As I was grocery shopping today, I was looking for interesting foods to feed my torts. I found prickley pear fruit. I am not familiar with this and I know that the torts I have should not have fruit often. (Sulcatas, Leopards and Russians) But is this something they can have? Like I said, I have never seen this before. And if they can't eat it, how is it served to people?

It is served to torts...I do not know how often etc and have never seen it here in MN but the Carolina Pet Supply sells it despined and may have further feeding info on this site...Joe Heinen who I believe owns CPSupply is fantastic and so are his products and customer serrvice.
I am sure someone out there who can answer your questions will come along soon

http://70.87.88.226/~cps/catalog/index.p...671b314869

I know my Greeks and DT love it. I peel it and cut to appropreate size.
The small Greeks I give about a fourth of a fruit the big DT I give the whole fruit to. Remember these are fruits. But the sugar content of these is far less than most market fruits. They are the fruit the catus plant produces. I dont feed these often but as an occasional treat.

i fed one of these to my hatchlings. i had to peel it a bit but they liked it. the red juice will stain though, so be careful

This post was last modified: 12-07-2007 09:58 AM by josh.

I feel safe in feeding both the pads and fruit of the prickly pear to all my torts; rfs, stars, burmese, and spider. This is the one fruit that seems to be universal. In traveloges and nature shows it seems to be everywhere. I have seen pictures of it in the Med, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. I have been feeding it for years and grow my own (from the Minnesota/ S. Dakota border so it is winter hardy). I consider it right up there with hibiscus nutriant wise.

So you grow it outside? Do you need to cover it in the winter?

Yes, the only cover is the native grasses (little bluestem, blue & sideoats grama), coneflowers and coreopsis. It is native to all of north america. The one you see it grocery is the ficus-indicus, which is an agricultural plant going back to the Aztecs.

I regularly feed the pads and less often the fruit. The fruit may range in color from kiwi like yellow-green to deep purple-red, It also varies in size. Pads can be found whole or some markets will sell bags of pieces called Nopales.

Misty
5 Sulcata's
3 Leopard's
3 Indian Star's