Omg!! What do i do?

[xephyr17]

Peter is insane...

He has 3 hanging plants in his enclosure: a pilea and 2 pothos plants. They all have river rocks over them so he won't eat the dirt, but it's not working!!

He is so desperate to eat the dirt that he literally will dig out a hole in the rocks and eat the dirt from between them. What the heck???

What should I do to stop him???

Thanks,
Dillon

 

[Lathis]

Put some coco mat under the rocks, like that is used for hanging plants. And of course bigger rocks.

What's your supplementation and gut loading schedule like? Have you checked it against the care sheets?

 

[Galaxy]

I guess you could get creative and purchase a fabric weed barrier from the hardware store, cut it to measure of the planters with a hole(s) for the plants themselves and slits leading to the holes so you can just slide it around the stems. Wouldn't get all the little areas directly in any cluster stems, but it would protect a big area around the plant at least!

 

[xephyr17]

Put some coco mat under the rocks, like that is used for hanging plants. And of course bigger rocks.

What's your supplementation and gut loading schedule like? Have you checked it against the care sheets?

I gutload my roaches with lettuce, collards, kale, peaches, oranges, apples and banana. Crickets the same, although I haven't used those in a while.

Otherwise I don't do much gutloading besides the foof that comes with hornworms, butterworms, etc. that I get online. Once I get my own colonies going of more than just roaches they'll all be gutloaded on similar items.

Supplementation schedule is calcium every day and d3 with multivitamin every 2 weeks

 

[Lathis]

That seems normal, so it's not likely something you're doing. Maybe he just likes to eat dirt? What a weird little cham. You might try screen under the rock, too. That might work.

 

[xephyr17]

I guess you could get creative and purchase a fabric weed barrier from the hardware store, cut it to measure of the planters with a hole(s) for the plants themselves and slits leading to the holes so you can just slide it around the stems. Wouldn't get all the little areas directly in any cluster stems, but it would protect a big area around the plant at least!

How do you secure it to the space so it doesn't get moved? I'd want to make sure he can't just push it aside like he has been with the rocks...

That seems normal, so it's not likely something you're doing. Maybe he just likes to eat dirt? What a weird little cham. You might try screen under the rock, too. That might work.

He has some weird habits... this is definitely one of them. And he won't give it up, so far... He's literally pushed the rocks out of the hanging plants onto the bottom of the enclosure so I hear it and know he's doing it. It's like he wants me to see it so I "won't cover it up anymore." Hahaha

I guess I'll try covering it with some extra mesh I've got and try it out. How do you think I should secure it? I feel like he'll just push that aside, too, unless I get it down somehow so he can't move it.

Maybe I have a panther chameleon in disguise... ripping everything up. Haha

 

[millerman6401]

You might be able to just put lots of hot glue on the sides of it to secure it.

 

[Galaxy]

How do you secure it to the space so it doesn't get moved? I'd want to make sure he can't just push it aside like he has been with the rocks...

Just use these bad boys: Sod staples
A few of those around the edges, rocks back on top of the fabric.

 

[xephyr17]

You might be able to just put lots of hot glue on the sides of it to secure it.

Do you think I could hot glue the rocks to the sides of the plastic pot? I have some glue--that'd save me money from having to buy other stuff to put under the rocks...

Just use these bad boys: Sod staples
A few of those around the edges, rocks back on top of the fabric.

Oh, good idea. I have some of those in my tool shed--I'll try that out.