Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Oh boy, now I have a good one for you all. The neighbors have pine trees in their back yard and the turtle pen is near one of them. I have noticed that the trees are dropping small little things that are oblong and the color of a mealworm into the pen. Are these harmful for the turtles? If so I am going to be very busy for quite a few days, weeks, or what have you checking the pen and gathering those little seeds or whatever they are up and tossing them out. I presume they are the buds that fall off from where the cones are going to form or something. Moving the pen is not an option at this time since it just got built there. Guess I wasn't thinking about the darn trees dropping anything into my yard.

Does anyone know if these are going to harm the turtles? I don't know that they would eat them, but I was always taking little rocks that they cabbaged onto out of their mouths when I let them have the whole yard as a daytime home, so I am not so sure that they will leave these things alone. Any ideas as to whether these are a danger to them? If so, I guess I could set up some kind of canopy over the area where the buds are falling into the pen and that would catch them for me. Of course that would be an easy thing to do if I still had my clothesline across the pen! Darn it anyway! .......9boxies

Pine bedding is harmful to animals but I don't think that stuff falling off of a pine tree is going to be a major worry.
In the wild the box turtles would encounter this anyway & stuff falling off a pine tree is likely not killing off all the wild turtles.
I'd bet they aren't going to eat this stuff that falls off the trees & if they do try it, hopefully they'll think YUCK & not try it again.
If it were me, I don't think I'd worry about it right now.
We have stuff falling off our trees right now, although they aren't pine trees, but our tortoise who's a total herbivore doesn't eat what's falling off the trees.
Hobo the box turtle isn't eating it either, he's in the mood for protein right now, plant matter seems to mean nothing to him at the moment.
If it were me I'd keep an eye on them, which I'd do anyway but I don't think I'd worry too much about this.
-----
PHRatz

Yes, I think you are right. I suppose turtles have an instinct on what is not to be eaten, and if they do eat it, well, hopefully it is harmless. I was just thinking that while they are eating on their concrete feeding stations that if some of those buds happened to blow over on to the food and they ate it, that might be bad. Well, I usually sit out there and talk to them while they are eating anyway, so I can just watch and move anything that blows that direction.

Ok.......I need to get some housework done, even if I don't want to. At least I can see the hummers from inside the house since the feeders are hung on the overhang of the patio and porch. You have a good day! ........9boxies

These little things are the parts of the tree which release the pollen. That green film on most of our cars in the spring...it comes from those little things. I'm sorry for my lack of scientific explanation, but you catch my drift.

I have no clue as to their chemical make-up, or if they can be toxic. I can tell you, though, that I grew up in the Pine Barrens of NJ. These little things were everywhere! We had huge populations of box turtles in the barrens, and the turtles in my pen were subjected to buckets of these things. They never seemed to have a problem. The worst thing about these things, in my opinion, is that my mom would see them on the floor, shriek, and yell at me to come get the bug that I must have dragged in .

StephF, kensopher, and PHRatz......thank-you for the input to my question. I guess I have nothing to worry about, but will keep an eye on them to see if any are exhibiting a behavior not normal to them.

This a.m. I was out and 2 of my 8 that are out in the pen came out of their cubbies so they had some apple and a couple of mealworms. I am on my way to the store now so will get them some more items to make them a good veggie plate the next time any come out to stretch their legs or get a drink. It is a little breezy here right now, and supposed to get really windy in the next day or two so perhaps they will all have a good meal tomorrow and then go into hiding once again until the weather passes us by.

I love the way my turtles look at me when I see them and cluck at them or talk to them to get them to come over my direction for something to eat. They are really so inquisitive. I am going to have to get some pics of them.

Alright......I will get off of here again. I just wanted to acknowledge the replies to my question. Thanks again........9boxies

What you're probably seeing are the male buds of the pine tree: they have a tendency to litter the ground after pollination, and, at a casual glance may resemble some sort of worm or larvae.Pines have male and female flowers on the same plant: the female buds grow up to be pine cones.
Check this link for an illustration of a white pine and its parts.
Link