Jack Fruit

[Kapidolo Farms]

So we are all on the same page this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit is what I'm talking about.

This is something readily available in several local grocery stores, fresh and tasty, not canned.

It seems to have originated is southern India, as a cultivated fruit 6000 years ago, and is now global in it production, climate limited to the tropics.

Tortoises seem to think it tastes good too.

The things that prompt tortoises to eat are color and odor. Jackfruit has both.

The nutrient composition is not "tortoise friendly"
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2325

If you have a difficult feeder that might get fruit in it regular diet, this might be the thing that pushes them over the edge. The odor is strong.
Not Durian strong, but strong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

I'll try this sometime too, just not so palatable to many people here I guess.

Any interest to relate your use of these?

Will

 

[Yvonne G]

I've never heard of it, nor seen it in my stores. I've recently switched from my neighborhood grocery store to Walmart, so if I see it there, maybe I'll buy one and see how it goes over with the Manouria and YF.

 

[EricIvins]

Walmart will not have Jack Fruit. Only ethnic stores. When I did feed that kind of stuff, the only Tortoises that would eat it were the animals that would eat for the sake of eating.

 

[Tom]

They sell it in the Asian grocery stores around here. I see it when I go to get frozen snails, or live fish. They also sell about 50 types of mushrooms for anyone with Manouria...

Never tried the jackfruit for me or my tortoises...

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Walmart will not have Jack Fruit. Only ethnic stores. When I did feed that kind of stuff, the only Tortoises that would eat it were the animals that would eat for the sake of eating.

I see what I would call an "improved food response" when I tried it. Not to say some internal cycle of hunger and fullness did not play a role. Most of the animals I feed pretty much do what you suggest, and just eat for the eating, one side of the plate to other.

But those that throat pump air to investigate what the food is, came out of their hides without hesitation when I tried some jackfruit. The normal is to hang back. I think the odor stimulated the response more than anything else. It has a strong smell. I don't know if I'd call it a good or bad strong smell, but it permeates the car when I drive home from the store.

I bought a small piece cut from a giant fruit, and it was wrapped in saran wrap type plastic, but that odor leaks out anyways.

It is in my local Vons, H-Mart, Lucky Seafood, and two other VietNamese grocery stores. There might be a few tons of it within a few miles of my house right now, in the grocery stores.

Will