Question by TurtleLoverr: How much cactus does a Russian tortoise eat?
Please just give me an idea about how much either in pounds or pads that a Russian Tortoise would eat. In any of the following, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 2 years. An estimate is fine if you dont know for sure. Thanks so much!
I will give it more than just cactus, cactus would be a “side dish”.
Answers and Views:
Answer by bongster
Hopefully your giving the poor thing more than cactus.
http://www.russiantortoise.org/russiantortoisediet.htm
What do you think? Answer below!
AlexD says
Ian is correct. Please do not follow Princess' advice – you will kill your TOTALLY herbivorous tortoise if you feed him/her animal protein, and in fact, the non-animal, high protein sources quoted (e.g. nuts) and high sugar items (fruit) would also be harmful. Cactus (opuntia sp) can be fed to Russian torts, as an occasional treat, as it has a good calcium to phosphorous ratio and is quite high in fibre, but horsfields thrive on a drier diet and it shouldn't be fed as a staple. Instead, concentrate on garden weeds like dandelion, broad and lance leaved plantain (the leafy weed, not the plantain fruit that looks like it's from the banana family!!!), clover, sow thistle, etc. Mulberry leaves are also an excellent food. Basically you're looking for high fibre, high calcium, low phosphorous, low protein. Hope this helps?
Iain L says
Do not feed animal protein ie meat/fish.
They are strictly vegetarian
The area they originate from in Asia/Europe doesn't have cacti, try to mimic the natural diet as closely as possible.
At a close estimate in a year a Wild Russian/Horsfield tortoise will eat Zero pads of cactus
Princess says
A Russian Tortoise could probably eat like 2 or 3 pads of cactus every other day or maybe 3 times a week along with some fruits, vegetables, kale, nuts, raisins and some shrimp ( and maybe some white meat like chicken) with lots of water <= this is what I do with my tortoise and he loves it. If you don't see your tortoise eat then don't panic, just as long as you see him drink a lot of water, as long as he stays warm ( either with a heat rock or warm blanket ) and you see that he is in great shape he will be fine especially since now is their hibernation season. I hope this information Helps Good Luck to both you and your Russian Tortoise ! 🙂