Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I put my leopard tort on the back deck which is wood-I notice he gnaws at the woodfor a couple seconds(its pressure treated) every once in a while-is this OK

Updated pic

I would have to say no it's not good for him the older pt decks were treated with arsenic... ya I said arsenic. not good for humans or animals and the newer acq treated lumber has no arsenic but they use a copper quarintine wich is not as bad as arsenic but to each copper can't be good either...

Hello
I used to work with wood and no way is that safe.
A splinter from pressure treated wood is the worst.
I was on a call during EMT training and we had a man that got impaled by a fence post that was pressure treated.
We had to use a hand held saw to cut the post that was stuck in his upper abdominal area.
The wound was treated within 20 minutes and the wood removed.
The infection still almost killed him.
Bottom line is that pressure treated wood is wicked stuff.
I would be very hesitant about ingestion of this type of wood.
I am not trying to scare you just give you a real perspective of the dangers of ingesting pressure treated wood.
I would never even allow my tortoises access to it.
Best Regards
Jeff

Thanks-no more on the porch