# Arizona - any toxic grasses?



## pliken (Sep 5, 2011)

Hi - forgive the cross-posting, but there seems to be a lot of interest in this topic but not many answers, so I thought I'd try the Desert thread:

Does anyone know if there are any grasses that are toxic or known to be bad for tortoises? (moldy doesn't count)


Paula (and Lightning)


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## ascott (Sep 5, 2011)

When you say grasses, do you refer to seeds you can purchase at the store and plant....or are you referring to non native invasive species of grasses?


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## pliken (Sep 6, 2011)

ascott said:


> When you say grasses, do you refer to seeds you can purchase at the store and plant....or are you referring to non native invasive species of grasses?



Foraging - so both native and invasive species. I know sedges are OK; I was wondering if the same thing can be said for all grasses?


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## ascott (Sep 6, 2011)

There are very few "blade" grasses that are going to do any harm....there are however a great variety of invasive grasses that can cause harm to tortoise as well as other wild life:

Red Brome
Yellow "foxtail"
Cheat Grass

These are just a few of the more common invasive grasses that have taken over our deserts....while they can be consumed in their wet/growing stage, once they begin to dry out they become a deadly item....you can look each of these up on the internet simply by typing in their names....also, if you do a search on "invasive grasses of arizona desert" you will likely get hits on these as well as a couple other ones....these are cultivated with the help of the wind as well as flooding....

These invasives have caused the thinning of hawks, falcons and other rapture birds....the birds will come in on a swoop to snatch up a rodent/food and blast into the dried grasses which then get in their eyes and this prevents their awesome vision, which has then led to starved birds found in areas where there are a large population of rodents....also, tortoise and other low to the ground critters will also get these things lodged in their eyes, noses and throats and cause huge infections.... Just to share a few negative things related to the invasive grasses.... 

....sorry for the spelling error in "raptor, not rapture" using my stupid smart phone and it is always trying to help me spell things... LOL


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## pliken (Sep 7, 2011)

ascott said:


> There are very few "blade" grasses that are going to do any harm....there are however a great variety of invasive grasses that can cause harm to tortoise as well as other wild life:
> 
> Red Brome
> Yellow "foxtail"
> ...





Thank you so much! This has been the most informative answer besides the cautions against moldy grass. I'm not planning on planting any, so I won't be contributing to the problem. So even these are OK to forage as long as I break off the seed heads?


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## ascott (Sep 7, 2011)

...keep in mind this for refs...every single spiked head of one red brome has 70+ seeds with 25% of those that will survive and take root and germinate during winter months when native plant species are dormant...so these weed grasses are highly invasive...with that said...I would absolutely pull the entire weed GENTLY from the ground and without letting go of that pulled plant put directly into plastic bag and when that bag is full slowly seal the top and discard from your property...burning is best on a day with no wind...these grasses are a perfect invasive and will smother out native and desirable weeds quickly...they have near no nutritional value and wildlife has begun to consume simply out of necessity due to the invasive destroying native vegetation.....so, I would be compelled to beg you to manually destroy any of these grasses....they have no redeeming value....


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