Chameleon trying to eat rock?!?!?!?

[richpass6]

hey everyone! so my panther chameleon is doing well but i had recently noticed him grinding his teeth or trying to eat the riverstones covering the soil of my potted plants. i honestly dont know wha t he was doing but it sound as if he was grinding his teeth. can anyone tell me why he would be doign this or is it just out of curiousity/stupidity since he is still pretty young?

 

[Julirs]

I have had several do this. As long as the rock is too big to fit in his mouth I would not worry about it.

 

[ijmccollum]

This is a good question and I am hoping there are those out there who knows. There was another thread about "rock eating" a couple months ago -- I don't remember who started it or the particulars but hopefully they will weigh back in. I too have a cham that chews on rocks. She's an adult female jackson and there is one particular rock in her enclosure that she likes to gnaw on. I don't know if it is minerals or if the pattern on the rock reminds her of larvae. I purchased her from a local petstore so chances are she is wild caught -- though she is quite healthy and docile. I haven't noticed mouth abrasions but it is a bit un-nerving, not knowing why she does this.

 

[dragongoddess]

If the rocks can fit in it's mouth, you need to remove them and replace with larger rocks that can not be picked up or gnawed upon. I have covered potting soil in some of my enclosures with pet mesh. Cut to the appropriate size and adhere to the pot. Chams should not have anything in their enclosures that thy can pick up and gnaw.
You might also want to cover the soil with pillow moss, it's cute but can take quite a bit depending on the size of the pot.

I too have a cham that chews on rocks. She's an adult female jackson and there is one particular rock in her enclosure that she likes to gnaw on. I haven't noticed mouth abrasions but it is a bit un-nerving, not knowing why she does this.

These abrasions can be come infected and it's a nasty problem to deal with in chams.

 

[ijmccollum]

'kay, well taken, the rock should be removed before it causes physical damage. Thanks for the heads up... but i'm still wondering why the attraction?

 

[xanthoman]

'kay, well taken, the rock should be removed before it causes physical damage. Thanks for the heads up... but i'm still wondering why the attraction?

my guess is that it thinks its a snail, many chams have a fondness for marble size (or even larger) size snails, my free roaming male xanth recently spent 10 + min. trying to eat the knob on my tv antenna, presumably because it vaguely resembles a snail, which he also loves, i eventually had to remove him for fear of him bruising his jaw, ive never seen him go after a rock, but he sure wanted that tv knob. the odd thing is, he is a super picky eater

 

[summoner12]

My panther Steve likes to eat soil... You cham might be trying to move the rock? Steve tired to shoot at a smaller rock once and he was able to lift it and then it fell because itwas too heavy to pull to his mouth... I removed that rock and put in larger ones. he doesn't eat the dirt or try as far as I know.

 

[ijmccollum]

my guess is that it thinks its a snail, many chams have a fondness for marble size (or even larger) size snails, my free roaming male xanth recently spent 10 + min. trying to eat the knob on my tv antenna, presumably because it vaguely resembles a snail, which he also loves, i eventually had to remove him for fear of him bruising his jaw, ive never seen him go after a rock, but he sure wanted that tv knob. the odd thing is, he is a super picky eater

I'd say you are probably right. The rock does have white streaking that she could be mistaking for snails. Over the summer when I let her play in the garden (organic) she would hunt down the snails and slugs. Was interesting in that she did not shoot her tongue out for them but would walk over to them and nibble them off the leaves. Course it made me nervous not knowing what parasites they might be carrying so I did't let her do it much. Guess I am one of those helicopter moms.