Are strawberries okay in very small amounts?

bsstovel

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I have an 8 month old sulcata and I have never given the little guy any fruit before for obvious reasons, but i wanted to know if I could give him maybe like half a strawberry as a treat or will the high sugar content be bad for him? Even if it is just this once
 

JoesMum

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As you know, your tort can’t process sugars properly. The advice is to give them very occasionally and in very small quantities.

They aren’t necessary to your tort’s health and your tort doesn’t recognise happiness in the way you do. It’s you wanting to treat, not your tort wanting a treat. :)

Slightly healthier for your tort are the hulls... the green bits you pull off when you eat strawberries. There’s always a tiny bit of fruit attached that your tort will enjoy and the green plant bit is fine to feed.

You eat the strawberries. Your tort enjoys some of the hulls. Win-win :)
 

bsstovel

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As you know, your tort can’t process sugars properly. The advice is to give them very occasionally and in very small quantities.

They aren’t necessary to your tort’s health and your tort doesn’t recognise happiness in the way you do. It’s you wanting to treat, not your tort wanting a treat. :)

Slightly healthier for your tort are the hulls... the green bits you pull off when you eat strawberries. There’s always a tiny bit of fruit attached that your tort will enjoy and the green plant bit is fine to feed.

You eat the strawberries. Your tort enjoys some of the hulls. Win-win :)
That makes such perfect sense. He doesn't even know what a strawberry is. I think I'll stick to his grass and greens instead and keep the strawberries for myself. I just wasn't sure if torts appreciated fruit the way humans do.
 

zovick

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That makes such perfect sense. He doesn't even know what a strawberry is. I think I'll stick to his grass and greens instead and keep the strawberries for myself. I just wasn't sure if torts appreciated fruit the way humans do.
Most tortoises love fruit, they just cannot digest it very well.

You could try giving the tortoise some pumpkin instead of the strawberry. That was always well tolerated by my sulcatas and they ate loads of them.
 

bsstovel

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Most tortoises love fruit, they just cannot digest it very well.

You could try giving the tortoise some pumpkin instead of the strawberry. That was always well tolerated by my sulcatas and they ate loads of them.
Perfect, I'll see if I can find some at Sprouts or Whole Foods.

Thanks for the advice! Very much appreciated
 

Tom

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I agree. If its so bad that you can only feed a small amount once in a great while, why feed it to them at all?

Skip fruit. Get some spineless opuntia pads, mulberry leaves, hibiscus leaves or flowers, or something like that that is good for them.
 

RosemaryDW

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Welcome to the forum from member living very close to you!

I never feed my Russian fruit; she’s outside and gets plenty of flowers, which have some sugar; she doesn’t need any more. Even the one time I overfed her on carrot—a very sweet food—was too much for her digestive system to handle well. Never again! There are so many things they can have for variety: pumpkin, yam, or any winter squash; some carrot; a mushroom; some cucumber; some zucchini; a little bell pepper; okra; squash blossoms if you can get them, and I bet you can this time of year! Not too much of any but they’ve all got some nutrients that aren’t in the green foods. My Russian gets one or two bites of these items a week (she’s much smaller than yours will be!). Some people feed a little more, especially the squashes.

I’m very conservative. I’ve also got access to a wide variety of interesting gourds and leaves as I live in an area where losts of fresh Asian and Indian produce is available; those are also in rotation. I don’t know how much of that is available in Tustin but you might look for a Korean market and I’m sure you aren’t far from a 99 Ranch Market. Your tortoise doesn’t “need” this much variety, I just like to mix things up. This week’s gourd is bittermelon.
 
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