Chameleon eating plant soil!!

lauriexcurtis

lauriexcurtis

New Member
I recently bought a ficus for my veiled chameleon and I've caught him trying to eat the soil a couple times. What can I cover the soil with to keep him from eating it?
 
I would get some clean soil from a wooded area, sift out any large debris and place it in the pot covering the potting soil. Chams eat dirt for a reason.
 
okay thanks.
Actually, no. He has plenty of food to eat. Crickets, pothos, mealworms, ficus, superworms. I think he's just intrigued by it or something. It's in the new ficus plant.
 
yeah I bought a bag of polished river stones from Wal-mart and the bag covered up 5 pots and I still have some leftover. Just make sure they are big so the cham cant accidentally pick one up with his tongue
 
it has been proposed that the eating soil behavior is due to missing trace minerals that can be found in soil or to scrub parasites from intestine walls..

some ppl let there chams eat (clean, fertilizer free) soil if they want to.

noobs are often guided towards preventing impaction by covering soil.
 
My cham also ate soil and it ended up he had pin worms, not to sure if the two were connected but he stopped after the worms were gone:) Might want to try getting a fecal if he hasn't gotten one recently. My vet only charges like $20 if I just drop off the sample.
 
interesting... so it is ok for them to eat soil but the behavior is a indicator?

i just potted a ficus with earth gro organic soil from home depot. should i leave it uncovered and just monitor his behavior? it seems like if i cover it with rocks i might miss the chance to catch a problem early.
 
Mine will eat it also, I covered soil with a mesh material but he is still obsessed with going down to base of plant where the tree comes up and trying to shoot whatevers down there! dead leafs sumtimes or anything he can try to grab..
 
Lil nasty said:
Mine will eat it also, I covered soil with a mesh material but he is still obsessed with going down to base of plant where the tree comes up and trying to shoot whatevers down there! dead leafs sumtimes or anything he can try to grab..
Click to expand...

That's why I sift the soil so they can eat it without injesting anything that could cause impaction. I have noticed that if they don't have access to dirt they will eat leaves or bark so I say just let'em eat dirt!!
 
well for your information if your cham is eating soil he misses some calcium or mineralls in the things you feed him/here.

so i woukd try to feed more calcium ore vit-d.
 
Bark is the most hideous way to kill your cham if he will shoot a piece of bark he in almost all of the cases will die.

thats why we never use bark in holland we use humus or potting soil mixed with playing sand.
 
Todnedo said:
I would get some clean soil from a wooded area, sift out any large debris and place it in the pot covering the potting soil. Chams eat dirt for a reason.
Click to expand...

Hey Todnedo - I was reading through this thread and saw your reply. Personally, we haven't experienced this behavior with Rico yet and I've placed large, polished river rocks over the soil in his plant pots to prevent him from doing this because of the concern with possible impaction and/or ingesting anything that may be harmful.

However, I was interested in your response that they eat soil for a reason because I've often thought about this when I've seen other posts about preventing chameleons from eating soil. If they were in the wild they would have access to soil if they choose to get down toward the ground and they could eat it so I've often suspected, like you've said, if that's happening there's a reason why it's happening meaning they are acting a way that is natural to them.

I just wondered whether or not you were aware of specific reasons that chameleons might do this, however -

1. Are they just hungry?
2. Are they trying to get something out of the soil that they aren't getting in their regular diet?
3. Do they just like the taste?

Thanks!
 
rcutchens said:
Hey Todnedo - I was reading through this thread and saw your reply. Personally, we haven't experienced this behavior with Rico yet and I've placed large, polished river rocks over the soil in his plant pots to prevent him from doing this because of the concern with possible impaction and/or ingesting anything that may be harmful.

However, I was interested in your response that they eat soil for a reason because I've often thought about this when I've seen other posts about preventing chameleons from eating soil. If they were in the wild they would have access to soil if they choose to get down toward the ground and they could eat it so I've often suspected, like you've said, if that's happening there's a reason why it's happening meaning they are acting a way that is natural to them.

I just wondered whether or not you were aware of specific reasons that chameleons might do this, however -

1. Are they just hungry?
2. Are they trying to get something out of the soil that they aren't getting in their regular diet?
3. Do they just like the taste?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why they eat dirt but I do know they will go to great lengths to do so. I believe it a natural behavior that serves a purpose that's why I provide them with sifted soil to eat.
 
I have two hibiscuses trees planted in Jacks cage he loves eating them but have never seen him eat the dirt. The fine sifted soil compacted down from being misted I added more and he went down to see what I did but just looked. Just be sure you sift the dirt so it is small particle size.
 
well my friend here has a veiled cham that was eating soil after weve seen him doing that, we went to the veterinarian doc and she did a blood test and that pointed out he missed some calcium... (i dont know the term in english sorry).

We did get another gutloading for the crickets, and in the first week we need to give him 2 drops of olive oil to oil the dirt out, after two weeks the cham was the old one again and stoped aeting his soil.

And in nature the chams just dont eat soil because they could get everything out of mother nature, and thats exactly what we cant do. But were always trying to do best for the cham.
 
Todnedo said:
I'm not sure why they eat dirt but I do know they will go to great lengths to do so. I believe it a natural behavior that serves a purpose that's why I provide them with sifted soil to eat.
Click to expand...

I understand. I was just curious if you were aware of any specific environmental or dietary contributors that would trigger a chameleon to eat soil. Sounds like it's still kind of a mystery but, as you stated, they will go to great lengths to get it when they feel compelled to do so.

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it.
 
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