General Care Discussion :: Will bamboo hurt my turtle?

[BurgerMeister8]

I've heard that bamboo is a good filter and was wondering if it would hurt my turtle if it ate it

[steve]

Good filter? I don't understand.

[kmichael55]

I think he's referring to the fact that plants oxygenate the water, consuming CO2 and sometimes reducing ammonia, anacharis is a good oxygenater and is definitely safe for the turtles to eat

[BurgerMeister8]

Ok my friend just called it a filter so I stuck with that. So where can you get anacharis?

[kmichael55]

Petsmart sells it, $2.19 a bunch at the one around me... cheap and the turtles love it

[marisa]

Anachris is a good oxygenator, so is hornwart. If you want a plant that provides filtration, I'm told water hyacinth is good.

[BurgerMeister8]

ok thanks

[DavidY]

I use bamboo in my vivarium setup (part water part land w/ frogs and a day gecko) with several other live plants. The local Petco also sells aquatic bamboo at reasonable prices so I assume they are safe for aquariums. As far as eating is concerned, many animals feed on bamboo shoots including humans. The nutritional content appears to be very high on phosphorous compared to calcium so if your turtle takes a liking to the taste, I'd remove it.

[BurgerMeister8]

Wow that sounded scientific and the wierd thing was I understood it. Ok thanks david.

[steve]

Bamboo is NOT an aquatic plant. Must be thinking of "Lucky Bamboo", which is really dracaena sanderiana and is toxic to cats and dogs.

[DavidY]

Ah that's interesting, Steve. I didn't know that. It looks alot like bamboo too. The Dracaena species of plants are usually recommended for live plantings in reptile terrariums. I never knew that they were toxic to cats and dogs though. Do you think there is any toxicity to reptiles?

[BurgerMeister8]

well I would not try it if it's toxic to cats and dogs.