Prickly Pear Fruit

[brianfurtado]

Hello All again!

I just saw some prickly pear cactus fruit at my local grocery in Windsor at a pretty good price (3 for $1.49CAN) and that's in the winter. I've heard this is good for my Greek, but when I hear Opuntia, is that referring to the fruit or the cactus pad itself? Basically, is it ok to feed my tort this fruit and how much? I took a pic of what I bought..

 

[terracolson]

I havent fed my leo that yet, but i believe you will see a yes response

 

[Annieski]

I get this for my sulcata, along with the cactus pads. The pads --she can get every day along with her usual diet. What I like to do with the fruit is cut into 1/4 and chop each 1/4. one 1/4 goes on food 1x/week. All the rest gets chopped and bagged[individual 1/4's] and then I freeze them. I don't loose the benefit of the good price, I have servings for weeks and this way they defrost very quickly.

 

[brianfurtado]

Perfect! Thanks! So the fruit itself is a treat to be used in moderation but the pads can be fed as part of her diet.

 

[Annieski]

Perfect! Thanks! So the fruit itself is a treat to be used in moderation but the pads can be fed as part of her diet.

Thats what I do and it seems to be working very well for Morty.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

I feed a small piece of this fruit to Taco every day. However, since it is a fruit, it's probably not recommended daily for most tortoises.

Vinke and Vetter concluded from their research that Prickly Pear fruit and pads were critical to Chaco tortoises in order for them to thrive. But Chaco's are rare among tortoise pets and Taco, well, she's one of kind among her species, I'd say. Other tortoises just can't compare to her beauty and charm...

 

[terryo]

Pio won't touch them...fruit or pads. He is so fussy, and always wants to eat the same thing. I'm starting to plant my pansies now. Spring is almost here Stephanie...can't wait...I'm itching to get in that dirt out there.

 

[Tom]

Opuntia is the genus name for that species. There is much debate about what the actual species is as I've heard there was some hybridization to get the "spineless" variety. I don't have the technical answer, but for our purposes, we feed the pads and the fruit from an opuntia species of cactus. I also use organ pipe cactus, with the spines cut off, once in a while.