Favorite Fruits?

[Bass.Isles]

I'm aware that sulcata tortoises should only rarely be fed fruit. However, i was just wondering, when y'all do feed your sully's fruit - what do the enjoy most?

 

[Hutsie B]

I don't feed my baby sulcattas any fruit. Unlike my omnivorous turtles. I don't know about anyone else. I wonder if the fruit from the opuntia cactus would be ok to feed them..............? Hutsie

 

[Bass.Isles]

I don't feed my baby sulcattas any fruit. Unlike my omnivorous turtles. I don't know about anyone else. I wonder if the fruit from the opuntia cactus would be ok to feed them..............? Hutsie

Hmmm, I'm not certain wether they can have the fruit from the opuntia cactus or not. I mean, i know most sulcatas love the opuntua pads themselves, but not sure about the fruit. I give Isla a very small amount of fruit about every 3 weeks. I've tried apple, strawberry and banana (all organically grown and handled, of course). She liked the apple and strawberry a lot better than banana.

 

[Bass.Isles]

And when i say small amount, i really mean a small amount. Like one tablespoon diced. I just remembered that i did give her some watermelon in May and she freakin had a fit over that. Loved it.

 

[Bee62]

Watermelon is okay as a rare food / treat, because it is high in moisture and less in sugar.
I confess that my sulcata torts love bananas, but they get it not often.

 

[Big Charlie]

I don't give Charlie any fruit usually. If I have some watermelon rinds, I'll give him that. Once in awhile, an apple. We have a plum tree in the yard and sometimes he gets to the fallen fruit before I have a chance to clean it up. Then he looks like he is wearing lipstick.

 

[Bass.Isles]

I don't give Charlie any fruit usually. If I have some watermelon rinds, I'll give him that. Once in awhile, an apple. We have a plum tree in the yard and sometimes he gets to the fallen fruit before I have a chance to clean it up. Then he looks like he is wearing lipstick.

Ahahahaaa! Isla looks like that after the strawberry. Does anyone know if the occasional green or red peppers, cucumber or mushroom is okay?

 

[Big Charlie]

Ahahahaaa! Isla looks like that after the strawberry. Does anyone know if the occasional green or red peppers, cucumber or mushroom is okay?

I give him cucumber occasionally. It makes his poop runny so it is good for constipation. I don't give peppers or mushrooms.

 

[Bass.Isles]

I had never considered the peppers or mushrooms until i ran across an old post tonight saying they were okay to give occasionally. But i wanted to double (and triple) check.

 

[Tom]

I wouldn't give them fruit at all. If its so bad for them that you can only give a tiny amount infrequently, then why give it at all.

Opuntia fruits are fine for them in small quantities. Mushrooms that are safe for human consumption, cucumbers and bell peppers are okay once in a while, but I wouldn't give any berries, apple or banana ever.

 

[Bass.Isles]

I wouldn't give them fruit at all. If its so bad for them that you can only give a tiny amount infrequently, then why give it at all.

Opuntia fruits are fine for them in small quantities. Mushrooms that are safe for human consumption, cucumbers and bell peppers are okay once in a while, but I wouldn't give any berries, apple or banana ever.

Well, i would think most people give it because the animals really enjoy it as an infrequent treat. I mean, most doctors recommend humans only eat meatlovers pizza and bacon cheeseburgers very infrequently because eating it often can cause high cholesterol which leads to heart problems. That doesn't make it any less delicious to us lol. If the fruits aren't toxic, or totally undigestable - does it HURT them to feed a tiny bit once a month or so just so they can enjoy it? I mean i'd never give her apple seeds or even flesh close to the seeds, because they contain arsenic. And she didn't care for the banana, which defeats the whole purpose of letting her have it in the first place lol. But she did really love the tablespoon of diced watermelon i gave her months ago. I'll probably just stick with melon, cuz someone did say it was lower in sugar than a lot of other fruits.

 

[Tom]

Well, i would think most people give it because the animals really enjoy it as an infrequent treat. I mean, most doctors recommend humans only eat meatlovers pizza and bacon cheeseburgers very infrequently because eating it often can cause high cholesterol which leads to heart problems. That doesn't make it any less delicious to us lol. If the fruits aren't toxic, or totally undigestable - does it HURT them to feed a tiny bit once a month or so just so they can enjoy it?

This is debatable, but I'd say yes, it does do harm. It is not the same as a human eating cheese burgers. Any herbivore relies heavily on a proper balance of gut flora and fauna to digest their food. This is needed due to the nature of the cellulose in the plants they eat being difficult to break down. Think of the ruminant stomachs and cows chewing their cud that we all learned about in high school biology. Human and carnivore stomachs are much less reliant on the gut flora and fauna. When you introduce those sugars, it upsets this balance and throws everything off. It has also been documented to cause parasitic "blooms". So each time you give those "treats" its upsets the balance in their GI tract. They can come back from it, but each time a person does it, it sets them back. It doesn't cause an upset in our GI tract or a parasitic bloom when we eat a slice of pizza or and ice cream cone. Ahh! Maybe there is an example. Giving ice cream or milk to someone whose lactose in tolerant. It isn't going to kill the person, but its not good for them, even if they like the taste.

 

[Tropics]

I’ve only given fruit twice, the opuntia fruit, sliced a bit up to mix with some wheat grass and some left over watermelon. I tried giving some strawberry tops but he only ate the leaves.

 

[Gillian M]

I never give Oli fruits,or anything sweet.

 

[Tom]

I’ve only given fruit twice, the opuntia fruit, sliced a bit up to mix with some wheat grass and some left over watermelon. I tried giving some strawberry tops but he only ate the leaves.

I know a guy that feeds his tortoises whole bananas, skin and all, in large quantities on a regular basis. He thinks nanners are a "superfood" and its great for them.

His herd is alive and well and he gets babies from them. His babies don't survive because he starts them too dry, but they grow up nice and healthy when I hatch and start them. I bought a clutch from him one time and hatched them myself.

Its amazing what they can survive in some circumstances.

 

[Bass.Isles]

This is debatable, but I'd say yes, it does do harm. It is not the same as a human eating cheese burgers. Any herbivore relies heavily on a proper balance of gut flora and fauna to digest their food. This is needed due to the nature of the cellulose in the plants they eat being difficult to break down. Think of the ruminant stomachs and cows chewing their cud that we all learned about in high school biology. Human and carnivore stomachs are much less reliant on the gut flora and fauna. When you introduce those sugars, it upsets this balance and throws everything off. It has also been documented to cause parasitic "blooms". So each time you give those "treats" its upsets the balance in their GI tract. They can come back from it, but each time a person does it, it sets them back. It doesn't cause an upset in our GI tract or a parasitic bloom when we eat a slice of pizza or and ice cream cone. Ahh! Maybe there is an example. Giving ice cream or milk to someone whose lactose in tolerant. It isn't going to kill the person, but its not good for them, even if they like the taste.

Oh, the lactose intolerance IS a good example! I had never thought about it like that. And yeah, i get the bovine thing too. I was raised on a cattle farm. Cattle are mainly herbivores and sustain mostly on vegitation. But a lot of people who don't have appropriate grazing pastures, will provide cattle feed that is mainly corn and other grains sweetened with molasses. We always tried not to do that, except during the winter when the pastures weren't thriving. But like i said, when i do give fruit, its barely a tablespoon and not more than once a month. In fact, ive had isla for a little over 6 months now and i think ive fed her a total of 4 tbsps of different fruits. But i mainly created this thread because I do know fruit is not great for them, in general. I was kind of hoping to get opinions on which fruits were the least disruptive to their GI tract, like which had the lowest sugar content.

 

[Tropics]

I know a guy that feeds his tortoises whole bananas, skin and all, in large quantities on a regular basis. He thinks nanners are a "superfood" and its great for them.

His herd is alive and well and he gets babies from them. His babies don't survive because he starts them too dry, but they grow up nice and healthy when I hatch and start them. I bought a clutch from him one time and hatched them myself.

Its amazing what they can survive in some circumstances.

Not the same animal, but I remember having a neighbor who would feed his rabbits meat everyday. Says he was training it to be strong for some reason. Did not believe it until he showed me how it readily ate some grilled chicken. Don’t know how that rabbit ended up, doubt it survived too long it was kept in a very small cage.

 

[Bass.Isles]

Not the same animal, but I remember having a neighbor who would feed his rabbits meat everyday. Says he was training it to be strong for some reason. Did not believe it until he showed me how it readily ate some grilled chicken. Don’t know how that rabbit ended up, doubt it survived too long it was kept in a very small cage.

Think the strangest i've come across was when i was like 13 or 14 and was raising hogs. I had a neighbor who also had yorkshire hogs and i was talking to him one day about care and feeding advice and he told me: "yeah, they'll eat anything! We even throw them the scraps from the burchered boar hogs we hunt each year!" ....i thought that was beyond f****d up. I mean, from experience, i will say they do pretty much eat anything, it's called "sloppin' the hogs" for reason, but... come on! lol

 

[Bee62]

Think the strangest i've come across was when i was like 13 or 14 and was raising hogs. I had a neighbor who also had yorkshire hogs and i was talking to him one day about care and feeding advice and he told me: "yeah, they'll eat anything! We even throw them the scraps from the burchered boar hogs we hunt each year!" ....i thought that was beyond f****d up. I mean, from experience, i will say they do pretty much eat anything, it's called "sloppin' the hogs" for reason, but... come on! lol

That does not suprise me. Hogs eat really everything. They would even eat a dead human body....

 

[Taylor T.]

Think the strangest i've come across was when i was like 13 or 14 and was raising hogs. I had a neighbor who also had yorkshire hogs and i was talking to him one day about care and feeding advice and he told me: "yeah, they'll eat anything! We even throw them the scraps from the burchered boar hogs we hunt each year!" ....i thought that was beyond f****d up. I mean, from experience, i will say they do pretty much eat anything, it's called "sloppin' the hogs" for reason, but... come on! lol

There was story not too long ago about someone who went into the hog's pen, tripped on something, and broke his leg. Apparently this was enough to convince the hogs he was food......

Anyway, back on topic, I never feed my Russian fruit.