Prickly Pear for Young Sulcata?

[Wolfie]

So I have a young Sulcata, she's about 12 ounces and can be held in one hand with her little legs hanging over. Is she old/big enough to eat a spineless prickly pear pad?

Also, she loves to eat wheat grass and will turn down leaves unless there's grass with them. But it's costing a lot to buy wheat grass sprouts, even though I'm growing the grass as well. Is there another fast growing grass that a young sulcata can eat that I can grow indoors?

 

[Yvonne G]

You may have to peel it as the skin is sometimes too hard for young tortoises to bite through.

If you have a Smart and Final in Montana, they sell bags of prepared salad called Santa Barbara Mix. It contains endive, escarole and radiccio. To this I add whatever edibles I can find from outside (mulberry leaves, grape leaves, hosta, pansies, viola and violets, dandelion) and then as a last resort I'll buy turnip greens, butter lettuce, mustard greens, etc. from the store. If you want to feed Spring Mix (another bag salad mix) I would pick out quite a lot of the spinach. Spinach is ok to feed, just not on a regular, daily basis.

 

[wellington]

You can also use something like a blender or electric chopper to chop the cactus up skin and all to a fine mush.

 

[destortoise]

As @wellington said, a good choice might be to process your prickly pear in a blender or food processor. Work it from a complete mush to smaller chunks. I use a magic bullet to cut up my Squash's cactus

 

[Tom]

I feed sections of young cactus pads to my 35 gram hatchlings. They bite little scallop shaped pieces off.

Yes. Yours is ready for cactus. Don't be surprised if there is not much interest the first few times you offer it. Some are slow to take to new foods. Might take a while, but its worth it in the end.

 

[Wolfie]

Thanks guy! I'm sure little Lulu sandwich will love it!