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Collecting Oak and Eucalyptus Leaves...


mushi

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Was wondering if many of you personally collect your own leaves? Does anyone know of a good place in San Diego for collecting clean pesticide free leaves? I was thinking around fishing lakes like Lake Poway. Are the Euc. and Oak trees found in CA safe for feeding/bedding? Any that I should stay away from? I'll be using these for Domino and Rhino Roaches. Thanks

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Was wondering if many of you personally collect your own leaves? Does anyone know of a good place in San Diego for collecting clean pesticide free leaves? I was thinking around fishing lakes like Lake Poway. Are the Euc. and Oak trees found in CA safe for feeding/bedding? Any that I should stay away from? I'll be using these for Domino and Rhino Roaches. Thanks

I personally collect a wide variety of oak species from my neighborhood park.

Don't collect Eucalyptus; it's toxic to a lot of species, and there are too many species of "bad" eucalyptus that you could mistake for "good."

I use oak leaves for my rhino roaches and they're doing great; many "pet" species love your typical oak as well.

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Any Eucalyptus trees growing in North America are poisonous to roaches. Great for parrots and some other mammals, but very toxic to roaches. The worst part is that they are not immediately toxic, but may take a day or two up to a couple of weeks before the toxins start to kill the roach- its slow acting.

Oak leaves on the other hand are excellent for many reasons for roaches. I use oak leaves in several species.

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  • 2 months later...

If DD's is collecting them from one of the thousands of eucalypts growing in California, then yes they are poisonous. The only way they would be safe is if they were importing the leaves from a safe euc. species in Australia (Queensland) which I highly doubt they are doing, as that is a very expensive proposition so the leaves would be very expensive also.

Mine have only been fed oak leaves for a long time... in fact, it has been over a year since I had even offered any other food item like a carrot or pellet food. I may go toss in an apple chunk right now since I am reminded.... :blink:

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  • 4 weeks later...
If DD's is collecting them from one of the thousands of eucalypts growing in California, then yes they are poisonous. The only way they would be safe is if they were importing the leaves from a safe euc. species in Australia (Queensland) which I highly doubt they are doing, as that is a very expensive proposition so the leaves would be very expensive also.

Mine have only been fed oak leaves for a long time... in fact, it has been over a year since I had even offered any other food item like a carrot or pellet food. I may go toss in an apple chunk right now since I am reminded.... :blink:

I would assume they are importing the leaves since they are $15 a bag. The aromatic eucalyptus are much cheaper when you see them sold around here. Also, my oldest rhino came from them, fed on the eucalyptus leaves. It is doing fine but hasn't eaten any eucalyptus leaves since it got here.

I'm a cheapskate and feed them oak, magnolia, and carrots. They enjoy rainforst tortoise pellets too.

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So has anybody bothered to ask them where the leaves come from and if they happen to know the tree species? I would but I am a bit shy :ph34r: I've never talked to them anyway. I would be interested as I know someday I will keep Rhinos (I know a local guy that keeps and breeds them).

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So has anybody bothered to ask them where the leaves come from and if they happen to know the tree species? I would but I am a bit shy :ph34r: I've never talked to them anyway. I would be interested as I know someday I will keep Rhinos (I know a local guy that keeps and breeds them).

...The easy solution is to only feed oak leaves. Mine only eat oak leaves and they are fine and healthy.

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I know and this is what I planned. It doesn't satisfy the curiosity though <_<

All eucalyptus in the USA are imported varieties used in landscape and/or commercial and private gardens. One of the properties that make them good candidates for these purposes are the aromatics that are produced by them. A couple species of eucalypts are safe for Psittacines but the aromatic qualities that make them pleasant to smell in gardens (and some varieties for herbal tea) make them horribly toxic to roaches. There are lots of ways to find out what species of eucalypt trees are in the USA, but its very much a moot excersize.

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