Prickly Pear Cactus Pads

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brandybryon
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Prickly Pear Cactus Pads

Postby brandybryon » Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:42 pm

I was so excited! My neighbor surprised me with some spineless prickly pear cactus pads to plant. While researching how to successfully plant them, I came across a tortoise website. It said not to feed full size pads to Fred as the oxalate level is high. This is the first I have ever heard of this. I quickly checked the food chart to make sure I didn't miss a note and don't see anything.
Anyone out there know anything about this? Is it just the species of cactus(spineless)? I am attaching a screen shot of what I found for reference.
Thank you everyone in advance!
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kingofnobbys
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Re: Prickly Pear Cactus Pads

Postby kingofnobbys » Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:10 am

Plant in a pot …. these are considered a noxious weed here in Australia ….
SuperNinjaDragon
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Re: Prickly Pear Cactus Pads

Postby SuperNinjaDragon » Thu Aug 16, 2018 4:30 am

I am unsure about if it is safe to feed, but I recommend to plant it in a pot, like kingofnobbys recommends!
They are very drought-resistent plants, that can spread very fast. Burn them? They have so much water that it's useless. Pull them out? Their spines are not only sharp, but break off and stay on your skin(Remove all spines with thick rubber gloves perhaps? Fabric will just make them stick). Mow them over with rollers? Their pads will just break off and they'll spread.
If cactoblastis are found in your region they probably won't become a pest plant like in Australia, where they once covered millions upon millions of hectares if land, rendering properties unusable and abandoned.
Sorry, just watched a documentury on these plants and am now thoroughly tramatised XD Just look at the last page of this: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/asset ... y-PP62.pdf

I heard that their fruit are a sweet delicacy for us humans, so perhaps it should be fine for reptiles. I might get a more green-thumbed person to confirm before I feed though!

Edit: *slaps forehead* I was so into typing up all the info I learnt that I forgot you wrote that they are spineless prickly pears (prickly pears - spines = pear?) Sorry about the unnecessary spine info!

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