# Aloe Vera?



## Marty333

Is aloe vera safe for little chevy? I have plenty of it so I want to just make sure.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Aloe_Vera.jpg


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## DeanS

Marty333 said:


> Is aloe vera safe for little chevy? I have plenty of it so I want to just make sure.
> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Aloe_Vera.jpg



Geez Marty...you should have mentioned that from the start! Aloe is GREAT for them...same principle as cactus...slice it small and watch him go to work on it...you alternate that with opuntia every other day or so...and he won't get bored with his diet!

HA! This is my 1000th post!


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## JohnathanO

@ DeanS -Congrats on 1000 posts. 

Good to know about aloe, I've heard its good for them but I was still skeptical of putting it in with mine.


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## Tom

Just make sure it is new growth on an established plant. In other words don't feed it if its a potted plant that you just bought from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago.


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## DeanS

I think she lives in a little botanical paradise...everything is growing around her...talk about blessed 



JohnathanO said:


> DeanS -Congrats on 1000 posts.



Thanks! I think Tom had a thousand posts his first month


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## Marty333

hmm I think I should post pics of my little botanical garden some day. well its not really that little lol.


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## stells

It is good but if fed to often it can lead to runny poop...


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## Greg T

Mine found my aloe plants in the backyard and managed to eat most of them in a matter of days. They definitely like it!


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## Seiryu

Yep it's safe. I have tried it with mine, no luck yet.

I think someone on here (wayyy back) said that they actually tried it themselves and they said it tasted like hair spray. So I guess tortoises like the taste of hair spray...


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## moswen

i turned an aloe vera pot sideways in my sulcata enclosure a few days ago... the one leaf that was touching the substrate has completely disappeared.... funny how things just disappear in an enclosure with three sulcatas...


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## bllauben

You guys are lucky enough to get your torts to eat plants. Boris and Sonya just lay on them and kill them. Wait! They took the heads of the rose bush and then laid on top of it. Still trying to save it. I do want to plant Aloe in my enclosure. Thanks for asking that question!


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## ChiKat

Nelson loves aloe! Of course my plant has since died  but he loved it while it lasted


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## Marty333

I gave chevy some aloe but he can't bite it hard enought to get a piece of it


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## ChiKat

Aww too tough for a little baby? You could try to cut it in half so it's a little juicier and easier to bite.


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## greekmark1234

The species has a number of synonyms: A. barbadensis Mill., Aloe indica Royle, Aloe perfoliata L. var. vera and A. vulgaris Lam.,and common names including Chinese Aloe, Indian Aloe, true Aloe, Barbados Aloe, burn Aloe, first aid plant. The species name vera means "true" or "genuine." Some literature identifies the white spotted form of Aloe vera as Aloe vera var. chinensis, however, the species varies widely with regard to leaf spots and it has been suggested that the spotted form of Aloe vera may be conspecific with A. massawana. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as Aloe perfoliata var. vera,[ and was described again in 1768 by Nicolaas Laurens Burman as Aloe vera in Flora Indica on the 6th of April and by Philip Miller as Aloe barbadensis some ten days after Burman in the Gardener's Dictionary.


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## Nofx

Hmm, I wonder. Does Aloe Vera have the same high calcium value as Opuntia?


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## tortoises101

Nofx said:


> Hmm, I wonder. Does Aloe Vera have the same high calcium value as Opuntia?



No, but it does contain lots of nutrition compared to other succulents. It's a good varietal item, and to get past the hard outer coating I just cut the piece open and scoop the pulp out. Aloe vera is an especially good succulent for leopards and sulcatas.


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## Yvonne G

I was looking for the oxalate content of Aloe Vera and came up with this PDF chart:

http://www.lowoxalate.info/food_lists/alph_oxstat_chart.pdf

I think the initials mean VL-very low L-low, etc.

So Aloe Vera is very low in oxalate content per this chart.

In other research I found that it is used for humans to counter act irritable bowel syndrome.

One site had this to say about Aloe Vera:

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Halts the growth of cancer tumors.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Lowers high cholesterol.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Repairs "sludge blood" and reverses "sticky blood".
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Boosts the oxygenation of your blood.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Eases inflammation and soothes arthritis pain.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Protects the body from oxidative stress.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Prevents kidney stones and protects the body from oxalates in coffee and tea.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Cures ulcers, IBS, Crohn's disease and other digestive disorders.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Reduces high blood pressure natural, by treating the cause, not just the symptoms.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Nourishes the body with minerals, vitamins, enzymes and glyconutrients.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Accelerates healing from physical burns and radiation burns.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Replaces dozens of first aid products, makes bandages and antibacterial sprays obsolete.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Halts colon cancer, heals the intestines and lubricates the digestive tract.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Ends constipation.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Stabilizes blood sugar and reduces triglycerides in diabetics.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Prevents and treats candida infections.
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Protects the kidneys from disease. 

Of course all this is for humans, but sounds good for tortoises too, huh? I know that if my russians eat too much of the aloe plant in their pen I see an awful lot of runny stools.


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## Torty Mom

That was awesome Yvonne! I just gave everyone aloe for the first time on Sunday and the hatchlings went CRAZY it was like tortie crack. So much that when I fed them their grasses the next they looked at me like "yah right, where's the good stuff?" Looks like a super food to me!  

Thanks for doing that research, your the bestest!!


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## tortoises101

Torty Mom said:


> That was awesome Yvonne! I just gave everyone aloe for the first time on Sunday and the hatchlings went CRAZY it was like tortie crack. So much that when I fed them their grasses the next they looked at me like "yah right, where's the good stuff?" Looks like a super food to me!
> 
> Thanks for doing that research, your the bestest!!



lol that story is so funny, torty mom! Just hope they don't get hooked on the aloe! (if not already)


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## Cre8ruckas

so beings there MANY different types of ALOE, are they all safe for my little sulcata to eat??

could some post some pix of the aloe that you feed to your sulcatas? thanks.


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## Yvonne G

This is the plant that gave my Russians loose stools. 







We had a pretty hard frost two nights ago and there is frost damage on the plant now, but it won't die.


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## DeanS

Unlike Opuntia (which you can feed out everyday), you would only want to use two blades a week for your torts.


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