Grass in a viv

[MATT2504]

Hi guys (me again)

Was thinking of a planted viv and was wondering, if i did'nt want top soil showing could i put a piece of turf there instead. As i don't want my cham injesting anything from the top soil ! I've seen plenty of viv's with just top soil and just wondered what your views were. (is just top soil safe)?

Thanks again

 

[VeiledOwner87]

for a planted viv, i try my best to go completely natural in terms of esthetics. i dont think they have turf or lawn grass in the rainforest lol. save some money, and just cover your topsoil with plantation soil or coco husk, and then cover that up with a layer of moss. you get a bunch load out of a two pack exo-terra brick. this will also add a bunch more constant humidity than grass in the viv. hope this helps, if others disagree post your thoughts and teach the original poster and i your experience

 

[MATT2504]

So plantation soil or coco husk is safe if injested by chams?

 

[VeiledOwner87]

debatable, i can tell you that about 80% of members will say yes, dont use substrate. just monitor your animal, see if it realy likes to eat "dirt", if so will have later problems. my gf's sub male veiled was a big dirt eater, so we cuut his privillage of substrate off and put that herp carpet stuff in. it was recommended to me by another member on here who debates against not using substrate and told me to use moss. since then, my cham has never once attempted to eat dirt. plus it looks so much nicer. take a look at my threads, you will see my viv and what it looks like

 

[MATT2504]

debatable, i can tell you that about 80% of members will say yes, dont use substrate. just monitor your animal, see if it realy likes to eat "dirt", if so will have later problems. my gf's sub male veiled was a big dirt eater, so we cuut his privillage of substrate off and put that herp carpet stuff in. it was recommended to me by another member on here who debates against not using substrate and told me to use moss. since then, my cham has never once attempted to eat dirt. plus it looks so much nicer. take a look at my threads, you will see my viv and what it looks like

Just checked your thread, like your setup looks great, but still concerned about the soil issue! so it looks as if moss is an other option aswell. (plenty of that in the garden L.O.L)

 

[VeiledOwner87]

not garden moss, just be safe and buy a 2 pack, in the states it should be like 5$. thanks you though! im glad you like it

 

[draetish]

You could, and I have been thinking about it, plant some shade loving grass seed like Fescue in the container you plan on using. Make sure you have drain holes for excess water and get it established. Hosta are a shade loving plant and I have those in my panther cham's enclosure. I wouldn't use either one of these if you have the type of cham that eats foilage as I'm not sure it's 100% safe if "eaten".

 

[jamncristian]

ive heard people using alfalfa grass in their cham enclosures

 

[VeiledOwner87]

alfalfa.. never thought of it. it looks dirty right? like natural beautiful dirty lol and its healthy too...

 

[sandrachameleon]

Pieces of moss or coco fibre can be quite long, and get tangled up internally if ingested.
Sand and other gritty undigestable materials can lead to impaction.

You could put a sand soil mix down, plant it with dandelion, pothos etc, then put large rocks all around the plants. This way the chameleon can not get to the soil, and the plants will fill in around the rocks. You'll still want to take care of the fecal material that falls.