Eating Dirt Out Of Egg Laying Bin?

[JonnyB22]

So we have just discovered that our little girl Baboo was a female. We have just set up her egg laying bin in her cage, and she keeps cruising down to the bottom where her bin is and eating the dirt! Is this normal for them to do? Is it a concern that we need to worry about? I don't want to have an impacted chameleon.

Here is a few pictures of how her cage is set up.

 

[jannb]

You must have a female veiled? They eat everything. A small amount of dirt should be ok as long at it's organic with no fertilizers in it. I use washed play sand in mine. You could try that and see if she eats it.

 

[JonnyB22]

I'm using Zoo Med Eco Earth loose coconut fiber substrate, It seems to hold humidity fairly well, which is hard since where I'm located we think anything over 5% is a lot haha. But I may try sand, it seems like it would be easier to pass. She has been eating quite a bit of it.

 

[Olimpia]

Females will taste the egg-laying medium to decide how much they like it. Some girls are very picky about where they leave their eggs, even if they're just infertiles, and will taste, decide if they like it, decide if it has enough moisture, etc. It's pretty normal among egg-laying animals.

Not saying yours is carrying eggs right now, but that tends to be the rational behind eating the dirt in some cases. Or it could be nutritional, like she's looking to gain some minerals (although ecoearth isn't soil, so there aren't really any minerals in it).

 

[kinyonga]

Some eat more than I would imagine they need to do to taste the earth...so I think they also do it for other reasons (like getting nutrients from it). Geophagy is common in animals.

I use a sand produced by kings that comes in a white bag with yellow, blue and red sandbox toys on the front. It has always passed through the chameleon and never led to impaction.

 

[juice28]

i hvea female veiled cham i was told about 4 mths, still new had her almost a week now and when i got her home and redid her cage with some live plants and took out the bark bedding and switched it for a pan with potting soil and moss mixed in it (mainly because keeping humidity up is a chore even with 3-4 mistings a dripper ans 2 aides of her cage covered in a piece of a plastic shower liner) she goes down and eats some dirt every now and then..and some unbrella plant leaves...and she took a fec bits from the pothos...she doesnt do it often as of yet but she does do it.. and shes well fed, vit. and calcium but not too many vit's good etc..guess she just like a little dirt every now and then..