Making my yard tortoise friendly

[Snaz]

Hello! I currently have a 1 year old sulcata that goes outside for several hours a day in an enclosure. As she gets bigger, I want to give her the run of the fenced in yard, but I have a lot of night shade and wood sorrel that I read are not good for tortoises. I am willing to replant my whole yard, but I need to know how to control the undesirable things growing in it so my baby doesn't get sick. Any help would be greatly appreciated! It won't be this summer, but next more than likely. I want to be prepared for when she is a bit bigger. (I know we don't know sex yet, I just say she for now.)

Thanks!

Cari

 

[TammyJ]

It seems to me that all you will have to do is remove the toxic plants before you put the tortoise in the (hopefully enclosed) space.

 

[Maggie3fan]

It seems to me that all you will have to do is remove the toxic plants before you put the tortoise in the (hopefully enclosed) space.

Great advice Tammy...I also have nightshade...no Sulcata that I've kept tried to eat it. However, it comes out of the ground easily w/the root...

 

[Tom]

Hello! I currently have a 1 year old sulcata that goes outside for several hours a day in an enclosure. As she gets bigger, I want to give her the run of the fenced in yard, but I have a lot of night shade and wood sorrel that I read are not good for tortoises. I am willing to replant my whole yard, but I need to know how to control the undesirable things growing in it so my baby doesn't get sick. Any help would be greatly appreciated! It won't be this summer, but next more than likely. I want to be prepared for when she is a bit bigger. (I know we don't know sex yet, I just say she for now.)

Thanks!

Cari

I pull all undesirable plants, or unknown ones out by the root. One at a time.

 

[SinLA]

Also I would start now, because you won’t know which will be successful and which won’t over time. Certain things like asaparagus fern are simply next to impossible to get rid of. I have creeping fig, it will be next to impossible to fully remove without a blowtorch, and even then…

 

[Snaz]

Thanks everyone, but I don't think you understand how much wood sorrel I have. The night shade could possibly be pulled, but the wood sorrel is down to the ground and mixed in to the grass. I just don't want to screw her up. Is there anything natural that I could use to kill the weeds, but that won't hurt my torts? Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

When I had my sulcata his LARGE yard also had a lot of oxalis (another name for wood sorrel)
mixed in with the Bermuda grass. The only way to get rid of it in this type setting is to kill the whole lawn and start over. I didn't choose that method. I just left it alone. Oxalis is high in oxalates, not actually poison. My sulcata didn't eat it.