Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been wanting to get some good leaf litter for my yellow monitors, the thing is, I live in the desert and I'm paranoid about leaves from just anywhere that could have been exposed to some kind of toxins. I have mostly oleander as well as some pine and palm trees. I do have a Kadota fig tree whose leaves died after recent cold weather. I bagged them up to use as substrate. I noticed they had kind of a nice smell and they seemed pretty safe. I decided to search for some info on Kadota figs, Ficus carica. I found the following info from the California Invasive Plant Council:

The leaves of edible fig contain at least two furocoumarin compounds that are activated on exposure to a certain waveband of light and can then cause a skin rash in humans (Damjanic and Akacic 1974, Evans and Schmidt 1980). The activated furocoumarins are primary irritants, meaning they chemically or mechanically irritate the skin rather than causing an allergic response. The mode of action of these compounds is not known, but they may photobind to DNA and/or ribosomal RNA in epidermal cells following exposure to ultraviolet light in the 320-370 nm waveband (Evans and Schmidt 1980).

I don't know what to think about that. If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know.

Thanks,
Neal
-----
pale reason hides the infinite from us

The saps in most/all? ficus trees is an irritant, which can affect many different animals, especially humans. I have gotten a few mild rashes from some ficus sap in the past, I can't imagine it being too good for other animals to come in contact with either. As far as toxicity goes, I do not have a clue. I would just rather use a different species. I don't know where you're located, but oak leaves work great. They do not turn to mush, and take a while to compost down to a soil. The best leaf litter I've experimented with in my opinion,

cheers,

bob
-----
TheOdatriad

Hi Bob, thanks for your response. I guess it's a no go on the fig leaves, too bad though, they seemed like a good idea at first.

I've heard oak leaves are good. I live halfway between Tucson and Phoenix, if there are any oak trees around here, I'm not aware of it. I'm also concerned that leaves from somewhere besides my property could have pesticide residue or other toxins.
Thanks,
Neal
-----
pale reason hides the infinite from us