Spooky, Scary, Succulents

Hi everybody! Welcome back to our blog! With the Halloween season coming to an end, I thought it was only fitting to write a post on one of the scariest topics I could think of… poisonous succulents. That’s right, you guys. Not all of these cutie little plants with drought-tolerant roots and thick, waxy leaves are as perfect as you think they are, and it is important to know which ones could be of danger to you or your pets.

It was actually shocking for me to find our that any succulents were dangerous at all since ahead of time, I was aware of the fact that both Aloe Vera and Prickly Pear succulents are perfectly edible. This made me assume that all succulents were safe, and that some were even MORE than safe just like the Aloe Vera and Prickly Pear succulents.

One of the most week-known dangerous succulents come from the Euphorbia family. It is super important that you know if you have a succulent from this family or not because you really cannot even touch them! They may look like your everyday succulent, but they have a white sap in their thick leaved that is sure to irritate your skin. It causes a horrible rash to appear wherever it came into contact with the skin, so it is generally a pretty safe rule to just say that you should wear gloves whenever handling these somewhat poisonous succs. Needless to say, since you know now that you shouldn’t be touching the sap of this succulent, you most definitely should not be ingesting it in any way, so be sure to watch out for that!

Next up, Jade plants. Yes guys, these are, in fact, the ones I told you were good luck a couple of weeks ago. They still are good luck, that has not changed, so no worries if you had a big exam coming up and went to the store to deck your whole house out with Jade plants in preparation, it should have worked! It is confusing to me as to why they are such a good luck bringer if they are actually toxic though? Jade plants are in the Stonecrop family, which is said to have many toxic properties, and that holds true when it comes to this little succ too. The Jade plant is one of the slightly less-toxic members of this family, for it only causes effects like intestinal irritation and diarrhea, but that is still wildly uncomfortable, so my suggestion is to avoid eating the leaves at all costs.

Finally, we have come to the Silver Dollar plant. Watch your fur babies because these are specifically poisonous to dogs, cats, and horses. Eating this plant can cause vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, and an appearance of drunkenness in cats’ post-consumption. This is no fun when we are the ones suffering from these effects, but it’s especially no fun when it is happening to our helpless pets, who we then have to clean up after.

So after learning all about these spooky, scary, succulents, I hope that you decide to rethink where you use your succs in indoor decorating. Definitely still embrace them in your home, but just do your best to be conscious of where exactly you are putting them. Are they out of reach of children and pets? Are you responsible enough to watch your small babies and fur babies alike to be able to put your succulents wherever you want to? These are questions that you are going to have to ask yourself, and I hope I helped start that conversation for you!