Eating dirt?

[CHAMMiE27]

i have an almost 4 month old male veiled cham and earlier i was watching his cage and i noticed that he started to eat the soil thats from one of the plants, why would he be eating the soil? is it safe? ive never seen him do that before.

 

[AFH]

Eating soil can indicate that they are lacking some nutrient and are trying to get it from the soil. In general it won't hurt, but there is the risk of eating something like a twig or clod that could cause a bowel obstruction.

You should get some trace mineral supplements like Reptivite or something similar.

 

[Gluuvan]

want to make sure you use organic soil. Also a way to maybe stop him is to place medium river rocks covering the soil in the pot around the plant. Might help his cause to stop. If there is fertilizer in the soil it could be harmful.

 

[CHAMMiE27]

yah just a little while ago he was starting to eat it again. i think im going to buy some rocks and place them on top of the soil or feed him some supplemental nutrients as well, thanks! those are good ideas, and probably common sense ones

 

[summoner12]

don't go dump a ton of supplements onto his food right away hehe.... just make sure you have a good schedule and keep to it. Heavy dusting is a great idea, things will come back to normal if he is short on some things.

As for eating dirt it is no big deal as long as you don't have 'bad' dirt. You shouldn't have ANY perlite in the dirt... or at the top at least. and you shouldn't have any large chunks of wood chips for him to eat. as long as he only has access to organic dirt he should be fine.