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Posted by WebJoel on May 11, 2003 at 23:22:45:
In Reply to: Bonsai trees and Bearded Dragons posted by Epic75 on May 08, 2003 at 12:21:53:
It would make a kewl photo-opportunity, but alot of 'houseplant' types are toxic, if not actually and outright poisonous. What springs to mind immediately, is "Ficus", which make excellent houseplants and I have several 'bonsai' Ficus trees. Hardy, easy to care for, but their leaves are toxic to cats and ferrets... so I have to keep my bonsais away from my ferret when she's loose. I have to infer that if toxic to mammals, better to avoid in reptiles too.
Beardies are quite hardy themselves, and can eat things that would make you think that they are on a death-wish... I heard that BD's occasionally can eat lives BEES... so, on a whime once and using a glass jar and lid, I 'captured' about 2-dozen honey bees and 'nuked them' in a microwave to kill them (cooked bees smell like steak!!), and snipped the actual stingers off but left the venom-sacs intact, and fed to a hungry adult beardie whom GREEDILY ate them ALL with no ill effects. In fact, s/he seemed quite grateful and slightly more active afterward!
I didn't repeat the experient nor encourage it being repeated, but, it was safe in that no ill effects were recorded.
I saw on 'Animal Planet' that feral BDs in Australia catch and eat tarantulas! I think that the spider venom they eat must have some aid to their immune system, for their ability to be 'immune' to the toxin, suggests something.
But re: the bonsai beardie relationship, best to avoid.
If you want to feed plants, try pesticide-free ("grow you own!") geraniums are great! Nutritious, and when I had beardies, they liked eating the flowers, leaves and stems. :-)
-Joel
