Am I doing this right?

[fritzgerald]

I got a few large prickly pear pads off marketplace for free today and potted three large pads that were calloused already, then figured I'd prep and freeze the rest since my baby leopard won't be here until next week.

I removed all the spines and glochids, cleaned them off under running hot water, trimmed the edges and diced them up into small pieces (see picture for size), blanched them in boiling water for 2 minutes, dropped them in an ice bath, and now they're spread out on a cooking tray in the freezer for an hour before I separate them into vacuum sealer bags.

Is my process right? Do I even need to dice them? I figured maybe it would make it easier for a baby? I plan to mix it in with weeds, greens, and Mazuri, so how much should I be offering with meals? A lot? A little? Once a day? Once a week? I still need to place an order with @Kapidolo Farms to get more stuff on hand to add variety but I wanted to make sure I have stuff on hand now to offer variety from the start.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Yes, many recommend chopping up food for babies, since they eat more that way. For adult tortoises this is unnecessary.

I always worry about chocking when chopping up foods like squash, but I don't know whether that worry is warranted. My thought process is that with pre-cut pieces they might try to swallow them whole instead of biting appropriate chunks of.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hi!
Perhaps, this was too much effort for cactus pads...
1. They last for weeks just fine in room temperature
2. It's better to offer pads as a whole (young pads) or cut in long thin strips or slices. Hard foods like squash or carrots can be grated (so, long strips and slices too).
3. Removing glochids and skin is not necessary, just the large spines.

 

[COmtnLady]

Here's a link to a good thread on this:

Public Service Announcement - Tortoise Food Chunks

I was reminded today that not everyone knows that "hard" foods like opuntia, cucumber, carrots, or this time of year, pumpkin should not be cut up and fed in chunks. Chunks of these types of food will be swallowed whole by tortoises and can cause them to choke to death. It doesn't happen every...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[fritzgerald]

Thank you all! I was thinking the skin may be too hard and so dicing would be easier but I didn't think about the swallowing whole aspect. I'll either puree what I have tonight or just throw it out and get some more whole pads. I'd be devastated if I diced it up and they ended up choking.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Thank you all! I was thinking the skin may be too hard and so dicing would be easier but I didn't think about the swallowing whole aspect. I'll either puree what I have tonight or just throw it out and get some more whole pads. I'd be devastated if I diced it up and they ended up choking.

I am not sure how much of a risk it is, you would have to compare the dices to the size of the tortoises mouth.

 

[fritzgerald]

I am not sure how much of a risk it is, you would have to compare the dices to the size of the tortoises mouth.

For the most part they should be roughly the size of its head. I didn't mince them, just chopped them into 1/4-1/2 inch sizes and the pads were pretty thick, but there was some small pieces that would definitely be able to be swallowed whole it attempted. They're all frozen and vacuum sealed so they'll be easy enough to just toss in the blender and puree them. I'd rather not leave chance of them being swallowed. There's a small market around the corner from me that has thinner pads though so I may just check those out and maybe chop them into body sized chunks if the skin can be bitten right through.

 

[COmtnLady]

Pureeing sounds like a great idea. You'll only need a spoonful per feeding with some greens, so be cautious that the rest of it doesn't go bad. Its hard to puree tiny quantities.

I wonder if, when the pieces thaw, they will be really mushy (some veggies do that, its why you can't freeze lettuce). If that's the case you could just mash them with a fork, which would make them not be a choking hazard, with less waste.

 

[fritzgerald]

Pureeing sounds like a great idea. You'll only need a spoonful per feeding with some greens, so be cautious that the rest of it doesn't go bad. Its hard to puree tiny quantities.

I wonder if, when the pieces thaw, they will be really mushy (some veggies do that, its why you can't freeze lettuce). If that's the case you could just mash them with a fork, which would make them not be a choking hazard, with less waste.

Yeah, I don't want to risk anything so I'm just gonna puree it. I have them separated into week(ish) sized bags in the freezer, so I'm just gonna take one out, let it defrost, puree it with an immersion blender, then repeat every weekend. That way I'm only defrosting a little at a time. Then once all this is gone, I'll just go with chunked whole pads.

It's starting to warm up here so all the sprouts of greens I have started in the house should be able to be planted outside soon and the oat grass in the enclosure is staring to turn into a jungle. Surprisingly, the only thing that hasn't sprouted was the dandelion.

 

[COmtnLady]

Surprisingly, the only thing that hasn't sprouted was the dandelion.

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