Can Horsefield Tortoise Eat Pumpkin? SAFE/NOT?

Can Horsefield Tortoises Eat Pumpkin fruit, Seed and Skin? Yes, pumpkin is a good food for Horsefield tortoise. Not as a main diet though, more of a treat. If you grind the meat, skin, and seeds of the pumpkin into a mush, and feed it, it will also act as a natural dewormer.

Can they have the Seeds?

Yes, you can feed blended or crushed seeds in with the other stuff. The skin and seeds is what deworms your tortoise.

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Can Horsefield Tortoise Eat Pumpkin?

Yes, they can. I do feed mine sometime but I don’t freeze it in order to use it often as the composition is not really all that great.

However, as a food that is available only once in volume (halloweeen) a year, I don’t think it as dangerous.

The values for raw pumpkin are as follows:

In 100 grams of raw pumpkin

  • 600 % water
  • % protein
  • 000 mg Calcium
  • 000 mg Phosphorus
  • 000 IU Vitamin A
  • 500 % Carbohydrate
  • 500 % Fiber

As you can see, the calcium or phosphorous ration is low to be used as a staple. I add a calcium supplement to it when I feed to my tortoise.

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Some people use it as a fall “fiber flush” and high carbohydrate source for prepping for hibernation.

On a side note to this – pumpkin contains Mannitol, which is a known.

The seeds are high in fiber and is a food that has the highest mannitol by far. 150,000 – 200,000 ppm. In contrast other natural sources are pomegranate; 18,000 ppm and celery stems with 10,000 – 20,000 ppm.

Chicory also contains it but to a much lower degree.

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Can Horsefield Tortoise Eat Pumpkin

A Naural Wormer?

Yes, it has been proven to be an effective natural wormer. In fact, I would add some pumpkin to the diet of an animal suffering from probable or possible kidney problems so this helps clear the kidney.

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It encourages urination too so I would use it with an already dehydrated animal. Similarly, it promotes water absorption from the intestines. (Yes it does both.)

I would recommend mixing it in diets of newly imported Asians undergoing treatment as so many of them appear to suffer kidney problems as long as hydration is maintained, especially If I were treating it with an antibiotic with an antibiotic that has known kidney impact.

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