If a fig falls in the forest...

[Cathy L]

Well, maybe not the forest, but somewhere in southern europe. I know not to feed my hermann's fruit of any kind, but I am curious. If a Hermann's (or other similar tortoise) is walking along in the wild and happens upon a bunch of fallen fruit wouldn't he/she stop and gorge themselves? What would happen? Been wondering.

Cathy

 

[dmmj]

they would probably eat it, they are opportunity eaters, as to what would happen I would imagine nothing as long as it was long term. The big question is whether or not they make a sound?

 

[Isa]

LOL DMMJ
Cathy, I have a feeling they would eat it. I wonder if there are fig trees in the forest? Does anybody know?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

They would for sure eat.

 

[terryo]

When I was a kid, my Dad had box turtles in the yard, and in the Summer when our fig tree was loaded with fruit my Dad's old boxie would sit under the tree for days and eat all the figs that fell. He would even dig under the roots to sleep at night and wake up and continue eating until there was no figs left. He would do the same with the tomato plants, and the apricot tree. Any fruit or veggie that was ripe enough to fall, we left there for the boxies to eat. I'm sure if a Tortoise was in the wild and came across a fruit tree he'd probably do the same thing.
When my Cherry Head found a hidden spot with a lot of worms, he sat there for days and even slept there. I don't know how many he got to eat before I finally found out why he was always in the same spot.
It just seems logical to me that if any animal found a fruit tree, or any other sauce of food he most likely would stay there until it was finished.

 

[Madkins007]

Any tortoise that finds a fun food laying around will eat it, often staying until it is gorged or the food is gone.

There are some things to remember, however...

1. Wild tortoises will counter this by sleeping it off, or not eating much else until it digests.
2. They are doing it in a setting with natural sun, plenty of exercise, predators putting pressure on them, etc.- it is unlikely they will get fat or a problem with it.
3. Tortoises do not always make good food choices- in the wild or in captivity. They are known to eat things that can cause problems even when there are better food options for them. Like so many other animals, including people, sugar and fat seem almost addictive to them.




The consensus of many reptile nutrition experts seems to be that herbivorous tortoises are helped by a small amount of 'non-sweet' fruits in the diet (things like figs, cherries, cactus fruits, bell pepper, squash, etc. Not bananas, grapes, and other fruits high in sugar). They can offer a lot of helpful nutrients, variety, etc.

HOWEVER- it a.) does not apply to ALL herbivorous tortoises, and b.) a key phrase is 'small amount'.

Warning #2- My research on tortoises other than Red-foots is not as tight, so don't that the above comment as an excuse to throw a bunch of apples in your Greek habitat!

 

[Kristina]

Hi Cathy!

I actually used that exact same analogy in writing my nutritional article.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...ises-The-Balanced-Diet-Revealed#axzz1E4ZHYgnP

 

[Tom]

Well, tortoises are certainly opportunists. In my travels I've seen lots of things that make me question all the things that we "know to be true". As long as they are getting sun, exercise, and proper hydration, I've never seen a case of too much fruit hurting a tortoise. I know a breeder that has apple, citrus and peach trees in his tortoise enclosures that drop lots of fruit every year. He's got several species of torts and it doesn't seem to hurt any of them. I've seen lots of this, many places, and I can't honestly say its ever been a problem. We had a member here from Hawaii whose sulcatas lived under some fruit trees. Apparently they eat lots of it all year long and they appear very active and healthy to him and to me. Now, that does not mean I'm going to start dropping fruit in my pens. Just relaying what I've seen.

 

[onarock]

Ive read reports of tortoises in Africa congregating under fig trees at certain times of the year as the trees are producing fruit. But, what I found fasciinating is that they were reported to show up about the same time as the Baboons. Whats so interesting about that? Well... the Baboons show up about 2 weeks before the figs are ripe enough to fall off the trees and Baboons, being wasteful fig eaters, basically take one or two bites from the figs and toss them... down to where the tortoises are. Sounds like learned behavior to me...

 

[Madkins007]

On on episode of 'Planet Earth', they had a cool bit about this. In the Amazon rain forest, the kinds of figs that grow there be miles between ripening trees. Usually, the first animals to discover the ripe fruits will be birds, and more and more species will descend on the tree to take advantage of the bounty.

The noise, activity, and scent soon draws monkeys- first the smaller, quicker ones, then the larger troops. More and more animals arrive- over a hundred different species can show up at a single tree. Yellow-foot tortoises (not shown in the program) arrive as well to gorge on the fruit that makes it to the ground and is not taken by any of the rodent species, etc. that also patrol the areas.

Many of the early arrivals can be picky- only the best parts of the best fruits. Go ahead and be wasteful- there is plenty for you, and a lot of other animals happy to eat the leftovers.

 

[Tom]

Ive read reports of tortoises in Africa congregating under fig trees at certain times of the year as the trees are producing fruit. But, what I found fasciinating is that they were reported to show up about the same time as the Baboons. Whats so interesting about that? Well... the Baboons show up about 2 weeks before the figs are ripe enough to fall off the trees and Baboons, being wasteful fig eaters, basically take one or two bites from the figs and toss them... down to where the tortoises are. Sounds like learned behavior to me...

Interesting note about "learned behavior". I've been noticing this more and more in my own torts. They live for such a long time that they've got forever to learn things. More and more I notice that sometimes they seem to be just sitting and thinking things through. They also have really good memories. Every once in a while I'll turn my tortoises loose on the whole 5 acre ranch. Scooter found some soft dirt hidden in the middle of a weed patch one day. He started digging and I didn't go looking for him for several hours. It took me a while to locate him hidden in the middle of those waist high weeds. I put him back in his enclosure and forgot all about his little excavation. About three weeks went by before I turned them loose again. As soon as I put him down outside his normal enclosure, he made a bee line straight to his weed patch, which was one of dozens. He had to go around a few obstacles and could not see the site at all from where I turned him loose. He walked right into the weed patch and started digging again. No hesitation what so ever. He completely remembered exactly where his "burrow" was and went straight to it after three weeks of being in his pen. I was pretty astounded.

 

[onarock]

Tom, thats a cool story. How old is Scooter and is this something that he has always done? Ive had thoughts about tortoises reaching a certain age (kinda like a mental maturation process) and becoming more able to exhibit this type of behavior. Without digressing too much off the topic... I have some thoughts on hatchling behavior being driven almost exclusively on sight and its not untill they reach a certain age when thinkgs like pridictable behavior and learned behavior become more prevelent.

 

[Tom]

No, he hardly ever tries to dig. Maybe 3 or 4 times in his 12.5 years. That's one of the things that made it so noteworthy.

Interesting theory on age and behavior. I'm inclined to think you might be right.