Eating fake plants...

[thealissa]

I have a 6 month old female veiled chameleon and she keeps trying to eat the fake plants in her enclosure. She's fed 6-10 crickets every other day (as I do not want to mate her) and she is also given a small dish of fresh greens (dandelion, collard, arugula, romaine) everyday, and lastly she has a live hibiscus plant in her enclosure.

I'm just scared of her actually getting some of the fake plant down her throat. She hasn't yet, but everyday she attempts at biting it off. Is it okay if she does get some, or is there something safe I can apply onto the leaves to make her not want to eat them?

Thank you!

 

[Dunnigan]

Remove them? there is nothing that i know of that you can apply to fake plants to keep a chameleon from eating them. I dont use fake plants in my females cage because i noticed similar behavior.

 

[kinyonga]

Why not remove the risk and remove the plant before your chameleon succeeds in ingesting some fake plant material??

 

[nick barta]

I lost a adult Fishers, and the autopsy showed a plastic leaf wedged in his throat. Since then I have not used plastic plants. He may have struck the leaf going after an insect, or tried to eat it, either way, plastic plants are for plastic lizards.... IMHO

Nick

 

[thealissa]

Alright, thank you everyone. It's just kind of hard to keep plants alive here. They can almost never get natural sun light because how hot it makes the house. I just need to find a plant easier to keep alive, and more hearty, than a hibiscus.

 

[dodolah]

Alright, thank you everyone. It's just kind of hard to keep plants alive here. They can almost never get natural sun light because how hot it makes the house. I just need to find a plant easier to keep alive, and more hearty, than a hibiscus.

Raise your pot using pot stand to avoid root drowning. Allow the water to drain out from the pot.
you can also use one of these to help the hibiscus to thrive:
http://genet.gelighting.com/LightPr...tionFilter=FT0010:Specialty_Residential_Plant

If you want, introduce couple of earth worms into the pot.

 

[Fidget321]

If you want, introduce couple of earth worms into the pot.

At the risk of asking a stupid question, would the chameleon not eat these if they ever surfaced?

 

[chambabysitter1]

You should see about getting an "umbrella plant"/shefflera or a pothos. They are pretty impossible to kill.

 

[alhickabee]

Pothos grow like crazy and my female absolutely devours them. Just keep them well watered or even in straight water. I keep pothos, ficus, and hibiscus without a problem, I use plant florescent in addition the UVB. The misting system and drippers keep the relative humidity above 35%, so that helps too I'm sure...

 

[chameleon97]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, would the chameleon not eat these if they ever surfaced?

If the cham could see it past all the foliage, yes. Earthworms are Very nutritious i hear.

 

[solitarychichlid]

I say at any risk of actually having your baby tear off a piece of the plant, I say REMOVE. You don't want to be lamenting it later.

 

[dodolah]

would the chameleon not eat these if they ever surfaced?

Sure. and, personally, i think it's okay.
But, so far, none of my chams seem to b interested. There were couple of occasions where the worms got out of the pot.. But, my chams ignored all of them.