Safety of rocks in your yard

Doreen S.

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Aug 9, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Staten Island New York
Can anyone tell me if the rocks in my yard will be safe to put in my tortoise enclosure I live in Staten Island New York and or if I can somehow clean them??
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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If the rocks haven't been sprayed with chemicals, and they are too big to swallow they should be fine. I just hose them off or rinse in a bucket if they are small enough.
 

Ed mitch

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Sep 24, 2016
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Can anyone tell me if the rocks in my yard will be safe to put in my tortoise enclosure I live in Staten Island New York and or if I can somehow clean them??
They should be fine for your tortoise, however if you do want to clean them I'd just rinse them underwater and give them a scrub
 

Doreen S.

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Aug 9, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Staten Island New York
If the rocks haven't been sprayed with chemicals, and they are too big to swallow they should be fine. I just hose them off or rinse in a bucket if they are small enough.
I'm not sure if chemicals are sprayed on that's why I was hoping that there was a way I could clean them like boil them in something if that's possible really don't want to have to go out and buy The Rock's I got tons in the yard
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I'm not sure if chemicals are sprayed on that's why I was hoping that there was a way I could clean them like boil them in something if that's possible really don't want to have to go out and buy The Rock's I got tons in the yard

How long have you lived there? Any reason to suspect someone might have sprayed chemicals? Like a gardener or something?

In most cases, I'd be comfortable using a rock after boiling it. Even if you went and bought rocks, there is no way to know if someone recently sprayed insecticide around the rock pile.
 

ethan508

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Jun 3, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Northern Utah
Rain and sunshine would remove most pesticides and herbicides in a season but washing is cheap insurance. Are you talking about native rocks or imports? Lava rock is popular in some landscapes in my neighborhood and it is really abrasive and really porous. But in general I wouldn't worry much about natural rocks.
 

Doreen S.

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Joined
Aug 9, 2016
Messages
68
Location (City and/or State)
Staten Island New York
Hi Ethan on Instinct I boiled the rocks already and put them outside thinking the sunshine would kind of take care of business too! Hi Tom will I live here 20 years lol!! but on both sides of me I think they do use chemicals so that's why I was worried just can't wait to move to AZ probably in one more year my heart aches for AZ
 
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