Plant ID

[Maddoggy]

Im starting to go through my outdoor enclosures and checking if the plants my torts are exposed to are safe. I have been raising them for over five years in the enclosure and not had any problems , they tend to ignore most of the plants and concentrate on grazing the st Augustine grass. I really didn't think about it until I read on the forum that all the plants in the enclosure should be identified and removed if not safe. These are two that I have identified but am not sure if they are safe. One is a narrow sword fern and the other is basket grass. Any help about the saftey of these plants would be appreciated. If i can not find out if they are safe or not I will have a lot of work removing vegetation

 

[Maro2Bear]

Basket Grass! We never had it here in Maryland & now it’s all over the place. I often pull this weed in large bunches & provide to our Sully. I can’t really tell if she eats it, or just drags it about. Never any problems here.

Ferns. Some good, some bad. Tortoise table says - Although not all ferns are toxic some ferns do contain carcinogens. Many also contain thiaminase, an enzyme that depletes the vitamin B complex in the body. Because many ferns are difficult for the non-specialist to ID, we advise people to avoid feeding ferns to their tortoise unless they can positively identify the species and know that it is safe.

 

[Maddoggy]

Thank you. Im not feeding my torts the ferns or basket grass. It's in the enclosure that they have been living in. For the most part they ignore them for the more desirable plants. There is a lot of plants in their enclosure and I will be posting plants all week long. But thanks again,any plants I dont have to remove is good news to me

 

[Maro2Bear]

Good. Always good to properly ID.

I have a question in to our MD University Ag folks about the Basketgrass.

You can check in & see if folks in FL can assist you here -

Ask Extension

customer support platform

ask2.extension.org

 

[Maddoggy]

Good. Always good to properly ID.

I have a question in to our MD University Ag folks about the Basketgrass.

You can check in & see if folks in FL can assist you here -

Ask Extension

customer support platform

ask2.extension.org

Thank you