Are plants healthy for chameleons???

[quikksilver8]

One day I noticed that my veilds were chewing on the fake plants I had in their cage, soo I went outside and got them some Hibiscus leaves and flowers. (I made sure to rinse them off and made sure there were no bugs on them, and we dont use any pesticides on them.) They gobbled them up pretty quickly. Should I limit how much they eat. Is there a plant that is healthier. I looked at this formums plant section and hibiscus was one of the few plants that had no toxicity. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cherron]

Hibiscus are great for your chameleons. Veiled chameleons especially really shouldn't have any fake plants in their enclosures because (as your already has) they will try to eat them. Eating plastic can cause an impaction that will can your chameleon. You can try putting a hibiscus in your cage, but a lot of people have trouble keeping them alive. Pothos, schefflera and ficus are all good choices. You can also offer fresh greens (collards, turnips, mustard and dandelion are all good) to your chameleon by poking them onto a branch of clipping them in.

 

[quikksilver8]

Thats what I've been doing with the hubiscus. I don't think they can cut the plants I have in there. Will they be able to as adults or will they not eat as many greens.

 

[PardalisGirl]

If a chameleons wants to eat plants, Hibiscus is an exellent choice. It is a non-toxic plant and sounds like you know not to use pesticides and to wash them off before feeding. I think that chameleons instinctively know how to balance their diet. They seem to like a variety of things in captivity just like they do in the wild. Eating the same thing every day is not the best situation. It's convenient for us but not good for them. They get bored with food just like we do. Mine will eat Ficus leaves in the winter. I grow hanging baskets of Nastursiums here in the summer. Lizards seem to really like the leaves and flowers of that plant too (people put them in salads). You are so fortunate to be in Florida. You can grow organic plants outside all year. I would moderate the amount they eat though. Wanting too much of the plant material may be a sign that they are lacking something in the rest of their diet. It's better than eating artificial foliage though. That's for sure. Does this site have a list of safe plants somewhere as a resource? I haven't looked for one yet. I'm sure other keepers have lots to share about plant eating and Vieled chams...

 

[Jamie]

Be careful with the fake plants, if one of your chams manages to get a leaf off and swallow it, problems could arise.

Hibiscus are great in cham cages (if you can keep them alive ), but you may find that any blooms disappear pretty quickly.
Some other popular cham plants are palms, umbrella plants, ficus and pothos. They are all safe for consumption. My veileds can devour a pothos in a couple months or so, so I keep a constant supply of plants to trade out- good thing they are easy to start! ( FYI, Pothos is said to cause some gastric distress in large quantities)
My personal favorite cham plant is the Umbrella, but I don't think they taste very good as I rarely see the cute little cham bites taken from the leaves.

 

[quikksilver8]

Yes it does. Look on the home page in the top left corner under Navigation. Will the chameleons actually eat the fake plants, or will they be able to tell before they swallow them. The leaves are pretty big.