Young Leo having trouble eating Opuntia cactus...

[Burblest]

Hello. I've got a fairly young Leopard tortoise approx. 8 months old (had for about 5), and I recently acquired some Opuntia for the first time. Like many young Leos, he's been reluctant to eat grasses and prefers broad leaves. As a result, and due to the winter months, he's been getting a lot of organic dandelion, wild strawberry leaves and a few other weeds. Anyway, he was curious about the cactus and tried to eat some, but has a lot of trouble biting any chunks off. It seems he's become frustrated or bored with trying and is not really interested any longer. Hopefully in a few days he'll be more willing to try very thinly cut slices, rather than the 1 cm thick pieces. Anyway, my question is, is his lack of jaw strength (if this is the cause) an indication of bad growth, or simply because he's used to softer foods? Like I said, I will try te cactus again in a little and see if he'll try it again. Have most of your leos been able to eat Opuntia easily? He's got a basking spot of about 97-100 degrees, cooler on the opposite end. UV light, humid hide (though he hardly uses it), warm hide, sand/soil mixture substrate mix, water dish and soaked 3 times a week. Sorry for the long message and thanks for any help!

 

[tortoisenerd]

I have a 5 month old russian hatchling and I spend a lot of time prepping the cactus for him. I de-spine it by hand (no Opuntia near us), then cut it at least in half as I have a small/thin pad to begin with. Then, I cut it into chunks that are 1-3 bites for him. He's still getting a hang of using his arms to hold the food so he can tear it. I try not to cut or tear his food up any more than necessary. How much do you usually cut up his food? He could just be used to not having to "work" at it. My little one has been known to give up after a couple tries if he can't get it.

Does his jaw look to be aligned properly? I've also heard of that being a possibility. Any noises when he eats?

Cactus is the one food of his I put in small pieces because of the texture of it, it is more difficult to tear for them. The stickiness just adds to the difficulty as well. My little guys loves it and I've read that it's great for calcium and fiber. If it's cut up for him, he'll go for the cactus over anything else and even dig through his food pile for it. Best of luck getting it to work for him.

 

[RTfanatic]

The young ones have trouble with the skin of the cactus but it's good for them to try. I usually put the young pads from the ones I planted in the little one's pens and after trying to bite it a couple of times they usually end up breaking through the skin. If I have no young pads I break open a larger one so they can eat along one side. Again, it's probably good to give them something a little tough to get into to help them strengthen their jaw muscles.