SoCal folks

[Renee_H]

Weeds 😄 I’ve been keeping myself busy identifying various weeds I have naturally growing within and near my enclosure. My plan isn’t to plate any of them as I’m growing intentional foods for that. But I’m at like 30+ varieties of weeds so far based on the iPhone plant ID and finding a lot of contradictions on safe vs not safe. Many don’t even appear on the tortoise table. Can I get a list of MUST remove for those in SoCal. Not the “not ideal” but the ones that might kill a tort if they decide to nibble or graze on them? I think I need to work backwards here and work to eliminate the ones that are truly a known issue. This is one example I’m confused on I believe it is a spurge variety or sandmat and this one I’m finding several of popping up everywhere. Many more obviously but this one is making me dizzy reading conflicting things. A Leopard will be living here 😁

 

[KarenSoCal]

First thoughts- oleander, datura (aka jimson weed). Jasmine is not good, but not sure about the "certain death" qualification.

 

[Tom]

Weeds 😄 I’ve been keeping myself busy identifying various weeds I have naturally growing within and near my enclosure. My plan isn’t to plate any of them as I’m growing intentional foods for that. But I’m at like 30+ varieties of weeds so far based on the iPhone plant ID and finding a lot of contradictions on safe vs not safe. Many don’t even appear on the tortoise table. Can I get a list of MUST remove for those in SoCal. Not the “not ideal” but the ones that might kill a tort if they decide to nibble or graze on them? I think I need to work backwards here and work to eliminate the ones that are truly a known issue. This is one example I’m confused on I believe it is a spurge variety or sandmat and this one I’m finding several of popping up everywhere. Many more obviously but this one is making me dizzy reading conflicting things. A Leopard will be living here 😁View attachment 375266

That grows here a lot in my yard, but not in the tortoise pens. I don't feed it to them on purpose, but its not deadly toxic to them either, as far as I know. I believe it is high in oxalates, which we are learning as time goes by, is not much of a problem for a tortoise.

It grows from a central root and spreads out forming a "mat" of sorts. If you begin picking it up at the edges and gathering up the whole mat in a clump in your hand, it is easy to remove the whole mat at one time by pulling out the root. I just pulled a whole pile of it from my yard this morning when I was cutting grass and clover to feed to my herd.

 

[Tom]

First thoughts- oleander, datura (aka jimson weed). Jasmine is not good, but not sure about the "certain death" qualification.

Oleander and azaleas are deadly toxic. I know of tortoises that have died from eating jasmine.