Hi all,
First a little about why I'm here. I have a 3 toed box turtle named Sheldon who lives most of the time in a 40 gallon breeder tank where the humidity ranges from 55-80% and temps are 72 - 85F. Lately he developed a problem with gnats, and I got started thinking about incorporating CPs into his habitat. Now, I know Sheldon will trample anything on his ground level, but my idea is to hang basically the equivalent of window boxes around the interior of his tank and plant smaller-growing CPs there to hopefully help keep the creepy crawlies down to a dull roar (plus I think they're darn cool anyway ). Now, I don't know squat about CPs, and have searched the internet top to bottom in an effort to find a variety that is non toxic to my turtle (in case he is able to get his paws on a leaf somehow) but doesn't really grow over 6" tall. Sundews and Venus Flytraps are out, they are listed on several lists I found as toxic.
I saw on this forum some reptiles that were able to coexist with CPs, but bear in mind that Sheldon is an omnivore. I have no idea if I can pull something like this off, but wanted to pick the brains of some folks who might have better information than I've been able to find.
Does anyone have information on CPs that are non toxic to box turtles? Are there varieties of CPs that don't grow to be over 6" or so that would be good gnat-eaters?
Thank you in advance for any information you may provide. This just may not work out to be a good idea, in which case I have a spare 10 gallon that I may populate with recommended CPs and just keep next to Sheldon's vivarium to handle any flying escapees and whatever else follows my zoo in the door (I have 3 dogs, a cat and a 10 yr old boy in addition to Sheldon..may as well install a revolving door here)
I'm really excited to learn more about this hobby and attempt to incorporate it with my current turtle-obsession!
First a little about why I'm here. I have a 3 toed box turtle named Sheldon who lives most of the time in a 40 gallon breeder tank where the humidity ranges from 55-80% and temps are 72 - 85F. Lately he developed a problem with gnats, and I got started thinking about incorporating CPs into his habitat. Now, I know Sheldon will trample anything on his ground level, but my idea is to hang basically the equivalent of window boxes around the interior of his tank and plant smaller-growing CPs there to hopefully help keep the creepy crawlies down to a dull roar (plus I think they're darn cool anyway ). Now, I don't know squat about CPs, and have searched the internet top to bottom in an effort to find a variety that is non toxic to my turtle (in case he is able to get his paws on a leaf somehow) but doesn't really grow over 6" tall. Sundews and Venus Flytraps are out, they are listed on several lists I found as toxic.
I saw on this forum some reptiles that were able to coexist with CPs, but bear in mind that Sheldon is an omnivore. I have no idea if I can pull something like this off, but wanted to pick the brains of some folks who might have better information than I've been able to find.
Does anyone have information on CPs that are non toxic to box turtles? Are there varieties of CPs that don't grow to be over 6" or so that would be good gnat-eaters?
Thank you in advance for any information you may provide. This just may not work out to be a good idea, in which case I have a spare 10 gallon that I may populate with recommended CPs and just keep next to Sheldon's vivarium to handle any flying escapees and whatever else follows my zoo in the door (I have 3 dogs, a cat and a 10 yr old boy in addition to Sheldon..may as well install a revolving door here)
I'm really excited to learn more about this hobby and attempt to incorporate it with my current turtle-obsession!