Russian tortoise Cactus pads! Are these ok!??

[chase thorn]

I got these from my dads as he has about 5 acres FULL of all kinds of opuntia! I was wondering if these are all ok to feed when I despine them??
There are a couple different kinds here... Are ALL opuntia ok to feed?

 

[lynnedit]

Yes, get some heavy gloves and a potato peeler and shave as many spines off as you can. Torts seem to be able to manage a few, but us human hands have trouble with them!

Don't feed them more than a couple of times per week; they do tend to 'speed up' digestion, if you get my drift.

 

[chase thorn]

hehehe yeah I will only offer as a treat kind of thing!