Have a read of the thread 'Mystery cactus falling over'. Yours is the same plant, not a prickly pear. You have the same problem, not enough light. Make sure your pot has a drainage hole and it would be better in a cactus potting mix. You probably will not flower it and it will not bear edible fruit.

Your plant is an Opuntia. I'd thought of the name prickly pear as a common name for Opuntia but I'm guessing s g and others might apply the name prickly pear to only certain species of Opuntia and the plant in the pic isn't one of them.

so much info i'm a little confused your saying my plant is an opuntia not prickly pear it doesn't blossom is that right? the pot does have drainage holes and has been out doors on my deck all summer the soil is cactus soil. did i get it right?

Like Polypompholyx, I've always thought that prickly pear was a common name for Opuntias in general. All Opuntias will flower (unless there's some sort of monstrose form I don't know about that doesn't).

The cactus soil would be better if you added additional perlite to it. Cactus soil right out of the bag usually doesn't drain as well as cacti would like.

Opuntia is a genus in the Cactus family of plants. There are several different kinds of Opuntia. One of them, Opuntia ficus-indica, is widely grown as a food crop. It produces edible fruits, so it is often called ‘prickly pear’. Many people use that name for all kinds of Opuntia, including yours, while others only use it for Opuntias that produce edible fruits.

Your plant is Opuntia microdasys, also called ‘bunny ears’. In the wild and in a greenhouse mature plants get yellow flowers, but for most people it is not easy to get them to bloom. The fruits of your plant would be edible, but they don’t taste good, so nobody really eats them.

Hard to tell from your picture, but your plant looks like it may be Opuntia microdasys var. pallida f. cristata, which has more twisted pads than regular bunny ears (Opuntia microdasys var. pallida).

Thank You everyone for your comments until next time