Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay we had these HUGE shrubs in our backyard which we decided to take down. While i was breaking up all the brnaches and making them smaller, i realzied how perfect some of them would be for my snake/gecko homes. Well, i have NO clue what kind of plants these are, and if they might be toxic to the animals. They were covered in spiders/ants, so im going to boil them and let them dry in the sun. This picture is of the flowers that grew on the shrubs. If anyone has any clue what kind this is, or if its safe, please let me know. (its probably something real common, but im not a plant person haha)

thanks.

Sorry

That looks like it would be a beautiful shrub, why would you cut it down?!?

it grew to be WELL over 5 feet... and wascovered with aphids. It took up a big portion of the yard because there was 2 or 3 of them.. i wasnt the one that cut it down though. I came home from work and the yard was littered with branched and leaves... they basically cut them all down at the trunk and waited for me to come home and chop it up. Back to my question though... IF i boil them and let them soak in the sun for a while... would it get rid of any poisonous material put out by the plant?

But what you might try is to take it to a local plant nursery and see if they can identify it. The hard part is figuring out if it is toxic to an African snake KWIM? Unless it is something known to be very toxic like a poinsettia it will probably be hit and miss and not something you want to take a chance on. Can't hurt to do a little research.