Impaction risk

[Flick boy]

So this is kind of bugging me lol. So we tell members no substrate on the bottom because of impaction risk unless it's bioactive where there will be substrate. What's the difference/point

 

[KGun19]

No point! I find it silly myself, it’s an animal no need to nerf it’s world.

 

[Flick boy]

Bump

 

[ashdavisa]

I think it's advised not to have substrate in a non-bio enclosure for sanitary purposes, mainly. A spongey substrate like coco coir with no beneficial organisms is just a bacteria catcher.
Chunky soil with easily-ingestible, but not passable pieces are always an impaction risk (bio or not) with chameleons, who can easily miss a target or pick up a piece of something with it.
A bioactive enclosure should have the substrate covered by leaf litter. Leaves aren't easy to suck down with a bug, even if a chameleon accidentally grabs one.

I suppose if you were dead set on substrate in a non-bio enclosure, you could cover it with leaf litter. But it'd just make cleaning that much harder, and you'd still end up having to replace it all every so often.

 

[ashdavisa]

No point! I find it silly myself, it’s an animal no need to nerf it’s world.

There's always reason to avoid health risks when keeping a captive animal in a space way smaller than it'd have access to in the wild.

 

[Flick boy]

This is not a sanitary question. And I'm not set on anything I'm asking a simple question

 

[ashdavisa]

This is not a sanitary question. And I'm not set on anything I'm asking a simple question

I was speaking in a general sense, not a personal one.
I offered an answer based on my experience and the reasons I see people give. If you want answers for such a specific thing and nothing else, maybe it's best to ask the people who are citing impaction as the sole reason for not using substrate directly.

 

[Flick boy]

I dont do any of this its a hypothetically question calm your jets. I'm only asking if you put plant pots in an enclosure advice given put stones on the top. There will be no stones in a bioactive enclosure.

 

[kinyonga]

So this is kind of bugging me lol. So we tell members no substrate on the bottom because of impaction risk unless it's bioactive where there will be substrate. What's the difference/point

This is a question I've been asking myself for a while too. I've never used bioactive just bare floors in the cages... to be on the safe side....no soil...no possible ingestion or impaction from substrate. From all that I've read and seen in videos of chameleons in teir native habitat, most species of chameleons don't walk on the ground much...only to travel from one tree/shrub to the other or, in the case of females, to lay eggs....and I expect most of the ground they walk on would have grass.

If it turns out that chameleons don't eat the bioactive substrate, then it will be great...but I'm still waiting to see. (Not saying bioactive is wrong at all.)

 

[KGun19]

There's always reason to avoid health risks when keeping a captive animal in a space way smaller than it'd have access to in the wild.

Yea but it also doesn’t have to worry about a eagle jacking it. I understand taking precautions with your animal but just remember it’s an animal.

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

I was speaking in a general sense, not a personal one.
I offered an answer based on my experience and the reasons I see people give. If you want answers for such a specific thing and nothing else, maybe it's best to ask the people who are citing impaction as the sole reason for not using substrate directly.

Dude chill ?

 

[ashdavisa]

Dude chill ?

I'd already left the conversation but thanks for the input ?