Cactus?

So i have been looking and looking to find info on cactus plant pads (also refered to Nopales) and if it is healthy for gliders to eat? My buddy Stitch loves it, and his mother did too, but i all i can ever find is the cactus fruit(prickly pear) being ok for them. i'm assuming that it is okay for them since the fruit of the same plant is and, i have not noticed any unhealthy changes in them while it is part of their diet but i want to be sure.

I feed nopalitos to mine, they love it! I've not fed the fruit, but the green part.

Some other off the normal list things they like: jicama, sweet potato, squash (diced, mixed with the other veggies, alone they won't touch it), plums, kiwi, mine LOVE asian pears.

Mine go crazy for prickly pear. I'm just not too crazy for the prickly part. (and the staining) I wear gloves when peeling those things. When they're in season, I stock up, make recipes and freeze it for the gliders' fruit/veggie cubes.

I have never heard of nopalitos until now. Now I'm going to have to be on the lookout.

I'm not familiar with the term "nopalitos but is that the green leaf looking part of the cactus. It has tiny thorns on it. If so I saw some for the first time in an asian market that recently opened up by my house. Just looks like a cactus leaf and they just labled it cactus.

If this is it, how do you serve it to the gliders and does anyone know the Ca:PH ratio of it? Is there an easy way to remove the tiny throns?

for technical purposes it is called a cactus pad. here in texas we can find it with out the thorns, and in some places already sliced up.

when i serve it i will cube it, and then slice those open through the middle to make the "meat" easily acsessable.

as for the Ca:pH ratio your guess is as good as mine :-/