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Post by fred on Aug 24, 2011 18:12:57 GMT
I am finalising a safe wood list that I also want to put onto a separate web site so that it can be accessed by degu owners who don't come to this forum or may - heaven forbid – even be members of other forums. I would appreciate help with a few questions:
- It seems that trees from the genus Tillia are called linden in the USA and lime in the UK. Is this correct, and if so, are there two different lime trees here (as there also seems to be one belonging to the citrus family)?
- There are quite a few trees in the aspen / poplar (Populus) genus. Which particular species would people in the UK and North America be interested in?
- A specific question for members in Canada, Québec and the USA: how much interest would there be in different maple trees? The information on these seems a bit unclear to me, and if I would do the list only for European countries, I would simply ignore them.
- And a specific question for the German members: what about beech? There seems to be a single anecdote where a group of degus was claimed to have been poisoned by feeding them beech. This seems to have been quite some time ago (I couldn't even find the original report), but I am not sure whether this has ever been discussed rationally?
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Post by Maravilla on Aug 24, 2011 19:38:03 GMT
Hello Fred,
is this list intented as base for cage building materials or for branches in the cage?
I have in one cage a board of beech which is not protected against chewing. My little monsters gnaw from time to time but as it is quite hard wood "damages" are far less than they are in boards made of pine or spruce.
I hope davx can answer this question more detailed.
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Post by fred on Aug 24, 2011 19:47:02 GMT
The list is for branches in the cage, with or without leaves.
It will largely be davx's list in English with a few updates and additions.
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Aug 24, 2011 21:15:10 GMT
- There are quite a few trees in the aspen / poplar (Populus) genus. Which particular species would people in the UK and North America be interested in? - A specific question for members in Canada, Québec and the USA: how much interest would there be in different maple trees? The information on these seems a bit unclear to me, and if I would do the list only for European countries, I would simply ignore them. Fred, I am happy to hear you will be working on this project. Since this will be an english safe wood list, you will most likely be getting lots of views from the USA and Canada. In Québec and in Canada, maple trees are very common. A common question is whether or not Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) is suitable for degus. The sap of this maple is used to produce very sweet syrup in Québec. Some wonder if the sap of this maple contains enough sugar to harm degus. Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) is also very common here, especially in urban areas. Many Maple species here collect large quantities of starch before winter. As the snow melts and warmer spring weather arrives, the starch is transformed into sugar and accumulates in the sap. This is why maple tree sap is sweet. This might be something to look into. In Québec, maple syrup is done by boiling the sap to remove all the water and keep the concentrated syrup. This might mean that taking a maple tree branch and boiling or heating it in the oven may have no effect. The water in the sap might simply evaporate leaving the sugary residue in the veins of the branch. Having said this...maple trees only produce sweet sap after a cold winter. The accumulation of starch in the veins of the tree only starts late in Autumn. Maples that grow in warmer regions do not produce sweet sap. This means that there should be no problem in using maple tree branches that have been collected during the summer, as there is no sugar or starch in the sap at this time. I believe that if Maple is accepted as being safe, advice should be given about not using branches that have been collected/cut off during winter or spring (time of the year where the sap in the tree is very sweet). Those that live in the USA should not worry about this though, as the weather generally does not get cold enough for Maples to produce starch or sweet sap. As for trees in the Populus genus; Populus Tremuloides is very common in the forest here. Populus deltoides and the Lombardy Poplar are also very common trees. Birch of course, will also get a lot of attention as this is one of the most popular trees in northern forests. |
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 24, 2011 22:05:45 GMT
Aspens figure largely all throughout Canada and the US. The ones I have in the back garden are clonal Aspens . . . as in they all grow up from a singular root formation and are essentially a single organism. They are also known as Trembling Aspen (Populus Tremuloides).
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