Help - Orchids???

[Amanda S]

Hello. I grow orchids and have 5 varieties. They need a lot of light and humidity so I am setting up a terrarium. I would like to suspend them at the top of it and I have ordered a small subspecies of carpet chameleon for it.

Are orchids safe to be with chameleons?

I could put them outside the cage just to create a jungle look if it would harm my little guy, but they need the same light as he does so I could still suspend lights and work that but preferably I would put a couple inside and suspend them from the top.

 

[Zerah Morris]

Many of us have kept orchids with chams for years, they are a great combo. That said I have never kept species that actively eat plant matter. Some orchids have various levels of toxicity. That said F. lateralis is not known for eating plants under normal circumstances so you should be fine.

 

[Orchidartist]

What kind of orchids are they?

 

[Amanda S]

phal, oncidium, cattleya, zygopetalum, and dendrobium. I could use any combination of them, they are all ideal size for the terrarium.

I was debating on potting and/or hanging them from the top. Probably a combination there as well.

 

[opihiman]

what kind of enclosure are you planning....glass or screened.

OPI

 

[Amanda S]

Screened. 18x18x36 alumumium

 

[opihiman]

I actually keep a dendrobium in my jacksons cage. I wanted to start add some real plants to my cage about the same size as yours. I figured it would help with humidity and help to police the tons of water that eventually get sprayed into the cage. I don't know what kind of dendrobium it is though. I do empty the little catch dish every day so not to have the standing water thing going on in the cage. and I try to keep that dish as tight as possible to prevent anyone from drinking from it.

I have had the plant in my cage for about month and it seems to be doing very well...depending on your Cham would I think it could work...

I had asked similar question earlier and this as the best response I got


From Dodolah

orchid (i.e moon orchid) in general is safe to be in the chameleon's cage provided that it is organic and has been grown without pesticides.
Orchid is also quite adaptive to indoor lighting.

However, I have found it to be very problematic inside chameleon's cage.
First of all, from one of the orchid forum, I learned that you should not wet the flower (this is increasingly difficult to do in chameleon's cage).
With that said it is hard to clean any pesticide trace used by the nursery for your chameleon to be safe.

At the end of the day, can orchid be used? Yes.. but the troubles it cause warrant me to find a better alternative.
If you have veiled, you can be sure that he will not leave the flowers alone.
So, you'll have half eaten flowers all the time and there goes the beauty factor.

idk about dendrobium.
__________________
CARE FOR VEILED AND PANTHER CHAMELEON AT:
http://chamworld.blogspot.com

Hope that helps.

OPI