Jack Fruit, Lychees, and Rambutan?

[daniellenc]

Once every other month I hit my Latin or Korean market to mix up my food offerings and stock up on cheap cactus. Today I got pumpkin, aloe, 2lbs of cactus, watercress, guava, dandelion, escarole, okra, and sweet potato leaves. Buuuut I’m always seeing stuff I want to try and can’t find on tortoise table by the name used at the store. Jackfruit is from the mulberry family and high in fiber so I think safe? Anyone have any experience with them? The calcium to phosphorus ratio appears to be about 1:1 so not a main staple but a new snack maybe?

Lychees I think are not safe even without the seeds which have caused hypoglycemia in animal studies but do have awesome phytochemicals which are beneficial. Can’t I just remove the seeds?

Rambutan isn’t super high in calcium but has a ton of vitamins B and C as well as iron so I think it’s safe as his daily food portion? Again any experience on here?

 

[wellington]

You could pose the questions to Will on his tortoise chef? Thread. If not that one, he has that other one he is researching tort foods/greens.
I only know the lychees are really good tasting

 

[daniellenc]

I was hoping someone had fed them they seem like awesome fruits for red foots. I usually rotate papaya, mango, strawberries, and pineapple but wanted to spice it up a bit.

 

[wellington]

Let's see if we can get more info on this. @Will @ZEROPILOT
I wouldn't think it would hurt. Maybe if you don't find out, just use it as a treat.

 

[Sesel]

We feed jackfruit sometimes to our Aldabras. They love it. The seeds are quite big so you might want to remove them depending on the size of your tortoises. The Aldabras usually swallow them whole.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Strangely enough, I have never fed any of those to my Redfoot. But I WOULD.
This time of year, the free fruit, etc is so abundant that I buy absolutely nothing for my animals.
I just got Sapodilla and Dragonfruit added into my rotation.

 

[daniellenc]

Looks like I have new stuff to try then!! His first guava was yesterday and a huge hit.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

[QUOTE="wellington, post: 163623
lychees [/QUOTE]

@Olddog

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambutan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

All these fruits rely on monkeys, birds, Flying foxes (bats) and ground dwelling animals to spread their seeds. They all have some value as food items. The way these kinds of trees grow is very dispersed, so that those ground dwelling guys are not too likely to ever have a large portion of them in their daily intake, but once in awhile a glut of it ( when they comes across some on the ground it's likely to be much at once). The idea of a once in a great while offering is a good idea - it is enrichment for the tortoises' lives, and that is important.

However I would not use them in a regular weekly rotation, maybe part of one meal once a month at the most. This way you keep the tortoise interested and engaged for food, yet don't over do it.

The caution on seed size is important, but they all have round slippery seeds to ease through a gut and get planted with a fertilization of poop too. My rule of thumb is that if five or more seeds can fit in their mouth at one time, and they are round/smooth then that is not a worry. If they are weird (like a peach pit) then none at all. Small things like the seeds in raspberries, not worries. Based on this a large aldabra could eat several lychee and rambutan, fewer Jackfruit. Really large 40 pounds + Manouria, (which live where all these trees occur in the wild) could do several rambutan, lychee but I'd be a little worried over the Jackfruit seeds. Based on the wiki reading it might be the lychee count on try-drop seed dispersal, while the rambutan would be try-eat-poop dispersal. I have fed the husk and spongey stuff of jackfruit to the Manouria, they eat the husk from the inside out and stop at the prickly skin, and eat all the spongey stuff. I end up eating all the fruit myself

As for actual nutrient content I have nothing to add to the info already supplied by @daniellenc .

 

[daniellenc]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambutan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

All these fruits rely on monkeys, birds, Flying foxes (bats) and ground dwelling animals to spread their seeds. They all have some value as food items. The way these kinds of trees grow is very dispersed, so that those ground dwelling guys are not too likely to ever have a large portion of them in their daily intake, but once in awhile a glut of it ( when they comes across some on the ground it's likely to be much at once). The idea of a once in a great while offering is a good idea - it is enrichment for the tortoises' lives, and that is important.

However I would not use them in a regular weekly rotation, maybe part of one meal once a month at the most. This way you keep the tortoise interested and engaged for food, yet don't over do it.

The caution on seed size is important, but they all have round slippery seeds to ease through a gut and get planted with a fertilization of poop too. My rule of thumb is that if five or more seeds can fit in their mouth at one time, and they are round/smooth then that is not a worry. If they are weird (like a peach pit) then none at all. Small things like the seeds in raspberries, not worries. Based on this a large aldabra could eat several lychee and rambutan, fewer Jackfruit. Really large 40 pounds + Manouria, (which live where all these trees occur in the wild) could do several rambutan, lychee but I'd be a little worried over the Jackfruit seeds. Based on the wiki reading it might be the lychee count on try-drop seed dispersal, while the rambutan would be try-eat-poop dispersal. I have fed the husk and spongey stuff of jackfruit to the Manouria, they eat the husk from the inside out and stop at the prickly skin, and eat all the spongey stuff. I end up eating all the fruit myself

As for actual nutrient content I have nothing to add to the info already supplied by @daniellenc .

Thanks @Will that is very helpful. These are only carried at my latin/asian market in summer. I go once every other month just to add things to my rotation not normally offered and will deseed all fruit as he is still tiny. The problem is he is so tiny and my only guy which means lots of leftover fruit. Guess I'll make lychee infused vodka with the rest hehe.

 

[RosemaryDW]

You could pose the questions to Will on his tortoise chef? Thread. If not that one, he has that other one he is researching tort foods/greens.
I only know the lychees are really good tasting

Will is a great person to ask but the chef thread hopefully is about what we are actively feeding out; not whether something is an appropriate feed. I sometimes go off track there myself but that’s the goal!

Looks like he showed up with great answers here!

 

[wellington]

Will is a great person to ask but the chef thread hopefully is about what we are actively feeding out; not whether something is an appropriate feed. I sometimes go off track there myself but that’s the goal!

Looks like he showed up with great answers here!

Then he does have another thread that he shows the values of different greens, etc.