# Chayote and mushroom for desert tortoise?



## Madortoise (Sep 27, 2009)

Hello, 
I would like a definitive answer as to whether it's okay to feed these two items to Gopherus Agassizii.

From Captive Desert Tortoise Diet sheet my hubby found, it includes mushroom as things to avoid. I've pulled out any that grows in the vicinity of her pens/vivarium/backyard where my tort roams...but I read others in this forum feeding store-bought mushrooms so I have given a few porcini mushrooms recently to mine and she just loved it. 

Chayote is supposedly native to Central America and first domesticated in Mexico see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote In another thread, someone else (Thalia) was asking a while back if it's okay to feed it to her tort and someone responded it as "promising" but I don't think hers was a DT.

Penelope is a juvenile tort and I am always looking for a way to vary her food intake. It's getting a little mandane with spring mix and and other same old things.

DT owners? I'd appreciate any feedback.


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## Maggie Cummings (Sep 27, 2009)

I wouldn't feed the mushrooms, but I certainly would the chayote...they wouldn't come across mushrooms in the wild, generally speaking, but chayote are like apples when you cut them open, I feed them to Bob regularly.


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## -EJ (Sep 28, 2009)

I see no problem with the mushrooms if the tortoise is willing to eat them.

They are not real common in their native range but I don't see any reason why they should be omitted to provide variety.



Madortoise said:


> Hello,
> I would like a definitive answer as to whether it's okay to feed these two items to Gopherus Agassizii.
> 
> From Captive Desert Tortoise Diet sheet my hubby found, it includes mushroom as things to avoid. I've pulled out any that grows in the vicinity of her pens/vivarium/backyard where my tort roams...but I read others in this forum feeding store-bought mushrooms so I have given a few porcini mushrooms recently to mine and she just loved it.
> ...


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## Madortoise (Sep 29, 2009)

Ed, my husband's concern is that I am acclimating her to the mushroom flavor and that she may someday come across a poisonous kind and eat it. He scared me so much that I stopped feeding her mushrooms even though she really went for it with no ill effect afterwards. I will try giving her the chayote tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback Maggie and Ed!


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## -EJ (Sep 29, 2009)

Tortoises seem to know. It's not a worry.



Madortoise said:


> Ed, my husband's concern is that I am acclimating her to the mushroom flavor and that she may someday come across a poisonous kind and eat it. He scared me so much that I stopped feeding her mushrooms even though she really went for it with no ill effect afterwards. I will try giving her the chayote tomorrow.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback Maggie and Ed!


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## Madortoise (Sep 30, 2009)

I feed her once a day in the morning and let her forage on her own through out the day.
This morning, I chopped up in cubes some yellow squash, nopales and chayote and sprinkled some calcium powder. I also added some rose leaves on the side. It may have been too big of a meal. She ate half of what I prepared. I was actually surprised that she didn't pick out all the nopales. She ate some chayote but she probably foraged more on other weeds and dandelions that she was familiar with. It seems for my tort, familiarity is very important for her. It takes a while for her to get used to things and that's why I was surprised she ate mushrooms right away. It must have been very good.


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