Hello ! Newbie here!

[chicki57]

Hi everyone! This board looks great! Glad to find one that is actually active! Well I just got my first tortoise. He's (not actually sure about this) about 6 weeks old and is a redfoot. Came from a breeder in Calgary. Baazil is his name and he is of course adorable!! Looking forward to "torty talk"!!

One question I have is about the cactus Opunti? They refer to it as food for the redfoots, but I don't understand how there would be cactus growing in panama or any rainforest for that matter?? Maybe one of you can shed some light on this for me.

Also, one of my daughters is thinking about adopting a tortoise. She lives in Edmonton. Does anyone know any rescue groups around here??
thank you
Lynn

[Linds]

Welcome to sSnakeSs.com! :bounce:

I don't know much about Optuni so I cannot answer on that specifically, however they do have some types of cacti (such as prickly pear) in their natural environment. The entire range they live in isn't all rainforest ;) They are typically found in area with rather dry land (although humid). I fyou can find pictures of them in their natural environment, you may be able to get a better idea, you will often see them in hard, rocky terrain, etc.

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Welcome to ssnakess
You will like it here

[red bootz]

Hi there. There are a few of us here that keep red foots.
Opuntia pads are often suggested as part of a varied tortoise diet because they are high in nutrients with a calcium to phosphorous ratio of more than 2:1.
As for not being a normal food Item on a wild tortoises diet...well, we would probably be very hard pressed to recreate a diet constituting what a tortoise would eat in the wild. The logistics are just mind blowing. Thus, we keepers feed romaine and endive and papaya etc...things that they would never encounter in the wild but whose nutrients constitute what we think is healthy for the tortoise. And for all the things that we lack in veggies and fruits we make up for with vitamin supplements and a GOOD commercial tortoise diet. Well I do anywayz.

Anywayz, welcome to the site!

[red bootz]

Oh by the way, I think prickly pear is a type of Opuntia Cactus.

[CDN-Cresties]

Welcome to the site!

-Steve-