# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  Dieffenbanchia are toxic!?

## Poly

I didn't know these were poisonous too! I've had to remove two plants already out of my chubby frog's viv becuase I found out they were poisonous, now I find out that the Dieffenbanchia is toxic too!?

Here's the link I got the info from:
Toxicity of dieffenbachia

They even state in one part that it is a "very poisonous plant", should I remove it? It seems every tropical plant I have bought so far has been poisonous, the croton, rohoeo, and now the Dieffenbanchia!? Really wish the store would lable their plants better! The only think I've bought so far that hasn't turned out to be poisonous was the ferns!

REALLY ANNOYING! Now I'm worried about my frogs safety!

~Royce

EDIT: After reading this entire article http://www.hoax-slayer.com/killer-ho...-warning.shtml I decided to remove the plant... now I have to get a NON-TOXIC plant to fill the gap...

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## Martin

Just so you know, the allmighty pothos is posionus as well... However, it's the sap that are dangerous and therefore it's really only dangerous if digested, so I would not worry about it unless your animals might eat some of it. I've heard tons of people using dieffenbachia, and never heard about anyone with a casualty.

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## Lynn

I have seen dieffenbachia on many lists of plants as being poisonous also! I have not use it. Apparently the sap can cause ( in humans, dogs and cats –this is well published) the mouth, tongue, and throat to swell obstruction breathing. Alocasia is a good substitute for it as it has a nice sturdy leaf- plus the stem of the plant is great for climbing on :

Search results

Another plant that is commonly used that is considered poisonous also is  ‘wandering jew’  ( tradescantia fluminensis) typically used for ground cover.

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## Lynn

'Google scholar ' search is great when there is a question like this.

 ie Below is a sample page of the search ' amphibian care and captive husbandry '  :

amphibian care and captive husbandry - Google Scholar

Life without Google  ????????? Scary

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## Heather

This site has a list of toxic plants. It was helpful in my search. I googled safe plants for frogs.

www.froggie.info/plants/index.htm

You'll find some good plants, I'm sure. It's just a tough time of the year to find them. I had trouble finding the last few I needed also, even with a nursery right around the corner.

Good luck!

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## Heather

This article is from www.peteducation.com. It's a list of TOXIC plants for amphibians. I copy and pasted the article for you so there is also a phone number you can call for questions, but as you can see its expensive. This article does not show any pictures though. Hope it helps. I can't get Ming's list of toxic plants to open. Bummer, bc it had pictures. Anyway, good list to have.

www.peteducation.com
The following plants are all dangerous to some degree. Some, like oleander and Dieffenbachia (dumb cane) can cause death almost instantly. Others may cause only a mild reaction, but it is still best to remove them from any areas where they would be in contact with your herp.
This is not a complete list, so if you are in any doubt about the safety of plants that you have, please contact your veterinarian or the poison control center. The ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center hotline number is as follows:

1-888-4ANI-HELP or 1-888-426-4435 ($65.00 per case). The charge is billed to caller's credit card.

Plants dangerous for herps:

Air plant
Amanita
Amaryllis
American yew
Andromeda
Arum lily
Australian flame tree
Autumn crocus
Avocado
Azalea
Balsam pear
Baneberry
Bird of paradise
Bishop's weed
Black laurel
Black locust
Bloodroot
Bluebonnet
Blue-green algae
Boxwood
Bracken fern
Broad beans
Broomcorn grass
Buckeye
Buckthorn
Bulb flowers
Burdock
Buttercup
Cacao
Caladium
Calla lily
Camel bush
Candelabra tree
Cardinal
Castor bean
Chalice vine
Cherry tree
Chinaberry tree
Christmas candle
Clematis
Cocklebur
Coffee
Coffee bean
Coral plant
Coriander
Corncockle
Cotton bush
Coyotillo
Cowslip
Crown of thorns
Cutleaf
Daffodil
Daphne
Datura
Deadly amanita
Death camus
Delphinium
Devil's ivy
Dieffenbachia
Dutchman's breeches
Eggplant	Elderberry
Elephant's ear
English ivy
English yew
Ergot
Eucalyptus
Euonymus
False hellebore
False henbane
Felt plant
Firethorn
Flame tree
Four O'Clock
Foxglove
Ghostweed
Glottidium
Golden chain
Ground cherry
Heliotrope
Hemlock
Henbane
Holly
Honeysuckle
Horse bean
Horse chestnut
Horsetail reed
Hyacinth
Hydrangea
Indian licorice
Indian turnip
Inkberry
Iris
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Jasmine
Java bean
Jerusalem cherry
Jimsonweed
Johnson grass
Juniper
Kentucky coffee tree
Lantana
Larkspur
Laurel
Leucotho
Lily-of-the-valley
Lima bean
Lobelia
Locoweed
Lords and ladies
Lupine
Malanga
Mandrake
Marijuana
Maternity plant
Mayapple
Meadow saffron
Mescal bean
Mexican breadfruit
Mexican poppy
Milk vetch
Milkweed	Mistletoe
Mock orange
Monkshood
Moonseed
Morning glory
Mountain laurel
Mushrooms
Narcissus
Navy bean
Nettles
Nightshades
Oak
Oleander
Panda plant
Parsley
Peires
Pencil tree
Periwinkle
Philodendrons
Pigweed
Pikeweed
Poinciana
Poinsettia
Poison ivy
Poison oak
Pokeweed
Potato
Precatory
Privet
Pyracantha
Rain tree
Ranunculus
Rape
Rattlebox
Rattlebush
Red maple
Rhododendrons
Rhubarb
Rosary peas
Sandbox tree
Scarlet runner
Skunk cabbage
Snowdrop
Snow on the mountain
Sorghum grass
Sorrel
Spindle tree
Spurges
Sudan grass
Sweet pea
Tansy ragwort
Thornapple
Tobacco
Vetch
Virginia bower
Virginia creeper
Wattle
White cedar
Wisteria
Yam bean
Yews
Yellow jasmine

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## Heather

Here is one more article I found with a list of safe plants if you scroll down through the article. It's actually tagged in from an older article here but I found it when searching google.

www.amphibiancare.com/frogs/a...terrarium.html

 :Smile:  Good luck in your plant search!

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## Heather

Oops, can't get it to open that way. Try this. 

http://www.amphibiancare.com/frogs/a...terrarium.html

Or just google it. It opened when I googled it. Lynn listed it  :Smile: . Thanks Lynn!

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## Martin

Is it me, or are people not even reading what I typed..?

A lot of plants are dangerous (like Heater's list shows). However, in extremly many cases, the danger is when a plant *is digested*. Like you all know, frogs are not known to feast upon plants. If you rule out all the plants that are dangerous "for pets", you have to stop using like... every good terrarium plant there is (or a lot of them).
Now, I do not blame anyone for not using "dangerous" plants. I just want people to know how they are dangerous, and because of that, the risk of hurting the frogs are rather small in many cases (unless to extract the toxic sap and put it all over the interior of the tank). The dieffenbachia are a popular example of a "dangerous" plant that some people are often considering incredibly dangerous. However, I've never encountred a case where these people have actually had a bad experience with it. Likewise, I've encountered a lot of people that are using the dieffenbachia, with great success.

And Heather, if you want to change a post to fix a link or whatever, you can use the edit-function  :Smile:

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## Heather

I can't get it to open when I copy it but it does open from her original post link. Here's a copy of it. Look for this post of hers. Maybe she'll hop on later and help us out  :Smile: .

Copy:

 great "safe" plant list , pics and various plant resources

A favorite site. 
This is a great "safe" plant list , pics and various plant resources.
The plant list is interactive so you're able to see a photo of many of the plants.

http://www.amphibiancare.com/frogs/a...terrarium.html

Last edited by flybyferns; 3 Weeks Ago at 11:41 AM.

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## Brian

> This article is from Pet Health Care | Dog and Cat Behavior Information by Veterinarians. It's a list of TOXIC plants for amphibians.


Note that this list is plants supposedly toxic to reptiles and amphibians, not just frogs. This surely includes species that will munch on the vegetation, so this opens up an entirely new realm of problems.. Pothos is on that list (Devils Ivy) and it's probably the most commonly used plant for amphibians.

I don't use Dieffenbachia as I undertand it to be significantly higher in calcium oxalates than Pothos. Even if this isn't a hazard to amphibians (and like Martin says, people have used it successfully) it is a significant danger to one of my idiotic cats should they get a hold of it, plus I don't actually care for Dieffenbachias anyways.

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## Martin

> I can't get it to open when I copy it but it does open from her original post link. Here's a copy of it. Look for this post of hers. Maybe she'll hop on later and help us out .
> 
> Copy:
> 
>  great "safe" plant list , pics and various plant resources
> 
> A favorite site. 
> This is a great "safe" plant list , pics and various plant resources.
> The plant list is interactive so you're able to see a photo of many of the plants.
> ...


Heather, you are just copying the same link over and over again... The problem is that the link is the contration, which means it's not the full link within the URL-brackets. It won't fix itself, no matter how many times you copy-paste it.




> Note that this list is plants supposedly toxic to reptiles and amphibians, not just frogs. This surely includes species that will munch on the vegetation, so this opens up an entirely new realm of problems.. Pothos is on that list (Devils Ivy) and it's probably the most commonly used plant for amphibians.
> 
> I don't use Dieffenbachia as I undertand it to be significantly higher in calcium oxalates than Pothos. Even if this isn't a hazard to amphibians (and like Martin says, people have used it successfully) it is a significant danger to one of my idiotic cats should they get a hold of it, plus I don't actually care for Dieffenbachias anyways.


Exactly what I'm trying to say, thank you Brian! 

Once again, I'm not saying the plants are unpoisionus. It is poisinus, and it's therefore dangerous to animals that might consume them (some reptiles, cats etc.). However, my point is that frogs do not eat them (I'm not aware of any plant-eating frog species anyway.)

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## Heather

Sorry guys, I can see that. Oops! It opens when I click on it from the original article.

So, IS there a good list then? It's tough to know when you're a beginner. Esp. When lists do not have pictures and nurseries do not know their plants well enough to even know the plant names. Many are listed as tropicals.

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## Martin

> Sorry guys, I can see that. Oops! It opens when I click on it from the original article.
> 
> So, IS there a good list then? It's tough to know when you're a beginner. Esp. When lists do not have pictures and nurseries do not know their plants well enough to even know the plant names. Many are listed as tropicals.


Well, both me and Brian already pointed out the problem. Many plants are only dangerous when digested (since the sap is dangerous) (and therefore *very* dangerous to some animals, while perfectly fine for others, pothos being a good example), so you often have to make some research yourself. First of all, if you find a plant that you like, just google it. Wikipedia often have information about it's toxicity (if there is any). After that, just lurk in forums and if needed, ask questions if other people have used it, know anything about it etc. Common sense is also a good thing to use! For example, you might not want to use a dieffenbachia if you feed a big White's by putting crickets on small dieffenbachia leaves.

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## Heather

Thanks Viper for the edit tip!  :Smile:  The edit feature is not available from the phone app I am using, but feel free to delete all of the copies  :Smile: . I am currently out of town and not next to my pc. Sorry about that. How annoying : /

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## Heather

Makes sense. Thanks! 

Any chance you'd be kind enough to scroll my tank photos for me, in a different post, as not to ask on Royce's?

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## Brian

> Sorry guys, I can see that. Oops! It opens when I click on it from the original article.
> 
> So, IS there a good list then? It's tough to know when you're a beginner. Esp. When lists do not have pictures and nurseries do not know their plants well enough to even know the plant names. Many are listed as tropicals.


If a nursery doesn't know the name of its plants, it had better be cheap as it's basically self serve then! Home Depot, grocery stores, and Walmart fall into this category, the staff generally know nothing. I would never shop at an expensive specialty nursery with incompetent staff. Take pictures of plants you like the look of and jot down names if they have them and research online like Martin suggests. You can post pictures here as well if there's no name, and someone might know it. Or get a houseplant book, lots of handy ones available to help you ID plants and with their care.

Once the plant is identified, I google "Plant name" + vivarium, or "plant name" + frog, and look for discussions on the plant on the various frog fora to determine it's suitability. For "plant name" you may have to try both it's Latin name and various common aliases to get useful hits. You eventually will build a list of your own of plants that are safe and that you like.

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## Poly

Thanks for all the information guys! Really wish I didn't jump the gun and throw out my Dieffenbanchia (it looked great in the tank!)... Not like my Asain painted frogs are going to be muching on them anyway, they hardly even move, just burrow in their substrate, and stay their until night when they move to a slightly further, different location to burrow in... not the most active of the frogs... lol

I find it amazing how many terrarium plants are poisonous! But I guess if there is no worry of the amphibian breaking off the leaves, of ingesting the plant, your safe.

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## Poly

Oh... and I don't have a cat, so I think I'm safe...  :Big Grin:

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