Do your tortoises like Cactus?

[firework]

My Greek doesn't like Cactus at all. He hasn't had even one bite of it since I bought some for him.

I know cactus is very good for tortoises, but wonder how it tastes to tortoises.

 

[Missy]

How old is he? Some taste comes with age. Like dry grass, young torts usually wont touch it until they are a couple years old.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Make sure it is served in a way he can eat it (it might need to be chopped up), and make sure its fresh. Other than that, most torts will have a food or few that they just don't like (my tort gates collard greens for example). It won't cause him harm not to have cactus in his diet. Just make sure he has enough variety--I like to feed about 20 foods over the course of a few months for example.

 

[firework]

He is 5 months old. I cut it into thin slices. Whe he is hungry, he would rather chew the dry moss than try the fresh cactus

 

[shellfreak]

my greek is almost a year old and it still wont eat cactus. i would hold off with it for a few months and reintroduce cactus when it is older. or crush it up and mix it with some mazuri. you can also crush it up and mix it with greens. dont be discouraged. your greek will probably love it when it gets older.

 

[Tom]

My sulcata hatchlings were eating it in their first two weeks. At first I minced it up super fine and mixed it in with other greens. It just turns to slimy mush when you chop it up really fine. Now I just put in a whole tender young pad and they are able to eat it just fine. They pull against the weight of the pad to chop up bite size pieces with their sharp little beaks.

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

My juvie sulcata eats it now, but at first he wouldn't touch it either.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Both my 5" Iberian and 4-1/2" Eastern Hermann love it, and, in time, your baby Greek most likely will, too.

 

[spikethebest]

yup mine love it. my little ones, and my huge ones, all species, love it a lot.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Tried it with my Redfoots, they were uninterested...