Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just came from Home Depot and Lowes, I have been looking for plain old cypress mulch to use as bedding for my Burmese tortoises. They had color-enhanced mulch, weed-killing enhanced mulch, rubber mulch (!!), everything but plain old cypress mulch. They did have Hemlock mulch and it appeared not to have additives like the others. Has anyone used Hemlock mulch as bedding? Is it safe, non-toxic, etc?

I have found cypress mulch at Agways if you have them near you. Tom

POISON HEMLOCK AND COWBANE are NOT evergreens at all, but deadly poisonous herbs of the Apiaceae Family, which makes them close relatives of Parsley, Caraway, Carrots, and Parsnips. In fact, the leaves of young Poison Hemlock resemble those of Carrots. Fortunately, the mature plant grows tall, with many tiny, white flowers in umbrella-like clusters above smooth hollow stalks that are often marked with purple spots. Two toxic species are commonly found in Nova Scotian ditches, pastures & wetlands.

POISON LOCATION:
All parts of the plant containing the yellow, oily sap are poisonous, but especially the leaves.

POISON TYPE:
Alkaloids, structurally related to nicotine. The toxin produces a similar stimulation before severely depressing the nervous system.

TYPICAL POISONING SCENARIO:
Accidental consumption by livestock, by children who are attracted by the flowers, or by adults who mistake POISON HEMLOCK for Caraway, which it resembles. It pays to take care in identifying the edible members of this plant family. If you are in any doubt, bruise the plant in question; POISON HEMLOCK will give off a strong, unpleasant odour said to be like that of mice.

SYMPTOMS:
Brief initial stimulation, followed by severe depression of the nervous sytem, paralysis, and death. The plants are more likely to be fatal for children than adults.
The poisonous qualities of these plants have long been known. In ancient Greece, the philosopher Socrates died in 399BC of drinking a potent solution of POISON HEMLOCK, which was favoured by his countrymen as a "humane" method of execution.

What you were referrring to was Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum)This is an bush ans not the same as what they make mulch from which is Eastern or Western Hemlock.

Both E. and W. Hemlock are pare of the Pine Tree Family of the Tsuga species. See note below. Mulch that is purchased would be of the Tsuga variety and not the poisonious one that you noted.

Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, An evergreen tree from the Pine Family (Pinaceae) is a popular landscape tree found in urban areas throughout the state of Ohio. However, as a native tree, it is only found in the eastern half of Ohio, primarily in Appalachia. Eastern Hemlock is native to southern Canada, the northeastern United States, and all of the Appalachian Mountains down to Georgia. In the wild, it thrives on the north slopes of hills and mountains or tucked into ravines, where there is more shade, cooler conditions, and more moisture in the acidic, organic, well-drained soils of slopes.
www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry/trees/hemlock_est.htm

In any case I would use cypress mulch. I don't know how much resin might be in the hemlock variety.

The poison hemlock you are describing is an herbaceous plant(Conium maculatum), and is NOT the same as the coniferous trees (Tsuga canadensis or Tsuga caroliniana, etc.) which are used to make the mulch. The trees were so named because they SMELLED similar to the poisonous plants, but the trees themselves are not poisonous in that sense. The herbaceous plant produces an alkaloid poison called Coniine which is quite similar to Curare, the poison used on arrows in South America.

However, it has long been recommended not to use pine bark mulch for tortoises because it breaks down into turpentine-like compounds which ARE bad for tortoises. More research would be required to determine if hemlock mulch produces the same turpens, but I would suspect it does, since hemlocks are cone bearing trees just as are pines. Hence, you probably should avoid it unless it is proven to be safe, but not for reason stated in the above post.