Offer pads to your tortoises daily while the pads are still apple-green and no bigger than the palm of your hand. To remove them from the plant, bend the joint at the base of the pad and they will snap off cleanly without the need for you to cut them. Choose at least one place to offer the pads consistently, a place that is shady, at least in the afternoon. A covered patio may be ideal. The tortoise will remember where to come to eat the pads.
Place the narrow end of the pad under a heavy brick that will hold the pad firmly on the pavement or ground as the tortoise eats from it. If the pad does not rest far enough off the surface for the tortoise to get his mouth on both the top and bottom of the pad, push a very small pebble under the pad as far as you can toward the brick to hold the pad up just far enough. Replace uneaten pads with fresh ones, each day. Please refer to the photo below.
Tortoises of all ages can eat the pads without further preparation. The glochids do not have to be removed. The tips of smaller pads are tender enough for hatchlings. Young pads are a good source of nutrients. You will notice that throughout the growing season new pads are produced at greatly different rates.
Tortoise can easily eat these cactus pads. The heavy bricks make is possible for him to bite and pull, as if the pad were attached to the plant. A small pebble props up each pad.
(Copied, without regard to permission or authorization of any kind. We're all here for the best of our tortoises, right? Sue me, what'll you get? A dog that barks at, and chases bird shadows?).
Place the narrow end of the pad under a heavy brick that will hold the pad firmly on the pavement or ground as the tortoise eats from it. If the pad does not rest far enough off the surface for the tortoise to get his mouth on both the top and bottom of the pad, push a very small pebble under the pad as far as you can toward the brick to hold the pad up just far enough. Replace uneaten pads with fresh ones, each day. Please refer to the photo below.
Tortoises of all ages can eat the pads without further preparation. The glochids do not have to be removed. The tips of smaller pads are tender enough for hatchlings. Young pads are a good source of nutrients. You will notice that throughout the growing season new pads are produced at greatly different rates.
Tortoise can easily eat these cactus pads. The heavy bricks make is possible for him to bite and pull, as if the pad were attached to the plant. A small pebble props up each pad.
(Copied, without regard to permission or authorization of any kind. We're all here for the best of our tortoises, right? Sue me, what'll you get? A dog that barks at, and chases bird shadows?).
