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so i'm at the park
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The second one is a type of thistle, and as far as I am aware they are perfectly safe, spines and all.
Kristina
Kristina
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That's what I was thinking about the second one as well. First might be a type of plantain maybe?
I think the first and second pictures are the same plant. I'm thinking dock...curly dock, sour dock. Toxic.
Please do not feed plants from a park or let your tort graze. 95% sure there are chemicals on it, or at least risks for dog poop and the diseases that go with it (like possibly fatal to a tort heartworm medication). Agree with dmmj!
ChiKat said:
Yup
Those darn little tough mouths can handle it Look at how desert torts and sulcatas mow down on optunia pads, spines included.But I agree that plants from a public park are better left well alone.
Kristina
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I understand your concerns about your average park but this is a small playground in the middle of a housing addition with little dirt wooded pathways to get to it and those plants were found on the pathway. I doubt they have ever been sprayed. Thanks yvonne, ya the second picture is just a close up of the first.
I do doubt your thinking--someone comes and mows that subdivision lawn and adds chemicals to it, even if only in the spring. I would not feed my tort anything from there or even let it walk on the grass, but it is your decision to make. I would not feed from a pathway either as that is likely to have been stepped on, and people step in dog poop all the time at a park, and dog poop can have all sort of ickies like fatal heartworm medication.
I have a large water retention area behind my house- looks like a large soccer field or something. It is surrounded by houses. I pick dandelion, clover, and plantain from the field and give it to Nelson. I also let him walk around back there. I am 100% sure they do not use any sprays or fertilizers back there. They do mow it.
People and dogs rarely go back there, but I am a little more paranoid after reading these posts...I might have to dig up some of the plants and just grow them in pots on my deck. I have little plantain plants started already
People and dogs rarely go back there, but I am a little more paranoid after reading these posts...I might have to dig up some of the plants and just grow them in pots on my deck. I have little plantain plants started already
I think I have that same plant in pics 1 and 2.
Here's one.
And another
I think Yvonne told me these were sour dock too, which are poisonous.
The 3rd looks like a thistle to me
Here's one.
And another
I think Yvonne told me these were sour dock too, which are poisonous.
The 3rd looks like a thistle to me
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ChiKat said:I have a large water retention area behind my house- looks like a large soccer field or something. It is surrounded by houses. I pick dandelion, clover, and plantain from the field and give it to Nelson. I also let him walk around back there. I am 100% sure they do not use any sprays or fertilizers back there. They do mow it.
People and dogs rarely go back there, but I am a little more paranoid after reading these posts...I might have to dig up some of the plants and just grow them in pots on my deck. I have little plantain plants started already
i honestly think you have nothing to worry about, but that's just my opinion, and i'm new to tort ownership (two years.) but really, a tortoise in the wild is bound to come across a plant that has been peed on by a lion, or a tiger, or a giraffe, or a panda bear... i don't think you should knowingly feed nelson a plant that has been peed on, but i honestly don't think it will kill him, or even make him sick. if it made them sick in the wild, they would not have some kind old soul to pick them up and take them to the vet to get some nice antibiotics, and they would eventually die. and that would men a lot of dead wild tortoises. and probably some extinct species. but that's just my opinion! i think nelson has a great mom and you'll do what you think is best for your little guy!
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ChiKat said:I have a large water retention area behind my house- looks like a large soccer field or something. It is surrounded by houses. I pick dandelion, clover, and plantain from the field and give it to Nelson. I also let him walk around back there. I am 100% sure they do not use any sprays or fertilizers back there. They do mow it.
People and dogs rarely go back there, but I am a little more paranoid after reading these posts...I might have to dig up some of the plants and just grow them in pots on my deck. I have little plantain plants started already
moswen said:
Actually, if a dog were recently dewormed, it can leave large amounts of the dewormer in the fecal matter. Heartworm medications for large dogs come in heavy strengths which can kill smaller animals, and again, will pass some in the stool. Its the various medications that owners feed their animals to keep the healthy which may contaminate the plants around their waste. This isn't something a wild tortoise would run into in the wild.
A large field near a retention pond is something I'm aware of though, and as long as the romping and picking area is away from the area used by dogs, it should be fine.
After reading this thread, I'm inclined to head up to the nearby county park myself... they probably spray around the mown grass areas, but I doubt they spray the hiking trails.
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