Honeysuckle leaves?

Len B

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I have never heard that honeysuckle is poisonous. I have been feeding it (japanese honeysuckle, lonicena japonica) (leaves, flowers, and new growth stems) to tortoises for years, some love it and some don't. I grow it in several different places just for the tortoises to eat and the aroma the blooms give off during the summer months. Honeysuckle is a part of the seasonal varied diet I grow to feed to my tortoises. Unless you have some weird type of honeysuckle I think it might be safe to give some as a treat to your tortoise.
 

Greg Earnest

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I have never heard that honeysuckle is poisonous. I have been feeding it (japanese honeysuckle, lonicena japonica) (leaves, flowers, and new growth stems) to tortoises for years, some love it and some don't. I grow it in several different places just for the tortoises to eat and the aroma the blooms give off during the summer months. Honeysuckle is a part of the seasonal varied diet I grow to feed to my tortoises. Unless you have some weird type of honeysuckle I think it might be safe to give some as a treat to your tortoise.
I don't think it's a weird kind just a normal everyday honey suckle. Bought it from my local nursery. Thank you for the info!
 

matchdog

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I had the same question about the flowers. I had a vine grow over my fence and wanted to give my Spike the flowers. So the the white flowers are safe?
 

Prairie Mom

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I had the same question about the flowers. I had a vine grow over my fence and wanted to give my Spike the flowers. So the the white flowers are safe?
Totally safe. Heck, my family eats them! They're super sweet if they still have their nectar inside. If your variety gets berries, just always avoid the berries.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecoma_capensis Cape HoneySuckle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysuckle True Honeysuckle

I had a similar question sometime back and found many people feed both types. Leaves, stems, flowers (maybe not berries). I feed Cape honeysuckle flowers out in great abundance with some individuals going out of their way to get them.

I had a green iguana that survived well on 'true' honey suckle (plant nursery common type). By well, it was most of it's diet, a huge bush grew in the enclosure and that was the preferred diet item to such an extent I stopped feeding him most days.
 

HarvestHerp5

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This is good to know. I have plenty of honeysuckle growing around my yard. Maybe my picky redfoot will eat it. She doesn't like hibiscus!
 

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