Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I remember a post here from a lady that had a sulcata. A bird
accidentally flew into her glass door, and before she could go
get something to get it up with, her sulcata proceeded to gobble
it down, all she could do was watch the feet going down in horror!

blah, no more kissing on the mouth that week!

I think what we were discussing was that these guys never encounter carrion in the wild so they never consume carrion. I think I can make that assumption considering the example you provided for the fact that most if not all tortoises will eat almost anything.
Along these lines... I have some local birds of prey that pick off the morning doves that roost in my trees (a comodity in SoCal) and then proceed to chow down. One day I noticed my leopard munching on something on the lawn (read... grass). As it turns it was the little breast section of a dove. I guess this could never happen in the wild.
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

actually Ed, it's a little know fact that sulcatas in the wild
with the assistance of leopards (torts), hunt in prides and
regularly take down zebra and wildabeast.

sprinkle Mazuri around their villages to poison the toroises if they try to attack their cattle.

And it's also a little-known fact that most human deaths involving animals in Africa as well as India are from tortoise attacks.

A decade ago, I myself narrowly avoided death at the hands of a crazed sulcata Hellbent on a human bloodfeast when my partner dispatched the beast with a well-placed shot from his rifle straight between it's murderous, bloodshot eyes.

They were probably trying to get the taste of the Mazuri out of their mouths.

And it's MOURNing dove. They are named for the sad-sounding call of the male in breeding season. To the early settlers, it sounded like they were in mourning for a lost loved one.

I haven't lost my touch. I knew the anal retentive keeper would pick up on that.
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

That's disgusting. Well, not really, but it is hard to believe. I assume the bird was dead, or at least unconcious. Otherwise, it would have been a little hard to believe this tortoise ran down a bird and ate it.

At any rate, even if it did really happen, isn't it possible that captive tortoises eat things they normally wouldn't in the wild because of dietary deficiencies? You know, like from eating Mazuri and stuff like that. Like a mineral-deficient tropical tortoise would.