Safe trees for chewing?

[paradox]

Wanting to give some branches and leaves for chewing on. But I am finding conflicting info about what kinds of trees would be safe. Some are listed safe one place and toxic another unless it has been dried for a certain period of time. So that has me paranoid about the safe lists. LOL.

So I am asking the experts. I want to know what is safe to give green - right off the tree. Here is a list of trees we have on the place:

Live oak
Post oak
Red oak
Mesquite
Cottonwood
Piss Elm
Pecan
Sumac
Sage(actually a bush)


Also would like to know about Mustang grape vines or leaves and green briars (saw one nibbling leaves off a baby briar that snuck into the play area)

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't have experience with most of those trees because we are too far north... and I'd be afraid to even try without Latin names. If what you call cottonwood is Populus deltoides (or one of its near relatives) you can feed branches and leaves either fresh or dried.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_deltoides

 

[Frecs]

Let's see about Latin names:

Live oak (Southern Live Oak) (Quercus virginiana)
Post oak (Quercus stellata)
Red oak (Quercus rubra)
Mesquite (a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus)
Cottonwood (Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood))
Piss Elm (aka Winged Elm) (Ulmus alata)
Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)
Sumac (Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae)
Sage (actually a bush)...assuming "sagebrush" = Artemisia spp.

The OP might want to verify that I've got the right trees identified before we proceed to determine usability.

 

[paradox]

I am awful about the latin names thing - I'm from Texas - hell I barely speak English . I didn't plant any of these trees so I don't have nifty little tags hanging off them. They just grow wild out in the pasture. I am working on looking these up online to see if I can match them.

1 - I am pretty sure you have the Live Oak correct.
2 - Need to do further checking on the Post Oak.
3 - The Red Oak you listed says it doesn't grow in TX so maybe we have Spanish Oaks? I will look those up.
4 - Pretty sure you have Mesquite right. There doesn't seem to be a lot of other similar tree species that it could be like on the oaks so it is a bit easier to match.
5 - I think Cottonwood is correct
6 - Piss elm I gotta check the leaves again before I comment. I don't recall them having little teeth.
7 - Pecan I think is right.
8 - Sumac is one my husband mentioned but I don't know where one is on the property. I will have to ask him to match this one. Around here they pronounce it like "shoe make" if that helps any.
9 - I need to totally reevaluate the sage. I think what I have is more commonly called "Texas Sage" and isn't actually in the sage family at all. LOL. It has silvery green leaves and pale purple flowers.

 

[MaggieJ]

Winged Elm (Ulmus alata) is listed as not toxic and I found a reference to wild rabbits eating its leaves.

Please be careful, Paradox... It is so easy to misidentify plants using local common names.

 

[paradox]

Don't worry MaggieJ - I am always super careful. It about kills me when I lose an animal whether "livestock" or pet so I don't take risks. For now they are chewing on store bought chew sticks with pictures of rabbits right on the bag.

 

[Tagcon]

We call chinese elm, piss elm around here, Latin name Ulmus parvifolia but I'm not sure if its safe to feed

 

[MaggieJ]

It sounds as though it should be fine.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/chinese-elm- ... o-dutch-2/

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I am awful about the latin names thing - I'm from Texas - hell I barely speak English .

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Andrei]

Chinese Elm bark is 23% protein.
Mulberry, poplar, black locust, orange/lemon, linden, .. I have feed my rabits.

 

[WildWolf]

I know mulberry and poplar are OK. Poplar is supposed to have an extremely high protein content... I forgot the exact number.

 

[MaggieJ]

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is toxic to some animals. I would not chance it.

Toxicity

Black locust's pods are small and light, and easily carried long distances. Although the bark and leaves are toxic, various reports suggest that the seeds and the young pods of the black locust can be edible when cooked, since the poisons that are contained in this plant are decomposed by heat. In France and in Italy Robinia pseudoacacia flowers are eaten as beignets after being coated in batter and fried in oil. [11] Important constituents of the plant are the toxalbumin robin, which loses its toxicity when heated and robinin, a non-toxic glucoside.[12] Horses that consume the plant show signs of anorexia, depression, incontinence, colic, weakness, and cardiac arrhythmia. Symptoms usually occur about 1 hour following consumption, and immediate veterinary attention is required.

I've eaten beignets made with the blossoms of this tree on a visit to France. They were pleasant enough but nothing to get excited about.

----

If by linden, one means Tilia americana, then yes, this appears to be a useful tree for rabbits.

As you would guess, denizens of the forest like the Basswood as well. Whitetail deer, rabbits, mice, voles, squirrels, chipmunks and foxes snack on the tree, as do many species of song and game birds including quail. Some voles, however, girdle the tree, killing it.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/basswood-tre ... lime-tree/

---

A reminder that to confirm identification of plants it is important to include the Latin name. Common names vary from region to region but the Latin names remain constant. Please include them when you are recommending a plant or tree as rabbit forage.

 

[WildWolf]

Does anyone know about maple?
And did anyone find out anything about the oak? I know my rabbits sometimes chow down on fallen oak leaves... with no ill effects that I can see.

 

[paradox]

@WildWolf - Nobody said anything about any of the trees on the list except for the piss elm and cottonwood. I think everyone is in such different areas that they don't have these kinds of trees where they are. When I look at safe tree lists online it is mostly trees that are not around here. That is my problem. I don't know if their absence from the safe list actually means they are not safe or if it just means they don't have these trees where they are from. I find it hard to believe that ALL of my local trees would be toxic. Seems like there would be no wild rabbits around if that were the case But I am not gonna risk killing something just to give them a snack.

Which kind of Oak have you seen yours eat? Post oak, Burr Oak, Live Oak, Spanish Oak, Northern Red Oak, Pin Oak, White Oak? Ok I have to stop now, I feel like Forrest Gump.

 

[MaggieJ]

Absence of a plant from a safe list does not necessarily mean it is toxic nor does its absence from a toxic list mean that it is safe. The problem is that there are too many species of plants/trees spread over too large a continent. I'm reasonably knowledgeable about plants in Zones 3-6 in the eastern portion of the continent. Beyond that I have only the same research skills as anyone who knows how to do Internet searching.

Some useful keywords to try in varying combinations with the Latin name of a plant are toxicity, toxic to rabbits, safe for rabbits, forage and so on. I'm sure you can think of others!

We have to remember too that there are varying degrees of toxicity and a multitude of toxins. Some plants are safe when young but accumulate nitrates or oxalic acid as they mature. The effects of these toxins varies from animal species to animal species. Other plants are not toxic per se, but are not a good choice because they are not palatable or are of dubious nutritional value.

Contacting your extension agent or a biology department at a local university may help. For local answers, searching locally can really pay off.

Edited to add:

Okay, just did a Google search for forage plants and trees Texas. The results at a glance look promising and you can follow up on it if you wish. Good luck! :clover:

 

[WildWolf]

According to the federal forest service, rabbits do browse on oaks.
And we have southern red oaks, and white oaks, I think. I will double check tomorrow

 

[MaggieJ]

Generally speaking, what our native cottontails eat gives us a good idea of what can be fed to domestic rabbits -- a totally different European species. I observe and use our cottontails as indicators, but that is all. I learned from them that mallow ( Malva spp.) was a safe food for domestic rabbits. But I have also seen cottontails eat a milkweed leaf (Asclepias syriaca), which I would never feed to the buns. I assume that rabbit was self-medicating for something.

 

[Frecs]

According to the federal forest service, rabbits do browse on oaks.
And we have southern red oaks, and white oaks, I think. I will double check tomorrow

I decided to do a little test with rabbits heading to freezer camp soon. I clipped some oak branches (Quercus falcata I believe) with leaves and gave to the rabbits along with other weed pickings I knew they liked. They went for the oak first and ate most of what I have them (not much). I did notice this morning that one cage left a small branch uneaten.

 

[Mountain Spice]

We have a bunch of Water Oaks around here. When the bun buns get to play in the rabbit run sometimes they will be a dead oak leaf on the ground and they will always munch on it.

They also LOVE my weeping williow branches and leaves!!

 

[WildWolf]

Well, I'm rather disappointed- neither of my rabbits show much interest in the yellow poplar twigs I gave them.