encorporating live plants

[Amanda1801]

Hi there

So I'm probably going to be getting Colin a reptibreeze viv - 4ft x 2ft x 2ft.

I'd really like to include some live plants, and was wondering about how to do so...

As the repribreeze vivs have enough of a solid sided base to include substrate, I was wondering if it was ok to fill this with compost and actually plant some live plants in the vivarium, and cover the soil with weedmatting to stop him getting to the substrate? (he currently eats out of a bowl on the floor but I'm hoping to eventually get him used to having food in little cups around his enclosure for enrichment/exercise and such but this is a long term goal for him - he's not the smartest chameleon in the jungle...)

Does anyone have a set up like this? I'm kind of hoping that it is a solution to excess water dripping down onto the bottom too...as well as Colin maybe (fingers crossed!) eating some fresh leaves and such.

Any ideas in this, or other suggestions for encorporating live plants?

Amanda

 

[Lizardlover]

. To answer your question 99% of people on here have live plants, you should already have some sort of live plants to begin with. Substrate is a no-no, people just keep the plants in pots if your worried about him eating soil most people cover the soil of their plants with large river rocks to keep their chams from getting to it, healthy chameleons generally dont eat soil, when a chameleon eats soil it normally means they have a mineral deficiency of some kind. Can we see pictures of your chameleon? From the picture in your avatar it looks like he has MBD, what kind of lighting do you use?

 

[Amanda1801]

. To answer your question 99% of people on here have live plants, you should already have some sort of live plants to begin with. Substrate is a no-no, people just keep the plants in pots if your worried about him eating soil most people cover the soil of their plants with large river rocks to keep their chams from getting to it, healthy chameleons generally dont eat soil, when a chameleon eats soil it normally means they have a mineral deficiency of some kind. Can we see pictures of your chameleon? From the picture in your avatar it looks like he has MBD, what kind of lighting do you use?

He has terrible MBD - I took him on as a rescue. He came with a glass viv and some plastic leaves - he shall soon have a new suitable vivarium and such but was just wondering the best way to include the live plants, he doesn't have any yet as I've been getting his health on track one thing at a time, and didn't want to risk impaction with him eating soil (he came very malnourished). Just wondering if actually planting the plants in the bottom of the viv and covering them with weed matting is a feasible idea

Edit: he now has all the correct lighting, a good diet and suitable supplements to bring everything back up to a maintenance level. Just need to improve his vivarium which is a work in progress

 

[Lizardlover]

Thats very nice of you to do, instead of just going out and buying a new cham. Honestly its much easier to just use the pots the plants came in when it comes to larger species, when you buy the plants you will need to rinse them off with soapy water, then repot them into a pot with organic soil so your cham is not exposed to fertilizers, some people (like I said) like to cover the soil with large river rocks, but thats optional if you think your cham may like to snack on soil.

 

[Amanda1801]

Thats very nice of you to do, instead of just going out and buying a new cham. Honestly its much easier to just use the pots the plants came in when it comes to larger species, when you buy the plants you will need to rinse them off with soapy water, then repot them into a pot with organic soil so your cham is not exposed to fertilizers, some people (like I said) like to cover the soil with large river rocks, but thats optional if you think your cham may like to snack on soil.

I probably will cover it just because I imagine (having only had him 3 weeks) he's probably still deficient in some minerals.

And everything in my house is a rescue - just a sucker for a sob story!