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.
ALSO SEE: Can Horsefield Tortoise eat Spinach?
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.
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.
ALSO READ: Do Horsefield Tortoise eat Cucumber?
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.
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.