Is this poisonous to Sulcata tortoise? Eve’s pin cactus

[DoloriSulcata]

Hi everyone,
I recently took over care of a 6ish year old sulcata. I’m wondering if this cactus is poisonous to her? I can’t find anything specific to this one. It’s called eve’s pin. Scientific name Austrocylindropuntia subulata. Thanks in advance!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

From what I've found it's a close specie to a well-known Opuntia cactus and is considered non-toxic. However it has more glochids and spines. Suprisingly, there are no messages of any tortoise hurt by spines when eating cacti.

I try to stay away now from "is it a safe plant" topics as there are to many quirks and it's a huge knowledge domain. Maybe @RosemaryDW could help..

 

[DoloriSulcata]

From what I've found it's a close specie to a well-known Opuntia cactus and is considered non-toxic. However it has more glochids and spines. Suprisingly, there are no messages of any tortoise hurt by spines when eating cacti.

I try to stay away now from "is it a safe plant" topics as there are to many quirks and it's a huge knowledge domain. Maybe @RosemaryDW could help..

I was surprised to see that too when I was searching all the plants in our yard, I was worried about their eyes getting poked or something…. Thanks so much for your response! It’s actually very helpful

 

[RosemaryDW]

Cactus itself is pretty much always a good thing, plenty of calcium and fiber.

As humans we sometimes think about what could harm us rather than thinking about the tortoise. Your tortoise has a very strong jaw that's not very fleshy; they can handle tougher foods than we can. Of course you don't have to feed anything you don't want but I wouldn't necessarily avoid it.

Desert tortoise eating cactus:

 

[DoloriSulcata]

Cactus itself is pretty much always a good thing, plenty of calcium and fiber.

As humans we sometimes think about what could harm us rather than thinking about the tortoise. Your tortoise has a very strong jaw that's not very fleshy; they can handle tougher foods than we can. Of course you don't have to feed anything you don't want but I wouldn't necessarily avoid it.

Desert tortoise eating cactus:

View attachment 362934

Thank you so much lol, this is the response I was looking for 🙏🏼