Re: Galops and nutrition

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Posted by Max on July 04, 2000 at 12:46:10:

In Reply to: Re: Galops and nutrition posted by A. C. Highfield on July 04, 2000 at 02:51:40:

: Certainly, I'd cut the corn and fruits. Their digestibility is way too high. In essence, look at much more fibrous green-leaf material and orchard hays. Treat as for a G. sulcata or G. pardalis, basically. Galapagos tortoises do pretty well on de-spined Opuntia pads, for example (high Ca:P ratio, excellent fiber content). If you have a large outdoor pen, I'd seed this up with a good quality pasture-type mix. The large the area, the less work for you feeding the beast, and the better-of nutritionaly it will be. As for alfalfa - yes, I'd certainly restrict the dry stuff. Fresh is better (lower) from the protein perspective. Some is OK, too much can prove problematic.

In a lot of the older books, we'd see pictures of tortoises eating opuntia with spines on it, apparently, with no ill effect. Do you have any insight on this? Thanks

Also, as far as dry vs. fresh grass, I had a friend whose Galap. died from constipation. He was feeding a lot of hay & didn't have adequate water.

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: : Certainly, I'd cut the corn and fruits. Their digestibility is way too high. In essence, look at much more fibrous green-leaf material and orchard hays. Treat as for a G. sulcata or G. pardalis, basically. Galapagos tortoises do pretty well on de-spined Opuntia pads, for example (high Ca:P ratio, excellent fiber content). If you have a large outdoor pen, I'd seed this up with a good quality pasture-type mix. The large the area, the less work for you feeding the beast, and the better-of nutritionaly it will be. As for alfalfa - yes, I'd certainly restrict the dry stuff. Fresh is better (lower) from the protein perspective. Some is OK, too much can prove problematic. : In a lot of the older books, we'd see pictures of tortoises eating opuntia with spines on it, apparently, with no ill effect. Do you have any insight on this? Thanks : Also, as far as dry vs. fresh grass, I had a friend whose Galap. died from constipation. He was feeding a lot of hay & didn't have adequate water.

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