High Heat Tolerant Plant

[jslost]

Hi All. So far so good with the enclosure and our veiled seems happy and healthy. One thing I'm having trouble with is finding cham safe plants that can handle the high heat of the 75w basking bulb. See attached for pic. The planter is ±12" from the bulb. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Everything else is growing and overall thriving.

Here's more details on our setup if anyone is interested: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/help-with-humidity-levels.193861/#post-1815272

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I would go with either Pothos, Ficus, or a Schefflera species of plant. Those three plants handle heat well and is not difficult to locate in plant selling stores..

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[Lucas00-]

I would go with either Pothos, Ficus, or a Schefflera species of plant. Those three plants handle heat well and is not difficult to locate in plant selling stores..

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

I agree, when in doubt pothos. I have three of them in my enclosure right now lol

 

[MissSkittles]

Schefflera is a wonderful center plant with its many branches to offer little roads and lots of leaves for hiding in and drinking from. Pothos comes in several varieties and is the work horse plant when it comes to chameleons. Plant one low/on the floor and let it grow upwards and the leaves will grow larger.

 

[jslost]

Thanks, all. I had a pothos there but it didn't make it. It could be that I started with too small of one and it wasn't strong enough to take the heat. I will try that again and also look into the Schefflera. Many thanks!

 

[MissSkittles]

Thanks, all. I had a pothos there but it didn't make it. It could be that I started with too small of one and it wasn't strong enough to take the heat. I will try that again and also look into the Schefflera. Many thanks!

How hot is your enclosure? Temps for male panthers & veiled shouldn’t be above 85F & for females, 80F.

 

[nightanole]

uhhh if the basking bulb is strong enough to hurt plants, its way too strong for the cham. Around here the plants grow towards the basking bulbs and even crowd them out to the point the cham cant bask. Your bulb might just be hot spotting or something and you can just angle it to the cage so its an ellipse that spreads out the hot spot.

 

[jslost]

The basking bulb/ledge temps are about 83 and the planter just under it is around 80. The cham is doing just fine, it's the plants that aren't happy

 

[Beman]

The soil looks very dry. Pothos will start to die off at the base if the soil is just too dry. If you do not have misting heads near that area then the plant is actually just not getting the water hit needs. I always kept a pothos near my basking spot where my misting heads were not because they messed with my temp gauge probe at basking. That plant I would have to water weekly by hand.

 

[jslost]

Thanks, we are hand watering at least weekly and there is a drip system that auto waters daily. I'll give the pothos a shot.

 

[Lumi]

I had the same problem with the plant up by my basking area. They'd live for a while but eventually die, even with a 40 watt basking bulb. My problem was being consistent with watering though. Are you sure it's just the heat? You might want to check the UV just to make sure. But let us know how the pothos goes.

 

[Beman]

Thanks, we are hand watering at least weekly and there is a drip system that auto waters daily. I'll give the pothos a shot.

Use a good organic soil and get the clay balls to put a 1 inch layer in the bottom of the pot. This will allow for excess water drainage so the roots don't rot. If that is a pothos in that pot cut it back down to like 2 inches of growth that is still green. Start watering it. It will come back.