it out.. So I found a way to get them to gobble it up... At a local Latino grocery store I get optunia cactus fruit. It is a sweet part of a cactus where the flowers bloom. I cut the Bermuda hay into small pieces using scissors first... The inside of the fruit is the sweet part. It has a lot of seeds so I scoop out as many as I can and squeeze all the juice into the hay and mix it up.. The torts smell the cactus fruit and just about lick their plates clean..

 

[stinax182]

i thought cactus fruit was red on the inside? or is this one just not ripe enough yet?

 

[mtdavis254817]

Probably not ripe however it is still sweet

 

[mike taylor]

Thats a great idea . I will have to give it a try . Thanks

 

[DevilsLettuce]

Very good idea, will probably give this a try soon

 

[Tom]

i thought cactus fruit was red on the inside? or is this one just not ripe enough yet?

There are many varieties of opuntia. Some produce the red fruits and some are purple, green, or yellow, with just about everything in between.

---

Great idea mtdavis!

 

[mtdavis254817]

Her eating her hay

---

She was munching on the cuddle bone to

 

[TigsMom]

I wonder if freezing the juice would work well for adding to your hay when the fruits are not in season? A high end juicer appliance, would make quick work of juicing the fruits. Hmmmmm, thank you for sharing the idea!

 

[mtdavis254817]

That's a good question. I use this old juicer to get the juice out and keep as many seeds out. I do leave a few seeds in the hay tho..