Artificial Plants, can they harm him?

[Creative1]

I got a panther chameleon about a month ago. His cage came with an assortment of artificial plants. I caught him pulling off a leaf of one of these plants and eating it. I then noticed that there were quite a few leaves missing on the vine (I took the offending vine out right away). Is this normal? Can these leaves harm him? I have also seen him attack and chew on his sturdy climbing vines.

What would be causing this behavior? I believe I water and feed him enough. I mist his cage regularly to keep the humidity up and turn on his drip 2-3 times daily. How many crickets or superworms would you feed a 1 year old panther per day? Would I be not feeding him enough??? I do gut load and use the calcium and vitamin supplements.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tammy

PS I just bought my first real plant for him. Just need to wash it before putting it in the cage with him.

 

[reptilover]

Veileds most commonly eat vegitation but panthers do to. What feeders do u use and wat are they gutloaded with? Actually consuming fake leaves can be a hazard becuse they wont be digested. Just hopfully passed through but definatly an impaction issue.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Hey tammy, wel generally when they are eating the foliage such as leaves they need more water. How is his urate looking? If it has a yellow or orange tinge to it I would recommend giving him more mistings. And honestly maybe even look into buying an automated misting system. They are fantastic for hydration and to keep the humidity.

As for feeding 5-6 large crickets would just about do it every other day. And make sure you are switching up his feeders so that he is getting a good variety. Something like Hornworms and Silkworms have a good amount of water to them and that will help if he does happen to be dehydrated.

His supplementation, I don't know if it is anything like a Veiled Chameleons supplementation but I would do every single feeding plain calcium. PLAIN! And then twice a month give him Calcium with D3 and his Multivitamin. I use the 1st and 15th schedule for my Veiled.

And that is great Live plants are fantastic, they can eat the leaves and they keep the humidity a little higher. He will love it!


I had posted this in the other post you had made on another thread

 

[pssh]

How old is it? How much do you feed it? Watch for him to pass the leaves. They can become an impaction hazard if they dont pass.

 

[Creative1]

Just an update. My chameleon is doing fine. He has had plenty of bowel movements since eating the artificial leaves. So glad that he didn't get impacted.

 

[corwinlame]

I think artificial plants are very harmful so you have to use real and live plant. You have to always select best live plants for your cage. You can also wash your artificial plants and put it in the cage.