# Squash



## Nobody

My Sulcata seems to love squash.Anyway,would it be fine to feed my Sulcata squash once a week?
Thanks.


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## reptylefreek

I probably wouldn't do it once a week, most would say once a month. Depending on the size of the tort, if you really wanted to feed once a week you could do like a tablespoon or two. My sulcata also loves squash but i try to leave it as a treat, and I change it up. Pumpkin, butternut, acorn, yellow. Just my opinion


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## Nobody

reptylefreek said:


> I probably wouldn't do it once a week, most would say once a month. Depending on the size of the tort, if you really wanted to feed once a week you could do like a tablespoon or two. My sulcata also loves squash but i try to leave it as a treat, and I change it up. Pumpkin, butternut, acorn, yellow. Just my opinion




Actually,I just feed my Sulcata a tablespoon per feeding and so far,I only do it once a week.


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## reptylefreek

other people might beg to differ but I say that sounds alright. Maybe give it a break every once in awhile though. I think, if I'm not mistaken, that squash is still a fruit there for should be fed sparingly.


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## moswen

i have seen pictures of adult sulcatas going after a huge chunk of pumpkin... i grow pumpkins, and i did not know it was bad for them, i was planning on feeding my babies chunks of it in the fall, so should i wait till they're older and just give them like one pumpkin per season or something?


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## elegans

Have no fear of feeding squash! In the winter I feed hundreds of pounds of zucchini and yellow squash to my sulcatas as well as the rest of my torts weekly. I get it for free from some of my neighbor farmers. The animals love it and I have been doing this for 17 years with no ill effects. I serve it whole on top of pads of T & A or Orchard Grass, which ever is nicer at the time. Best wishes and no worries. Douglas


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## Scooter

I have a couple of questions about the squash. Do you cook it or give it to them raw? Also can it be frozen (both of mine are small and the whole thing would go bad before they get through it)?


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## Yvonne G

Like Douglas, I give my tortoises squash all the time. The softer squash like zucchini or yellow squash, you can just cut it so there's an edge for them to bite, no cooking required. But the harder squashes like acorn squash or banana squash have to be nuked for a couple minutes in the microwave to soften it a bit for them.


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## Annieski

I only have 1 Sulcata and she could never eat a whole squash in one sitting so I have always steamed it after it has been cut in pieces. After it is cooked--I bag it in the portions I want and then freeze the bags so they are ready for me to take out-defrost-and feed.
I do the same thing with the cactus pads but I don't freeze them---refridgeration is enough and they last for a couple of weeks.


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## snake_girl85

You can always grate the squash too. I always shred it for my Uromastyx as a salad topper


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## biglove4bigtorts

Winter squahes (acorn, butternut, spahgetti...) are the most nutritious. They are high in water and fiber and while not as nutrient dense as other foods, they are ok as daily inclusion in the meals of any herbivorous reptile. Yellow squash, zuccini, and cucumbers have less nurtrition than winter squashe, but can be fed without worry, just as long as they aren't being used in exclusion of other, more nutrient dense foods. Winter squashes also don't have a terrible calcium to phosphorus ratio, like some other fruits and aren't as likely to cause loose stools, like melons can. Take a look at the Melissa Kaplan iguana diet for a good list of edible plants, fruits, and vegetables. There are also nutritional tables for some plants. Do keep in mind that grassland torts need more grasses and less of the foods given to iguanas, but it is a good basis for considering store-bought and commonly available items. I would include as much varitey as I could within the limits of what is good for the tortoise. I never use anything for feeding exclusiveley and I think that plants like kale, collard, watercress, turnip greens, mustard greens, and dandelion greens are the main players in a herbivorous reptiles' diet. I also like to include white mulberry leaves, grape leaves, fig leaves and fruit, green briar, chickory, plantain, colver flowers, squash blossoms, berries, figs, cactus fruits and pads, parsnips, wood violets, nasturtiums, dandelion and chickory flowers, portulacca flowers, marigold flowers, pansies, mango, yucca root, sweet potato, grapes, and many other items I can harvest seasonally or buy in the better stocked grocery stores. I grate things, rather than cook them, as cooking concentrates some nutritents and eliminates or reduces others. These are items I plan to feed my manouria, but again I wouldn't feed a grassland tortoise on those things, whithout a 75% ration of grasses as the foundation of the diet. Just some things to consider.


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