Eating leaves…stripping plants bare…

[Sonny13]

@Sonny13 said…”I was always curious if being “caged” would be the stressor for this behavior”…so then are the world ones who do this leaf eating doing it because of stress?

I wish I could answer that………..it’s commonly seen behavior with other animals, but just guessing towards one direction

 

[Gloriawood]

Here’s some photos of Spaghettis victims. The last one has the murdered umbrella Kant on the background.

 

[MzLaurie]

Hello every veiled is different. I had one that had to have his salad every other day or he would throw a fit. Due to the high nutrition value, I got collard greens, wash really good. Keep in stalk form and set bottom in water in a vase type container and put in frig. Cut from top down and it will last forever. He also went into my herb garden and picked rack little oregano leaf off the little stalk without braking it. Didn’t touch any other herb. I have had other keepers chams love cilantro. So you have to try different things to see what your girl likes. I feel that they know what their bodies need so it must be alright especially females that lay eggs which depleted the body. Plants are an easy meal that they don’t have to hunt for. Many like little fruits like blackberries and blueberries too. I just read a great article provided by another member about observations of wild chams eating plants. It’s very common. They use different eating techniques then lunging their tongues. If your girl is eating her plants then give her a salad in a bowl just for the salad at a place not under the heat light. Make sure you toss old stuff as it goes bad. Be patient and see if she goes for it.

 

[matcha]

my girl LOVES to eat her pothos, two days in a row now i’ve caught her munching.

 

[MissSkittles]

my girl LOVES to eat her pothos, two days in a row now i’ve caught her munching.

Better start some clippings so you’ll have some fresh plants ready to go when needed.

 

[matcha]

Better start some clippings so you’ll have some fresh plants ready to go when needed.

do you have a preferred way to collect and preserve/grow clippings?

 

[MissSkittles]

do you have a preferred way to collect and preserve/grow clippings?

I just snip off a few inches of the end of pothos, philodendron and tradescantia and sit them in a glass of water until they develop some roots. I’m trying to start weeping fig and money trees from clippings, with mixed results. For those I clip off at least 6 inches and try to figure out what the ‘node’ is that it should have. I have a money tree that after something crazy like 6 months of growing only these white bumps, finally just dipped it in rooting powder and stuffed it in soil. Miraculously it’s still alive and ok after a few months. My other 2 attempts didn’t even survive long enough for soil.

 

[kinyonga]

Veiled females are famous for stripping pathos plants bare of leaves…especially when they are gravid.

 

[ehdee6]

My female also takes a little sample of all her plants. More so her Benjamin Ficus, than the pothos. She also ate more leaves in the summer (August), when I thought she was becoming gravid. But she never gained weight, or developed eggs. She also ate a nasturtium flower I offered her, around this time. I'm going to get a hibiscus tree, or two, next year.

Can they eat rose petals? I have a few in my yard, unsprayed in organic soil.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

My Chamaeleo calypatratus cleaned my Ficus benjamina of leaf matter. That is not making a meal out of one or two leaf's, I mean all of the leaf matter gone. I recall the same Chamaeleo calypatratus only took bites out of Golden Pothos leaf matter.

I would consider all plant mater as food matter for all Chamaeleo calypatratus enclosures.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[Gloriawood]

my girl LOVES to eat her pothos, two days in a row now i’ve caught her munching.

I have a ‘rotation’ of pathos. I use the double pot method in my enclosure and just swap them out when they get munched on too badly, put the new one in, and get the old one healthy again

 

[IrohtheVeiled]

My guy will just take bites, less often now though

He seems to prefer to eat new growth to my annoyance he likes the tender leaves

 

[MissSkittles]

Stella hiding shamefully in the background of one of her pothos. Kidding, she is shameless.


Lucky’s money tree. Those baby leaves on the top right will be eaten by the end of the day.

 

[IrohtheVeiled]

(Thank you all for posting your terrorized plants, I’ve been driving myself crazy to keep my plants looking pretty with my veiled and it makes me feel better about my failed attempts to keep things lush and healthy)

 

[IrohtheVeiled]

How long do we give these big tasty leaves before this guy wreaks havoc on them?

Thankfully I got my branches set up so he doesn’t trample the planter anymore