Eating and/or Chewing Soul Amendment

Hello, I noticed some odd behavior today in my 8mo old panther that I think has been going on for a while. Lately I’ve been hearing some crunching noises. It sounded very similar to a BSF being eaten. I have put more in than I believe have been eaten so I wasn’t that surprised. Then days or maybe a week or two later I heard it again. I remembered I had a dead plant I forgot to remove, so I thought maybe he was crunching on leaves, oddly. I was hoping to catch him doing it, before taking the plant out, and today I did. However, I saw him chewing on soil amendment! It’s this recycled glass stuff used in hydroponics and others things. I’ve used it for amending soil for a long time. Most of my plants have bigger rocks, but I forgot on this one I took them out and never put them back. When I got in his business, panicking to try and take it out, he spit out a piece of it.

Any thoughts about what this could be? Did he think it was food? Are they known for chewing things?

He’s had normal poop in the last few days, so I don’t believe there’s any impaction, and he acts totally normal.
 
I actually found a post here that talked about chameleons, especially male panthers, chewing on things. Although perhaps normal, it adds emphasis to making sure they can’t swallow them. I always use the feeder run cup, so I didn’t think having some uncovered soil was a big deal.

I’m going to go through his cage today and make sure there is no exposed soil anywhere. I don’t think at this point he is impacted, as I think Wednesday he pooped and it looked normal.

Is there anything else I should be worried about?
 
Hey there. Get yourself some large river rock like 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Hobby stores sell these smooth ones in the floral area for decor. Then cover your soil with these. Since he has found it he will keep trying to go back to it.

Panthers will chew on branches, soil, dried leaves as they mature. He is at the right age for it.

Make sure your supplementation is on point. Sometimes they will go after dirt to make up for something they are not getting.
 
I’ve actually got river rock in most of my pots. I took them out in this one for some reason and forgot to put back in. But I’ll double check and make sure my coverage is good. And funny you should say that about going back for it…
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