Strawberries?

[MrsStaal]

I have read on some sites that I shouldn't feed my tortoise strawberries and on others that I can. What do you guys think?

 

[Laura]

what kind of tort? fruits should only be fed in small amounts.

 

[dmmj]

Depends on the tortoise, mine get the strawberry tops once or twice a month.

 

[MrsStaal]

I have a Greek tortoise

 

[dmmj]

I have a Greek tortoise

In all honesty I would not feed the whole fruit myself. I would give him/her the tops and eat the main fruit myself, that way they get some greens with the fruit.

 

[GBtortoises]

There is really no harm in feeding a healthy Greek tortoise (or other tortoises) a small bit of fruit once in awhile. But fruit in general should not be a regular part of the diet of temperate and arid climate species. Most fruits are high in sugars and acids and not something that most tortoise species digestive systems are evolved to handle in large quantities. While many fruits do contain valuable levels of vitamins and minerals, so do many vegetables and other food sources that are easy to digest. Fruit should definitely not be fed to newly acquired wild caught tortoises or tortoises that are sick or recently recovered whose digestive systems may be weakened by stress or medications.

 

[Madkins007]

What he said.

I think that we sometimes err in not offering fruit at all to the truly herbivorous tortoises. Fruits contain a lot of nutrients that are not available in herbs... but they are also high in sugar, which is not ideal for us.

On the other hand, remember that 'fruit' the way we use it in the forum basically refers to an edible plant part with seeds in it. This means that things like bell peppers, squash, etc. are fruits AND have less sugar than more 'typical' fruits.

Using 'sweet fruits' once in a while for interest and variety, and 'unsweet' fruits a little more often for nutritional variety should be a nice compromise.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Good comments above. I cut up strawberries or other fruits for my guys, but only about once a month or less.