Is bamboo safe for tortoises?

Status
Not open for further replies.

~Amanda~

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
30
Location (City and/or State)
New Jersey
Hello,
I'm setting up my Russian's enclosure and it's almost done but I'd love to add some lucky bamboo. Lucky bamboo is the type that grows in spirals and is usually found at a grocery store or sometimes a pet store. It's quite pretty. Looks like this: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...75,d.dmQ&fp=ca3eb50b33875d72&biw=1280&bih=664

Anyway, I can't seem to find anything on the Internet that says if it's safe OR unsafe. I'm not putting it in there with the intention of it being a meal for my Russian (I already have actual edible plants in there), but I'd obviously not want it to be toxic if he/she did decide to munch on a leaf.

Thanks in advance! :)
 

jaizei

Unknown Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
9,105
Location (City and/or State)
Earth
Lucky Bamboo is not actually a type of bamboo and is usually listed as toxic
 

~Amanda~

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
30
Location (City and/or State)
New Jersey
jaizei said:
Lucky Bamboo is not actually a type of bamboo and is usually listed as toxic

Ah, you're right, not actually from the bamboo family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_sanderiana

After googling Dracaena sanderiana I couldn't find it listed anywhere as harmful to pets other than dogs or cats. Technically, the leaves would probably be out of reach of the tortoise, but obviously I'm not willing to take any risks for the sake of aesthetics. :) I think I will do some more searching around. Let me know if anyone finds anything else on the topic of Dracaena sanderianas.
 

Kapidolo Farms

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
5,172
Location (City and/or State)
South of Southern California, but not Mexico
A simple good way to find if a plant is a good or not recommended tortoise diet item is to list the plant name and the word tortoise in a search engine.

For example "lucky bamboo tortoise" in the term search box for google. Results in this

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...5,d.aWM&fp=443df112168ae7b8&biw=1371&bih=1094


The first web page hit is the one posted in an earlier reply. The trick, then is to get the right name for the plant, and that can be a huge trick, so a reference photo, like what the images for "lucky bamboo" gets on the same google result list is good.

For what it's worth real bamboo is an OK diet item.

Will
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top