Opinions on Bird's-Nest Fern

[Jeloz]

Hi everyone!

Just wondering what the consensus is on bird's-nest fern (Asplenium Nidus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asplenium_nidus

Reason for the ask is I had a rather large one moved into my backyard and my Aldabra ate the whole thing. Is it safe for them to eat? He seemed to really enjoy it .

[Nina]

Hi, and great to hear from you! Were you affected by the heat wave in Malaysia earlier this year? I hope all is well with you and your tortoises.

The problem with ferns is that there are about 20,000 different species, some of which have some anti-nutritional properties some of which don't. https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... nt=116&c=2
I've had a good look at Asplenium, and as far as I can see, it's not toxic, so he lucked out on that one! Actually, I don't think any of them are very toxic -- especially if they aren't eaten regularly, as they mainly have some anti-nutritiional properties and even those, given he has only eaten one plant, won't do any harm.

Hope that helps,

Nina

[Jeloz]

Hi Nina!

Always great to hear from you as well. My state (Kuala Lumpur) wasn't badly affected thankfully and so me and my tortoises are doing just fine
I hope you guys are doing well too!

As for the fern, that's really good to hear.
It might have been just the one plant but it was a pretty massive one haha, those bird's-nest ferns get pretty huge around here. I've attached some pics from my garden, the one he ate was much smaller though - but he really picked it clean

Anyway he's doing OK ever since, and I've not observed any bad reactions so we should be all clear, phew.

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