Exotic plants safe??

[Ronald7232]

I want to put plants like venus flytrap and pitcher plant, bromeliads or air plants but are any of these safe?

 

[DeremensisBlue]

I want to put plants like venus flytrap and pitcher plant, bromeliads or air plants but are any of these safe?

As far as carnivorous plants: They are safe as long as the chameleons are not babies that fit into the traps. The biggest problem you will have with venus fly traps is their dormancy requirements and need for light. So you would need them up close enough to the lights to get bright light and then you would have to remove them every winter for a couple months in the fridge. So the experience will be labor intensive. Pitcher plants (Nepenthes) do great if you get the right varieties. Nepenthes alta, "ventrata", or "Miranda" are good middle of the road that do not need the extremes of the low land or highland. The North American Sarrecenia or Darlingtonia would have the same types of problems as the Venus Fly trap.

 

[Ronald7232]

As far as carnivorous plants: They are safe as long as the chameleons are not babies that fit into the traps. The biggest problem you will have with venus fly traps is their dormancy requirements and need for light. So you would need them up close enough to the lights to get bright light and then you would have to remove them every winter for a couple months in the fridge. So the experience will be labor intensive. Pitcher plants (Nepenthes) do great if you get the right varieties. Nepenthes alta, "ventrata", or "Miranda" are good middle of the road that do not need the extremes of the low land or highland. The North American Sarrecenia or Darlingtonia would have the same types of problems as the Venus Fly trap.

I’ll probably get the ventrata since i think its the most ascetically pleasing also what do you mean by putting the fly trap in the fridge?

 

[DeremensisBlue]

I’ll probably get the ventrata since i think its the most ascetically pleasing also what do you mean by putting the fly trap in the fridge?

VFTs come from SouthCarolina and require a winter dormancy. It just means that if you keep it in the cage under the chameleon environmental conditions al year it will weaken and may not live long into its second year. So, you would have to remove the VFT from the cage and give it a cold winter and then put it back in the chameleon cage in Spring. All is doable, but I have found that my love for Venus Fly Traps is much better fulfilled by having them on my desk with a dedicated plant light.

 

[jamest0o0]

Bill is spot on. Carnivores also need distilled/rain/ro water and low nutrient substrate(which most plants won’t live in). So tap/bottled/mineral water will kill the plants. Many, like fly traps, also appreciate sitting in a bog and don’t tolerate drying out at all. All of these things would make them difficult and even unnatural in a Cham enclosure. With that said, certain nepenthes do very well, a few of mine got huge in my parsons enclosure. I had them right under the lights and misters, planted in sphagnum on a thick branch. They loved eating up all the extra millipedes, gnats, and other critters from my bioactive substrate as well.

I liked having sundews sitting outside of the cage to eliminate any soil gnats that popped up. They do an amazing job at that.

 

[jamest0o0]

Air plants and bromeliads do awesome in Cham cages(be aware of requirements for different species) given light and water. I drilled holes in my branches and tightly stuck their stems(bromeliads) in with some sphagnum. They rooted onto it over time and shot off pups. I had a bunch of them growing up in the canopy after a year.