Cactus fruit...

[SarahM82]

Do you feed your torts the whole fruit (seeds included)? Or not? Right now for my 3 baby torts I get as much of the fruit/meet off without getting any seeds in it. Wondering if it's actually necessary to spend the extra time picking around the seeds.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Greetings,
If I were to feed the fruit, if feed the entire fruit. I don't feed the fruit due to the sugar content in it the the average "pet" tortoise doesn't have a gut tract designed to handle. It can bring about the dreaded diarrhea in a tortoise that if just figure on avoiding. Also, keep in mind that most tortoises in the pet trade don't have access to cactus in the real world. Cacti are a "new world" plant, not a plant from Africa or Eurasia and so although safe to feed as a treat, maybe best just as a treat.
Hope this helps…

 

[MPRC]

I feed the whole fruit to my Redfoot. Only 2 of the 3 like it, they eat the seeds, fruit and usually most of the skin. I just cut them in half lengthwise for them.

 

[SarahM82]

Thank you! I will take that into consideration. I have only ever heard of people giving it as a regular food (cacti, not the fruit).

Greetings,
If I were to feed the fruit, if feed the entire fruit. I don't feed the fruit due to the sugar content in it the the average "pet" tortoise doesn't have a gut tract designed to handle. It can bring about the dreaded diarrhea in a tortoise that if just figure on avoiding. Also, keep in mind that most tortoises in the pet trade don't have access to cactus in the real world. Cacti are a "new world" plant, not a plant from Africa or Eurasia and so although safe to feed as a treat, maybe best just as a treat.
Hope this helps…

 

[SarahM82]

awesome, thank you. Maybe I'll save my time next time and just cut the whole darn thing up and see if they go for it.

I feed the whole fruit to my Redfoot. Only 2 of the 3 like it, they eat the seeds, fruit and usually most of the skin. I just cut them in half lengthwise for them.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I also give the whole fruit to my redfoot. Cut in half.
Keep in mind that Redfoot are a species that regularly eat fruit.
The seeds shouldn't be an issue regardless. I.M.O.

 

[DeanS]

I pulverize the whole damn thing in a food processor...and mix it in with their Mazuri! I also slice it on occasion. Examples of both can be seen here...

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/8-new-babies-from-tom-aka-the-bond-girls-maybe.118641/page-5

 

[ZEROPILOT]

As you likely have already found out, it will stain your fingers as well as your clothes....

 

[SarahM82]

ooooh good idea!!! I'll be doing that

I pulverize the whole damn thing in a food processor...and mix it in with their Mazuri! I also slice it on occasion. Examples of both can be seen here...

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/8-new-babies-from-tom-aka-the-bond-girls-maybe.118641/page-5

 

[SarahM82]

thankfully, I haven't had them stain anything... Yet. I'm sure it will happen at some point.

As you likely have already found out, it will stain your fingers as well as your clothes....

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Seeds can be an important alternative 'high fiber' for gut motility. They too can also help the gut move a bolus of food back and forth.

The caution here is they need to be proportional to the size of the tortoise. Cactus fruit seeds are smaller than a green pea but larger than a BB, for what I have seen. So a tiny neonate leopard or sulcata should not really be eating them, and they will if available. Tortoises are sorta dumb that way.

My rule of thumb is they should be able to hold at least ten to dozen of the seed in their mouth at once. If the seeds are proportionally small enough for that, I consider it okay.

I had a really nice looking K. erosa - found dead, when a necropsy was done, he had a peach pit lodged tight in his throat. It's likely he suffocated as the pit constricted his esophagus. If a tortoise can do a stupid thing they will. What happens in the wild? They do stupid things and die. I have seen it.

 

[Tom]

I quarter them lengthwise and feed them to smaller tortoises. I don't feed it to babies until they reach at least a couple hundred grams. I don't feed any sort of fruit to babies. For 10"+ sulcatas I just throw the whole thing in there and they eat it themselves.

I should say they DEVOUR them like starving hyenas on a carcass...

 

[SarahM82]

good to know, thank you!! My older of the 3 is 152 grams (weighed on Sunday's) and gaining about 15 grams a week. So she/he is almost there.

The 2 little babies are 96 and 97 grams. I'll not feed any more cactus fruit (the only fruit they have ever gotten) until they are all 200+ grams.

I quarter them lengthwise and feed them to smaller tortoises. I don't feed it to babies until they reach at least a couple hundred grams. I don't feed any sort of fruit to babies. For 10"+ sulcatas I just throw the whole thing in there and they eat it themselves.

I should say they DEVOUR them like starving hyenas on a carcass...