Good plants for veiled?

[brendan0923]

Hey everyone! I've had my veiled chameleon Oscar for about a year now, he is my first chameleon, and he's been doing awesome. My one problem, however, is I have trouble keeping ficuses alive. I follow the care information, but it somehow always ends up dying, and right now Oscar just has this stupid dead ficus in his cage. Can anyone provide me with good care info or some chameleon-friendly alternatives to ficuses? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[SaintJimmy]

What kind of conditions is your cage making for the ficuses? They are just about the easiest plant ever, but sometimes they get parasites (little black nubs on the branches, I get them quite often and have to pick them off once I realize the ficus is dying!!).

Anyway pothos, umbrella plants, wandering jew... hmm.. hibiscus. Those are all good. Pothos will thrive with lots of water. Umbrella plants need mist and water, wandering jew I have no clue. Hibiscus probably requires tons of water and a grow light O_O

 

[larrodinero]

Both my Veileds and my lil Fischer love the sheferella plants, their easy to take care of in a terrarium too!

 

[brendan0923]

What kind of conditions is your cage making for the ficuses? They are just about the easiest plant ever, but sometimes they get parasites (little black nubs on the branches, I get them quite often and have to pick them off once I realize the ficus is dying!!).

Anyway pothos, umbrella plants, wandering jew... hmm.. hibiscus. Those are all good. Pothos will thrive with lots of water. Umbrella plants need mist and water, wandering jew I have no clue. Hibiscus probably requires tons of water and a grow light O_O

Well, it's a screen enclosure, so I'm not sure whether or not ficuses enjoy the dry southern california weather. I tried to water and fertilize it, but perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I don't have a green thumb! Do you have any advice or perhaos some good ficus care sheets you could link to?

And thank you, I will look into those plants. I was already considering just getting more branches and putting in a nice big pothos! Thanks for the help!

 

[brendan0923]

Both my Veileds and my lil Fischer love the sheferella plants, their easy to take care of in a terrarium too!

Ok thanks, I will look into those as well!

 

[johnnyev]

Yep try the Devils ivy (pothos)... even i can't kill that. And nice big leaves for some shade & for water to collect on when misting.

 

[chameleons707]

Try asparagus fern!! It looks reall nice and has never died on me! But only looks nice in some enclosures depending how u set it up. But if you do get it get the soft fern looking one not that hard long shaped one

 

[brendan0923]

OK thank you for the suggestions, if the ficus does not work out I will try one of those![emoji4]

 

[junglefries]

Pothos. Umbrella. Hibiscus (definitely). Draceana.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Yep try the Devils ivy (pothos)... even i can't kill that. And nice big leaves for some shade & for water to collect on when misting.

I do not understand why chameleon keepers think Pothos is a safe plant for their chameleons, especially for Veileds that often eat plants.

Pothos is listed as poisonous to dogs, cats, birds and people. Why would chameleons be different?

I asked my avian vet (who also has a large reptile practice) about the discrepancy between the safe/toxic-plant lists on Chameleon-keepers' web sites and the rest of the poison lists for children, dogs, cats and birds. Every other poison list has Pothos as toxic. He said that most animal poison lists are not well researched and really just extrapolations of other lists--plants that are known to cause a reaction to humans so they assume they cause a reaction to other animals. Some plants listed on the poison list are there because they cause a very mild skin irritation, but that is not the case for Pothos which is listed as causing vomiting and sometimes difficulty breathing.

While everyone else's chameleon might never take a bite out of a Pothos, my male veiled believes his true calling in life was to be an iguana. My vet does not want me to take a chance.

 

[hobbywhelmed]

After I got a pair of new veiled juveniles last October, I decided to try a pothos in the enclosure. (My first veiled is an older guy who thought live plant leaves were where you aimed your poop.) The little female ate every leaf off the thing in a week. Yet they have free time among the big hibiscus plants and small variegated ficus plants by the window and have no interest in eating those leaves.

 

[reptileguy112]

I think creeping fig is a pretty cool plant to keep in there and trimmed black bamboo.A more lush plant would be a honeysuckle or a ficus

 

[MeruJack]

I highly recommend the thread by forum member Chameleopatrick. You can probably find it my searching the title: Reasons why real chams need real plants! It has great info about chameleon-safe plants as well as many FANTASTIC PHOTOS of plants and enclosures.
OUTSTANDING!!

Chameleon Forums>Chameleon Husbandry>Enclosures and Supplies>Reasons why real chams need real plants!

 

[jannb]

I really like the Pothos it seems to hold the water for a long time and also does quite well inside. The Scheffleras also do great indoors. The Hibiscus is a favorite of the veileds but needs allot of light so your need to use hibiscus outside or have a couple to rotate from inside to outside for sun.

 

[brendan0923]

I do not understand why chameleon keepers think Pothos is a safe plant for their chameleons, especially for Veileds that often eat plants.

Pothos is listed as poisonous to dogs, cats, birds and people. Why would chameleons be different?

I asked my avian vet (who also has a large reptile practice) about the discrepancy between the safe/toxic-plant lists on Chameleon-keepers' web sites and the rest of the poison lists for children, dogs, cats and birds. Every other poison list has Pothos as toxic. He said that most animal poison lists are not well researched and really just extrapolations of other lists--plants that are known to cause a reaction to humans so they assume they cause a reaction to other animals. Some plants listed on the poison list are there because they cause a very mild skin irritation, but that is not the case for Pothos which is listed as causing vomiting and sometimes difficulty breathing.

While everyone else's chameleon might never take a bite out of a Pothos, my male veiled believes his true calling in life was to be an iguana. My vet does not want me to take a chance.

Interesting, I've never heard of that. I used to have a pothos with the ficus and didn't have any problems. Could you link me to a source for further reading?

 

[brendan0923]

I really like the Pothos it seems to hold the water for a long time and also does quite well inside. The Scheffleras also do great indoors. The Hibiscus is a favorite of the veileds but needs allot of light so your need to use hibiscus outside or have a couple to rotate from inside to outside for sun.

Yeah I've tried a hibiscus as well, but it probably didn't get enough light. I might have to try a schefflera!

 

[brendan0923]

Alright, thanks to everyone who replied! I finally got around to redoing Oscar's enclosure, and here it is! I used a pothos and a dacaena, and he seems to like it so far.

 

[darcym]

I do not understand why chameleon keepers think Pothos is a safe plant for their chameleons, especially for Veileds that often eat plants.

Pothos is listed as poisonous to dogs, cats, birds and people. Why would chameleons be different?

I asked my avian vet (who also has a large reptile practice) about the discrepancy between the safe/toxic-plant lists on Chameleon-keepers' web sites and the rest of the poison lists for children, dogs, cats and birds. Every other poison list has Pothos as toxic. He said that most animal poison lists are not well researched and really just extrapolations of other lists--plants that are known to cause a reaction to humans so they assume they cause a reaction to other animals. Some plants listed on the poison list are there because they cause a very mild skin irritation, but that is not the case for Pothos which is listed as causing vomiting and sometimes difficulty breathing.

While everyone else's chameleon might never take a bite out of a Pothos, my male veiled believes his true calling in life was to be an iguana. My vet does not want me to take a chance.

from experience pothos is safe my chams always ate this and always have lived long healthy lives. chocolate is poison for dogs but not humans

 

[johnnyev]

I do not understand why chameleon keepers think Pothos is a safe plant for their chameleons, especially for Veileds that often eat plants.

Pothos is listed as poisonous to dogs, cats, birds and people. Why would chameleons be different?

I asked my avian vet (who also has a large reptile practice) about the discrepancy between the safe/toxic-plant lists on Chameleon-keepers' web sites and the rest of the poison lists for children, dogs, cats and birds. Every other poison list has Pothos as toxic. He said that most animal poison lists are not well researched and really just extrapolations of other lists--plants that are known to cause a reaction to humans so they assume they cause a reaction to other animals. Some plants listed on the poison list are there because they cause a very mild skin irritation, but that is not the case for Pothos which is listed as causing vomiting and sometimes difficulty breathing.

While everyone else's chameleon might never take a bite out of a Pothos, my male veiled believes his true calling in life was to be an iguana. My vet does not want me to take a chance.

Never had a problem with it myself. Even when i kept veileds & panthers.

 

[MeruJack]

The pottos would be great way up near the top of the enclosure. It will just get pooped on if left down at the bottom.