"tortoise chips"

[Tom]

I had to take a taste myself, and its very nice, seriously it tastes good. The rest is for torts.

I'm afraid to try it. All summer long my hands, arms and body is covered in those little glochids. I find them when I haven't even been handling the cactus pads. I wouldn't want those glochids in my mouth. I don't know how our tortoises do it.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I had to take a taste myself, and its very nice, seriously it tastes good. The rest is for torts.

We've all tried it at my house. My mother-in-law labeled it as food you eat when there is nothing else. Not high praise from a woman who grew up in Soviet times Russia. I kind like them, they have their own unique flavor and like many things it may be an acquired taste.

I think for tortoises and educating people about new and unusual foods, I can find any one of 10,000 scripts here on TFO. I've also sampled out to some folks with Uros and Rhinos, they seem to just feed it totally dry with no problem. No PHT skink people have received any, but someone will sooner or later. I'm okay with it if someone whose first foray onto TFO is "My tortoise will only eat pineapple from under the sea" that will be the charge of TFO en-mass, not just me, to deal with.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

The free sample opportunity will end on Friday 25 September, thereafter samples can be purchased. Those samples will cost US $7.00 each with a $5.00 value towards a later purchase. The not-free samples will be one ounce.

The after Friday 25 Sep 2015 $7.00 samples will only be the chips, they are the favorite. I am working out a pellet, but that is a tougher item to create consistently.

As of today, if you have sought a sample by 10:00am today, it is in the mail. I got a bit overwhelmed, but all caught up now. For everyone who has offered feedback I am grateful and to everyone still sorting it out, what your feedback may be, I am happy to get it.

 

[hollandop]

Hi Will
I'd love to try the dry cactus sample for my torts.
How do I go about?

 

[Yvonne G]

Start a private conversation with Will giving him your name and address. to start a private conversation, you move your mouse over "inbox" in the upper right corner and click on "start a new conversation."

 

[D1105]

I received the free sample today and will add it to my tort's menu tomorrow. Thanks Will!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I have sorted out a cut and drying process that works real well, the pieces dry fast, re-wet faster, and the color is preserved, while still using a cut along the length of the pad to preserve the long fiber goodness. These chips crumble more like potato chips when dry, and have a fruit leather consistency when re-weted. I will package them in vacuum sealed tear open zipper bags with an oxygen/moisture absorbent. This is said to extend shelf life for many years, it is how survivalists food is packed. Once opened the closed bag should be kept in the refrigerator.

Four(4) ounces of dried pad is equivalent to 2 pounds of fresh pad. Ten(10) ounces is equivalent to five pounds of fresh pad.

Please respond with a PM if you would>>>

1) At what price would you consider a 10 ounce bag of Cactus Chips a bargain?

2) At what price would you consider it expensive, but still buy a 10 ounce Cactus Chips?

3) At what price would you doubt the quality of the Cactus Chips?

4) At what price would you not buy a 10 ounce bag of Cactus Chips because they are too expensive?

I asked these questions several days ago, the replies received are so all over the place that my wife, as skilled as she is in interpreting such, offers me no insight. She is a consumer insight/marketing research analyst. I'm letting 'next best alternative' and actual production costs guide this pricing structure.

 

[cyan]

Hi Will!
I received the small, medium and large chips in my sample.

First I offered the small dry with greens and the MEPs were the only ones that ate the dry version.

I then offered the medium wet to the adult pancakes and elongateds and they ate it great with their greens.

The large I only offered wet to the MEPs and, of course, they ate that great as well. I did also offer them some without their greens and they ate it just fine too.

After several tries, the tiny baby pancakes are now eating the small wet with greens. It definitely took them longer to sample the new addition to their food, but now they eat it just as readily as they do their greens.

Thank you for the samples! I would definitely like to keep some on hand as an addition to their regular diet when I don't have fresh cactus to feed.

I would be willing to pay ~$15 (plus shipping) for a bag slightly larger than the equivalent of all the samples I received. I do believe the small size would be the best size for my guys, as I know they will all eat it.

I hope all of this helps!
Cyndi

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Someone tore the label when unpacking the sample, maybe you did too, so here is the new label.

Samples are now, one ounce of large chips for $7.00 delivered in the mainland USA. Foreign postage is extra. That would be $12.80 for Canada and Great Britain. If you use PayPal friends and family I'll pass the 3% onto a tortoise centric conservation effort. If not that's okay, as are checks, cash, and Credit Cards (via PayPal).

If you didn't get a free sample and you buy one as it is offered now, I'll give $5.00 off of a purchase of an eight ounce size or larger, one time only. As I already said, when you place an order, tell me in a PM and you'll get 10% off the price until some further notice. The 10% won't apply to samples or along with a $5.00 off from a sample purchase. If all that's too mumbly, just ask.

Other discounts can be incentivised with well 'liked' images of tortoises eating KapidoloFarms Cactus Chips. All the discount things only work via ordering and posting, PMing, here through TFO. If you go through the Facebook page only, non will apply. Thank you for your interest. Will

https://www.facebook.com/KapidoloFarms

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I'm afraid to try it. All summer long my hands, arms and body is covered in those little glochids. I find them when I haven't even been handling the cactus pads. I wouldn't want those glochids in my mouth. I don't know how our tortoises do it.

Well @Tom, as you overcame your fear and sought a sample, did you try it before offering some to your tortoises? My cat Oscar decided he wanted one of those things I keep doing stuff with. He chewed it down like a mouse.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

What is Kapidolo anyways? There are few interpretations of the source and meaning of this Malagasy word. It means 'ghost tortoise' or maybe 'spirit tortoise'. One reason Pyxis planicauda (Flat tailed tortoise)are called Kapidolo is because they are very cryptic in the wild, it is hard to find them, and then all of a sudden one may move as if an apparition. A natural history aspect of these tortoises is that they seek out and use small clearings in the forest where they live, there are natural clearings, but also many man made, for burial spots. People visiting lost friends and family visit these spots and come across the
"Kapidolo" in the clearing.

Another way to look at it is Ghost Tortoise Farms, but that does not sound as interesting nor does it roll off the tongue so well.

www.facebook.com/KapidoloFarms

 

[Careym13]

OK, here is my feedback on the large cactus chips: I have two yearling Leopards, one is a picky eater and one eats everything in sight. I offered the large chips dry, in a small pile next to the regular feed. The pig tortoise ate them instantly. The picky eater took a bite and walked away. However, when I came home from work that night, ALL of the chips had been eaten by both tortoises.

I will be offering soaked large chips next and then will move onto the medium and small.

 

[Tom]

Well @Tom, as you overcame your fear and sought a sample, did you try it before offering some to your tortoises? My cat Oscar decided he wanted one of those things I keep doing stuff with. He chewed it down like a mouse.

I haven't gotten them yet. I will check again soon.

 

[Neal]

Will, what type(s) of opuntia are you using?

 

[Tom]

Mine arrived. The wife had them sitting on my desk and neglected to tell me.

I will commence feeding trials today.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Will, what type(s) of opuntia are you using?

@Neal, any further questions I answer for you have to be in response to your feeding trial comments.

 

[Neal]

I am fortunate enough to live in an area where I have access to fresh cactus year round, but I would still have interest in a product like this as a "salad topper” when I don't have any cactus pads immediately available.

My tortoises' diet contains a lot of cactus. I have 8 or 9 different types of opuntia, so they certainly recognize what it is immediately when offered.

A female juvenile leopard eating what I believe is opuntia cochenilifera. This seems to be a favorite among all of them. (I apologize for the lack of quality in the pictures. Had I more time in life I would stage the pictures a little better so some of these will be out of focus or have weird stuff in the background)

I wanted to use the above picture to show that my tortoises recognize cactus as normal food.

For the first test, I offered them in their dehydrated state with no other food offerings. She didn't even sniff them.

This female star did not go near them.

Offered them to big Jenny, who will normally eat anything. She sniffed them:

Then asked me "What else you got?"

Notice her wet nose and grass all over her face. She had just finished grazing for quite awhile so maybe she wasn't hungry anymore.

Next trial: offering them on top of other foods. I first offered them on top of a mulberry leaf. The female immediatly took a bite and only got a mouth full of cactus chips.

She did not like them and spit them out and proceeded to focus on the mulberry leaf.

I gave it a rest for a day and did not offer them any food until the evening to see if I could work up their appetite. I also soaked the chips in warm water for about an hour...I wasn't sure what was recommended, but they were noticeably softer at this point.

I offered the larger slices to the female star. She took a bite.

Then spit it out.

Not interested.

Back to the young female leopard. Piled the wet chips on a mulberry leaf. It started to look like she'd go for them.

She ended up pushing them off.

I took what was left of the mulberry leaf away from her and separated a couple of the larger slices and put them in front of her face. She taste tested one of them.

...and did not like the taste.

One of my young males went after the soaked small slices quite aggressively.

I had another female eat it all by itself and she seemed to enjoy it, but did not get any pictures.

From my first round of testing on Saturday I have been trying to guess why the test subjects did not show interest in eating the food. I think most agree that it takes time for tortoises to readily eat new types of food. Although my tortoises get a lot of different types of opuntia, the taste will likely differ if the cactus was grown at a different elevation or different soil type than what I offer in my backyard. Maybe dehydrating it gives it a different texture and/or taste that they don't like.

My suspicion is that you might have used a different type of opuntia than the types they normally eat, or prefer to eat. That's what prompted my question above. My tortoises tend to favor Opuntia Cochenillifera, Opuntia Quimilo, Opuntia Bravoana and don't seem to like types like Opuntia wootonii, Opuntia Ficus-Indica, Opuntia Engelmannii.

If you are only using one type, I may suggest trying others if you have the ability or if you feel it is a reasonable option.

I like the idea Will. Having something that I can store and have readily available for the times when I want to add a little more nutrition and don't have anything available appeals to me. I may place an order sometime in the future for this purpose, but I am not so eager after this trial run observing that most of my subjects did not take to it well.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

It's now known as Nopalea cochenillifera named for the small scale insect that the carmine color dye is made from. Some people who study this suggest it is the oldest cultivated species for the purpose of the insect for the dye. The O.f-.i. has the most cultivated cultivars and they seem to vary much. DeanS uses the "Old Mexico" variety which may or may not be it's own species but perhaps at least a cultivar of an established know species, maybe you know it's species name?

The variety Bob Thomas grows at his facility is a very dark green and his Russians will climb the 'trunk' to get to it. They ravage any pads he places on the ground. When a small group of TFO folks went there he demonstrated this for us with several species of tortoise. So far for fresh, non of my tortoises seem to demonstrate a preference. Not even for a variety I have with purple pads.

However the most published literature on the proximate values of any Opuntia is for O.f.-i. as well as for feeding trials with numerous types of animals and people world over. It is the best known as a food type. The WHO, FAO etc all use O.f.-i. as the point for further investigation. Flavor of course is very site dependent much like wine varietals. Maybe AZ is like the Loire Valley in France for taste of Opuntia. I'll have to stick it out being the Napa Valley.

My feeding directions do suggest wetting with water and mixing in with already fed salad items, based on early feedback of the many free samples sent out to TFO folks.. I am glad so many tortoises are willing to eat it as a stand alone item, but it is meant to be an augmentation to a balanced diet, not the whole diet or a stand alone item.

 

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This image of one ounce (28 grams) is equivalent to slightly more than 1/2 pound of fresh pad. Top center is the 1 inch strips of small diameter (medium chips) bottom right are the larger 2 inch pieces pad width (large chips) and the other pile (bottom left), even though it looks so similar to the top pile was 1/4 (maybe 3/8) inch when wet (small chips) and is the same diameter as the medium chips.

Prairie Mom's image shows angel hair (top), then shoestring (middle to the right), 4 inch chips that were the first non sun dried sample, so better color, lower right, and bottom left are planks (thicker slices the length of the pad. The angel hair is a smaller diameter than the shoestring, they are both pad length cuts. That shoestring diameter is what I am using now for what is in my image in this post, but with the 1 inch and 1/4 inch lengths.

The problem with the angel hair is the diameter. Too much 'juicing' occurs and so individual plant cells that are whole are many fewer, so there is a greater loss of cell contents. That means a much greater loss of non-elemental nutrients. All these piece sizes will provide really good long fiber when sized to the tortoise, and elemental nutrients (N, Ca, P, K etc.) are preserved for any size piece. But there is so much more to why Opuntia is a good food item, I would like to keep that as well. The shoestring diameter and bigger don't 'juice', so that is looking like a minimum diameter, length is as you want it.

If someone has an idea for a different size, I'll try that.


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The next set of samples will go out Saturday AM, tomorrow is a date night with Tamara (my wife). This distribution will include three (ten gram) samples one each of the three sizes in the image.

I got your ffree sample package today, thanks a lot. Looks good smells good. Annette

 

[Momof4]

I think my sample will be here soon. I'm dying to try it!