Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm working on setting up an outdoor box turtle enclosure for rescued / non-releasable individuals. I have a few select areas that are ideal in terms of sun exposure. Where I currently am planning to put it is also a 20ft Holly tree. Don't know what kind it is but I do know it's not the native Ilex opaca that is common around here. Also, a horticulurist very familiar with Va native plants wasn't certain of it.

Regardless, it sheds a LOT of berries and a lot of them would wind up in the box turtle enclosure. So I need to know if they are problematic for box turtles. I looked at multiple websites for turtle toxicity, but I haven't found one where the info wasn't based on HUMAN toxicity. The way I figure, if birds eat them and birds are nothing more than glorified reptiles, it stands to reason that it would be ok for box turtles too!

Also, a neighbor has a rather large pokeweed about 15 ft from the holly on the other side of the fence. Problems with berries there?

Since the holly is growing within 12 inches of a shed, I wouldn't mind having an excuse to cut it down. HOWEVER, I am depending on the holly to provide a lot of shade for the turtles.

Thanks!

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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society online store
http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

K,

What you doin' here?

My thoughts on hollies and poke weed: chances are that birds will strip the plants of berries before they even hit the ground, or, in the case of the holly, before turtles are up from hibernation. That said, I don't think that there is a toxicity issue with either plant.

Did you get the cheat sheet I sent?

Thanks Steph. Unfortunately the birds don't do a good job of eating the berries, so a lot of them hit the ground. Of course I've had to put hundreds of pokeweed seedlings out my yard because of that.

You make a good point about the holly. I don't recall when when it dropped its berries but I'm certain it was in the fall. That gives me time to rake them up before the turtles come out of hibernation.
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society online store
http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

As far as poke goes the berries are the least poisonious part of the plant; the poison is in the seeds. When eaten by birds,the seeds pass through.I imagine the same thing happens in box turtles.
Where are you in VA?
Charlie

Yep, I'm in southeast Virginia. I hope the same thing goes for pokeweed berries and box turtles. They tend to chomp at things instead of how a bird just swallows it whole.

>>As far as poke goes the berries are the least poisonious part of the plant; the poison is in the seeds. When eaten by birds,the seeds pass through.I imagine the same thing happens in box turtles.
>>Where are you in VA?
>>Charlie
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society online store
http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

I found a list of plants not to feed a tortoise on the California
Tortoise trust site that said not to feed the roots of pokeberry.
Like most lists it was composed of plants poisonous to mammals.
I guess these lists are the best we can do.
We're in the Shenandoah Valley.
Charlie

I did a huge search for tortoise/turtle enclosure toxicity issues the last few months. I have found nothing that is chelonian-based, rather than human-based. It turns out that I have 3 very large shrubs in my enclosure that ARE known to be toxic to nearly all animals. It figures. Those same bushes provided the boxies with their shelter for this last winter. So I'm having to decide whether to manually cut off any berries that form or take out the bushes altogether. Neither is a good choice.

Holly is considered toxic, but I haven't seen any of mine try to eat it. That doesn't mean they won't. I took the 30 foot holly out of my front yard years ago because I just don't like them underfoot. But, if that is your source of shade, it's something to consider. You might just take it out and put up a shade sail or something else until you can find a fast-growing non-toxic replacement.

HTH,
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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org