Are these plants safe for my cherry headed tortoises?

Kenneth91619

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Joined
Feb 22, 2022
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4
Location (City and/or State)
Oregon
Hello Everyone I'm building a large enclosure for my cherry head tortoises and I have compiled a list of plants that I have loosely found to be non-toxic to my torts. Some of these plants there was very few information and my intention isn't too feed these plants to my torts but to dress up the enclosure. Its going to be setup more like a vivarium with humidity in the 60-80% range daily and the temps in the 70-80F range daily with a night hide box with a heating mat and a basking area of 95F. I simply want to know if these plants are safe/non-toxic if accidentally ingested or touched. These plants are made to grow on the walls and be out of reach initially. The ground will be covered with leaf litter, moss and I incorporated a waterfall that flows into a creek the depth of a typical tort plastoron so they can drink and soak when they please. The ground will be about 2-3ft deep with a drainage layer of lava rock and a shower drain to drain water. The enclosure is 6ftx7ftx8ft

Bromeliads
-Vriesea
-hieroglyphica
-splendens
-nova
-gigantea
-erythrodactylon
-racinae
-fenestralis
-Neroregelia
-fireball
-super fireball
-malibu
-Guzmania
Boston Fern
-Nephrolepsis bostoniensis
Java Moss
-Taxiphyllum barbieri
Peperomia
-serpens
-emarginella
-villicaulis
-villicaulis
-reptans
-sp. “Silver stripe”
-rotundifolia
Fungus
-Mycorrhizae
-Trichoderma
Biophytum
-Sensitivum
Dwarf African Violet
Ruellia
-Makoyana
Pleurothallis
-brighamii
-dodsonii
-allenii
-tribuloides
 

turtlesteve

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Sep 23, 2012
Messages
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Ok. I don’t know about your whole list but I know Boston fern is safe (if it is identified correctly). Peperomia is usually considered safe but I have yet to use it in a tortoise enclosure. It would probably get eaten. Bromeliads are usually safe but I can’t vouch for every species. Other good enclosure plants are pothos, spider plant, and mondo grass (liriope). Some sites consider mondo grass mildly toxic but it is very unpalatable and grows well indoors. It must taste horrible because they leave it alone. Lower light palm trees also make good enclosure plants if you have space as they are non toxic and resist being trampled or eaten.
 

Kenneth91619

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Feb 22, 2022
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Location (City and/or State)
Oregon
Only two I have not identified as being either safe or non-toxic:
Little Tree Plant (Biophytum sensitivum)
Dwarf African Violet
 

Kenneth91619

New Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2022
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4
Location (City and/or State)
Oregon
Ok. I don’t know about your whole list but I know Boston fern is safe (if it is identified correctly). Peperomia is usually considered safe but I have yet to use it in a tortoise enclosure. It would probably get eaten. Bromeliads are usually safe but I can’t vouch for every species. Other good enclosure plants are pothos, spider plant, and mondo grass (liriope). Some sites consider mondo grass mildly toxic but it is very unpalatable and grows well indoors. It must taste horrible because they leave it alone. Lower light palm trees also make good enclosure plants if you have space as they are non toxic and resist being trampled or eaten.
Thanks for the tips! I'm looking into mini palm trees since the enclosure is the height of the ceiling minus a foot for lights, misting equipment and fans. Do you know of any species of mini palm that don't grow past say 5 ft that would be safe or non-toxic to tortoises? My setup is for my cherry head torts which are Jungle Torts and I'm building this enclosure vivarium style so most plants will grow epiphytic attached to the walls or potted on the wall. Anything I grow on the ground must be sturdy or have rocks dammed up to prevent bulldozing from the torts.
 

turtlesteve

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10 Year Member!
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
711
Indoors I am using sabal minor and livistona chinensis mostly because they are tough and tolerate low light. Livistona would normally get big but will stay dwarfed with limited room for roots to grow. Rhapis (lady palm) would probably work too but I killed mine.

Another safe plant is bamboo and there are dwarf bamboos that get 1-2’ tall that would probably be OK in enclosures but I’ve never tried them.
 

Kenneth91619

New Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2022
Messages
4
Location (City and/or State)
Oregon
Indoors I am using sabal minor and livistona chinensis mostly because they are tough and tolerate low light. Livistona would normally get big but will stay dwarfed with limited room for roots to grow. Rhapis (lady palm) would probably work too but I killed mine.

Another safe plant is bamboo and there are dwarf bamboos that get 1-2’ tall that would probably be OK in enclosures but I’ve never tried them.
Thanks for the info can't wait to share the building process. Dwarf Bamboo sounds really cool. I will have 6 (6 bulb T5 HO Fixtures) over the enclosure so its gonna be intense lighting. Over my aquarium at 3ft one of the T5 fixtures read 350par at the surface so I'm guessing I should be fine with low light plants on the ground since they will be like 6.5ft below the lights.
 
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