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Post by Karma on Jan 19, 2012 4:29:14 GMT
I know I'm not suppose to ask about specific plants but I've read through as much info as I can on safe flowers/plants for degus and I can't find anything on the couple of flowers I have access to right now in winter.
Are carnations, violets or christmas cactus safe for degus?
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Post by davx on Jan 19, 2012 10:03:48 GMT
Hello,
violets are safe, carnations I assume too and christmas cactus (Schlumbergera species) I am not sure. There are some cactus species that are safe (e.g. pricky pears/Opuntia), others contain hallucinogenic drugs. In addition we have to be careful to distinguish the american true cacti and the cactus like species from Africa: In Africa there aren't any cacti, but the cactus like plants are all from the Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) and containing a white milky and toxic sap. In german they are also known as "Wolfsmilch" (wolf milk).
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Post by winic1 on Jan 19, 2012 14:07:32 GMT
"Violets" means true violets, Viola species. NOT african violets, which are not violets at all!
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Post by Karma on Jan 19, 2012 16:46:05 GMT
Yea it's african violet I have, I found a reference that says it's fine for reptiles but nothing on degus!! I guess I'll have to wait until june-ish for starting my goos on flowers and leaves  |
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Post by davx on Jan 19, 2012 21:33:16 GMT
Well I refered to the true violets (Viola species).
What is the scientific name of the african violets? (btw. in Germany african violet (called "Afroviolett") is a colour mutation by chinchillas)
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Post by fred on Jan 19, 2012 23:50:02 GMT
Karma Of course you can ask about specific plants; you are in fact encouraged to do so  There was only one particular thread where I asked not to go into specifics. Winic1 has raised the important point of one name given to different plants. We'll need to give the systematic names to avoid confusion. This is easy to retrieve from Wikipedia (as long as you southern neighbours don't close it down). I have had another look at the plants you wanted to know about. - Carnations have been fed by some German degu owners and are considered safe (if untreated); I would definitely feed them my girls - I couldn't find anything about African violet and degus either. - The information about the christmas cactus is somewhat contradictory and I would therefore stay clear.
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Post by Karma on Jan 20, 2012 0:25:34 GMT
African violet = Saintpaulia genus Christmas cactus = Schlumbergera genus I also have a shamrock type plant that I think is safe (my cat when he was younger use to eat it all the time) but I can't remember what the flowers look like! I think it is a wood sorrell (genus Oxalis) but I have to wait until it flowers again to know for sure. I can't wait until spring comes because I'll have tons of marigold flowers which the goos already love, and there is red/white clover in our backyard and goldenrod and daisies are everywhere. |
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There was only one particular thread where I asked not to go into specifics.