Do you need to remove the thorns off the cactus pads before you feed them?
Debi1* said:Do you need to remove the thorns off the cactus pads before you feed them?
Tom said:Most of us feed the "spineless" variety of opuntia cactus pads. They have little to no spines already, but they do have those irritating little glocchids. I either singe them off with an open flame or rub them off under running water with heavy rubber gloves.
What species and size tortoise do you have? There is no naturally occurring cactus in Africa, so in theory, they are NOT adapted to handle it. Cactus is a new world plant, naturally occurring in the Americas. New world species like Redfoots and Gopherus species are the only ones who would have evolved the means to deal with those spines. I know lots of people who feed it to African tortoises and it does not seem to bother them. The wild radiateds in Madagascar also eat the fully spined opunita that has been introduced there.
DeanS said:Try to stay away from the Latin Markets...Jax and Vallarta in CA...I don't know what you guys have in the rest of the country...but the Latin markets here preserve them here...I'm guessing in lemon juice or something...anyway...the two best sources I've found are www.tortoisesupply.com and www.rivenrock.com