Fake plants “panthers only “

[Ideal.Exotics]

So my xl terrariums arrived. Debating on fake or live plants. However I’m aware of the dangers associated with fake plants. However I see a lot of people using them and telling other not to. I’ve searched for reported cases on the forums of chams being impacted and found nothing. While this leads someone to want to believe that this is because using fake is frowned upon and has reduced the reporting of impacted chams or it it just a risk worth taking for sanitary purposes. I have every intent on puting in live however would like the real opinion of using fake plants with PANTHERS not fully just some vines in a corner where the mister will spray that I can sanatize and remove Andy build up from water deposits alge or anything that grows where water is continuously sprayed. You can’t sanitize real plants with a garment steamer and expect them to thrive even with swapping them out. I’m not talking one cage I’m talking upwards of 5 + individual cages to sanatize.

 

[Beman]

You can use fake plants with Panthers. I would not use the silk ones though. Get the real reptile ones. The issue for panthers is more that they can go through a phase of biting branches. So fake vines become the issue.

Veileds can and have become impacted from fake plants. It is a real issue for them because they are avid plant eaters.

Why are you having to sanitize so deeply? Are you working with WC chams?

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I have a panther chameleon, and putting artificial plants and/or vines in its enclosure never even occurred to me.

IMO, there is much more than just impaction and/or sanitizing to consider, and except in cases where sanitizing would be necessary (e.g. coccidia), replacing rather than sanitizing is often the better choice.

With panthers (or any species that doesn't sample plants/vines in an enclosure) live plants are preferred for humidity and aesthetics. All five care sheets in the Resources section include the line:

Live plants help increase and maintain humidity.

and for good reason. It's true, and the only better non-mechanical (fogger, dripper, mister) way I can think of is going full-on bioactive.

However I see a lot of people using them and telling other not to.

The only circumstance where I've seen this is when someone has recommended/suggested using artificial plants on the outside of an enclosure for added decoration/privacy. Personally, I wouldn't even do that; to me, live plants look, feel, and smell better.

I’ve searched for reported cases on the forums of chams being impacted and found nothing.

I don't have a lot of time to do an exhaustive search right now, but here's one that came up immediately.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/my-cham-has-impaction-your-experiences.173153/

But TBH, "The forums" are not where I would go to search for what you're looking for. I would try google scholar, or better yet veterinary forums or resources. Unfortunately, access to those kinds of sites is often limited to professionals. I would also try my herp vet, who is more likely to see/deal with this kind of thing more often than the average bear.

 

[suprdude]

It would help mitigate the risk if the leaves aren't easy to remove. It isn't easy to remove the leaves on most fake plants without using your hands, and they just have the tongue.

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

It would help mitigate the risk if the leaves aren't easy to remove. It isn't easy to remove the leaves on most fake plants without using your hands, and they just have the tongue.

Maybe with panthers because they dont usually eat plants but not for vieleds. They do have teeth so they will bite off whatever looks appealing to them.

 

[Beman]

It would help mitigate the risk if the leaves aren't easy to remove. It isn't easy to remove the leaves on most fake plants without using your hands, and they just have the tongue.

Yeah a veiled uses teeth and bite force... They have no issue pulling fake leaves off plants. If they are then able to swallow them then impaction is a real threat.