Best plants?

[Charmander]

Our little Charmander is only about 3.5 months old, but we are having a hard time with cost effective foliage. Any suggestions? He is in a smaller cage now and will move up to a bigger one for Christmas

(Preferably something that our drip can run into)

 

[Ace]

Hi there,

try ficus benjamina, umbrella plants,hibiscus(flowers they eat-veileds luv them ) and pothos are good too- these are the 4 general plants used for foilage, but there are other nontoxic plants you can find go to home depot, Lowes, even plant nurseries

Nice little guy you have, he seems a bit small for 3.5months in my opinion, he looks more like 2 months....

 

[LegacysMommy]

Foliage

If you have Home Depot's out in CA (I've never been there so I dont know, haha) or any place that sells plants year round, go there and ask them if they have Hibiscus. It's kind of hard to find, but I got mine for only $7.99, and its about a foot from the base of the pot to the top leaves.

 

[Charmander]

Thank you both so much! That photo was about a week after we got him, so he has about doubled in size. Has some nice yellow to him and some blue occasionally =]

I appreciate it and I will head to Home Depot in the morning!!

 

[KCcham]

Just making sure you have read up on what to do with the plant when you get it home, and before you put it in the cage?

 

[rcutchens]

Another plant that we're using successfully is known as a Parlor Palm which is fairly bushy and has a lot of stalks for the chameleon to climb on. We have two, one in each of the back corners, of Rico's cage and not only do they offer a good amount of foilage but they are smaller and easy to keep in the corners where pressing their stalks and leaves up against the screen doesn't bother them. Rico sometimes likes to hunker down inside the stalks and sleep for the night.

 

[laurie]

I think little CHARMANDER IS ADORABLE!!!

I personally stay with pothos, umbrella, and ficus, in that order. Before you use any of them in a cage if you want then to be safe for your chameleon & to survive in a cage here are the steps I use. Take the plant new home accompanied by some organic potting soil and kids play sand.When you get the plant home remove all the dirt you can. I save the dirt for my non-cham plants. Now use a bit of dish soap on your hands and wash all the leaves under running water. It really don't hurt the plant and removes any crap the stores have put on them. Next mix the sand & potting soil 1/2 & 1/2, repot the plant, making sure the pot has several holes in the bottom. Even after all that I still cover the top of my plants with rocks so the cham doesn't try to eat dirt. The mixture of sand & soil will allow the water to run out instead of dirt hopping it all in, that keeps the plants from dying. Also when you buy a ficus they will usual drop lots to all of their leaves, but they will come back, it is just what they often do when you move one of them. Good luck.

 

[rcutchens]

I think little CHARMANDER IS ADORABLE!!!

I personally stay with pothos, umbrella, and ficus, in that order. Before you use any of them in a cage if you want then to be safe for your chameleon & to survive in a cage here are the steps I use. Take the plant new home accompanied by some organic potting soil and kids play sand.When you get the plant home remove all the dirt you can. I save the dirt for my non-cham plants. Now use a bit of dish soap on your hands and wash all the leaves under running water. It really don't hurt the plant and removes any crap the stores have put on them. Next mix the sand & potting soil 1/2 & 1/2, repot the plant, making sure the pot has several holes in the bottom. Even after all that I still cover the top of my plants with rocks so the cham doesn't try to eat dirt. The mixture of sand & soil will allow the water to run out instead of dirt hopping it all in, that keeps the plants from dying. Also when you buy a ficus they will usual drop lots to all of their leaves, but they will come back, it is just what they often do when you move one of them. Good luck.

Hi Laurie! We did this with all the plants we bought to remove the fertilized potting soil that plants are typically planted in. We bought larger, decorative river rocks to place on top of the plant soil in order to keep Rico from trying to eat the soil.

One thing that one of the associates at the Early May that we got the plants from told me was that the fertilizer from the soil probably would remain in the plants' branches/leaves for up to a month after being repotted. We had repotted the plants more than a week before Rico arrived and watered them thoroughly every day in an effort to try to any potential chemicals out. Washed all the leaves daily as well. Rico hasn't taken to eating any of the plants yet and don't know if he will anytime soon; we keep him pretty well fed on crickets. However, have you had any experience with plants retaining chemicals/fertilizers for up to month as the associate mentioned to me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[morpheon]

About the Hibiscus, i don't really suggest it unless it will be put outside. Inside, it require some growth light and it's definately not the easiest plant to keep. However, for some chameleons looking to eat some greens and flowers, it's awesome!

The pothos, ficus (ficus being my favorite) and schefflera (umbrella) are good bets.