Live Plants questions

[kerry1]

I am getting ready to go to Lowe's to look at their house plant selection. I am wanting to do a new cage setup for my Jackson chameleon, which only has plastic plants and driftwood. It looks nice but is hard to clean. I want to go with a simpler look and having 1 large house plant seems the way to go. I have a list of safe plants from FLChams so I am good there.

I have two other questions:

1. Do house plants (sold inside the store) come with pesticides ? I wouldn't think that they would since they are house plants, but want to make sure

2. For house plants, most of them say to fertilize once every 1-2 months. Will ferilizing be bad for my chameleon ? If so, what type of soil should I get for the house plant to ensure no harm is done to my chameleon ?

 

[chameleonkev]

I've always put mine strait in the viv without problems and I don't fertlize mine an I've had a couple of them about 3 years, I don't no if it would halm your Cham but in my opinion it isn't needed anyway

 

[Ashleigh]

I'm not for sure, but from what I've read, this is what I did to be safe:

I took my plants and unpotted them from the soil they came in and washed the foliage with antibacterial soap and water(rinse thoroughly) and re potted with fine organic soil and covered the soil with river rock to discourage my little guy from eating the dirt(not saying he doesn't every once in a while lol). The organic soil i got has organic fertilizers in it to help growth, and I also have a grow light to help the plants out also. I'm not sure where these plants were before they came to the store so I don't want to take any chances of introducing pesticides or any other weird thing that might be on the plant or soil, but that's my oppinion

 

[mjhough]

If you don't plan on having a light for plant growth you should get 2 plants to switch out every couple weeks to help with growth. Or a pohtos is a low light plant mine seems to be thriving in my chams setup. If you have an aquarium you can use that water for a fertilizer.. good luck im sure your little one will enjoy

 

[corwinlame]

I suggest you use some organic soil for your home plants and also use some good seeds. If you want to grow your plant than you can also use hydroponics kits for your plants. You have to take some extra care of your plant so they grow very fast.

 

[Elizadolots]

I have pothos plants in my cages and I swear, they live on water and chameleon poop.... I suggest washing the plant and replanting it in soil you know has no pesticides, then letting your chameleon fertilize the plant.