Phantom leaf eater

[Harry938]

It’s driving me mad.

Something is eating my plants,
I’ve looked everywhere for hours and cannot find any feeders that have escaped, I don’t think they look like chameleon bites, (he usually takes the full leaf ). So what could it possibly be? There’s isopods and springtails in there but I’ve never seen them climb trees they all stay on the soil, it’s well and truly stumped me, if I feed crickets there in a feeder and can’t get out unless they jump, if I feed locusts or anything else I supervise.

I’ve sat at the glass, moved stuff, sprayed everything with water, and still no signs of escaped feeders, anyone else experienced this?

But apart from that, his new Viv is still thriving,

 

[PrincessSpaz]

Your 2nd photo looks similar to my Spazzy's pothos leaves, she was the culprit ... she would occasionally lash out on a leaf if it annoyed her but didn't take full bites out of the leaf like she did others
She was rather temperamental lol ... I miss her so very much
Have you seen any gnats in your baby's enclosure? I know they're drawn to humid/moist environments and small enough to be undetected if there's only one or two. Perhaps that's the culprit?

 

[Harry938]

Your 2nd photo looks similar to my Spazzy's pothos leaves, she was the culprit ... she would occasionally lash out on a leaf if it annoyed her but didn't take full bites out of the leaf like she did others
She was rather temperamental lol ... I miss her so very much
Have you seen any gnats in your baby's enclosure? I know they're drawn to humid/moist environments and small enough to be undetected if there's only one or two. Perhaps that's the culprit?

Sorry for your Cham , I’ve had him a year now so hopefully have a lot of time left.

Gnats would make sense, we have GAL snails and had problems with them, what’s the solution, for snails we just redid the Viv but that’s not ideal for him

 

[janjan20]

Veiled chameleons are notorious plant eaters, do you know if that is on the safe plant list? If you have any plastic ones, I would remove them and replace it with a real plant. All of my chams eat their leaves. My female seems to munch a little more than my males. I would guess your Cham is the likley culprit!

 

[Harry938]

Veiled chameleons are notorious plant eaters, do you know if that is on the safe plant list? If you have any plastic ones, I would remove them and replace it with a real plant. All of my chams eat their leaves. My female seems to munch a little more than my males. I would guess your Cham is the likley culprit!

It’s I ficus Benjamina, totally safe, all plants are veiled approved, fully live bio active setup , I thought it maybe him but I’d see no reason for him to munch there, water dosnt reach there and he’s plenty off other, less tough plants that are dripping in water

 

[MissSkittles]

Have you checked for other tiny pests? One fun thing (for your cham) to do to help eradicate any tiny pests is to hatch a mantis ooth in your enclosure. The baby mantids eat any pests and your cham gets some tiny snacks. I do it to help with soil gnats.
Does your clean up crew have enough leaf litter and other biologicals to eat? Even though my enclosures are pretty established, I do add fresh leaf litter as needed and also give my clean up crew some veggie scraps every now and then.

 

[ERKleRose]

Your cage looks amazing (your cham is very handsome, too)! Is the uvb in his enclosure or does it just look like it from that angle?

 

[Harry938]

Have you checked for other tiny pests? One fun thing (for your cham) to do to help eradicate any tiny pests is to hatch a mantis ooth in your enclosure. The baby mantids eat any pests and your cham gets some tiny snacks. I do it to help with soil gnats.
Does your clean up crew have enough leaf litter and other biologicals to eat? Even though my enclosures are pretty established, I do add fresh leaf litter as needed and also give my clean up crew some veggie scraps every now and then.

That’s something I’ll try, if i can find them cheap, here in uk mantis are pets and not feeders so can pay $15 for one .

Cleanup crew get fed leaf litter, veg scraps, and isopod powdered food, they are thriving tbh, I had troubles at the start with them keeping up, but they’ve bred a lot and seem to do okay with waste management.

 

[Harry938]

Your cage looks amazing (your cham is very handsome, too)! Is the uvb in his enclosure or does it just look like it from that angle?

Thankyou , he’s a sheddy boi atm, he’s just reaching a year old and usually part sheds but this time it’s all at once

It’s half recessed into the Viv, I cut a diagonal hole out the Viv, the ballast and electrics are outside, the reflector and bulb inside,

I posted the build progress when I made if you’d like to check it out

 

[MissSkittles]

I usually find mantis ooths on eBay. Not sure if it’s really the right time of year to get any. I usually wait until January.

 

[Harry938]

I usually find mantis ooths on eBay. Not sure if it’s really the right time of year to get any. I usually wait until January.

I’ll keep a look out on Ebay then thankyou .

We get 100s of GAL snail eggs, can he eat them/would they be good clean up crew? Obviously they’d get big but I’d remove when too big, I know cross species tanks is a big no no with chameleons, but do these fall into that?

 

[MissSkittles]

Snails are a funny thing that one needs to take precautions with. They carry and can transmit parasites, so once the eggs have been laid, they need to be promptly removed and placed in a clean enclosure to avoid the adults passing on the parasites they may have. Then the babies can be used as feeders.

 

[Harry938]

Snails are a funny thing that one needs to take precautions with. They carry and can transmit parasites, so once the eggs have been laid, they need to be promptly removed and placed in a clean enclosure to avoid the adults passing on the parasites they may have. Then the babies can be used as feeders.

Ok usally we take them out as soon as we see them as don’t want a colony of GALS, and usally just freeze the eggs. So aslong as there out of the snail cage before they hatch they should be okay?

 

[ERKleRose]

Thankyou , he’s a sheddy boi atm, he’s just reaching a year old and usually part sheds but this time it’s all at once

It’s half recessed into the Viv, I cut a diagonal hole out the Viv, the ballast and electrics are outside, the reflector and bulb inside, View attachment 360670View attachment 360671I posted the build progress when I made if you’d like to check it out

It’s an awesome build!! The moss vine can cause foot issues and could be a source for impaction though, so removing/replacing that with a safer option would be best!. I’ve got a couple of questions, so bear with me here if you can! What are the distances from both his uvb bulb and heat bulb to his basking branch (is his his highest perch under his heat bulb and does it follow the uvb bulb/is it directly under his uvb bulb?), and what is the strength of your uvb bulb? Also, how are you liking the Lumenize? I’ve been thinking of getting one for an upcoming cage build! Last thing is (sorry for all of the questions!) is there any ventilation besides the one bottom vent on the right side and the back panel top vents?

 

[MissSkittles]

As far as I know. Perhaps @Motherlode Chameleon can tell you with more certainty.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

As far as I know. Perhaps @Motherlode Chameleon can tell you with more certainty.

You are asking what?

If this a questions about ventilation on a glass enclosure, I recommend adding screen vents. Air circulation is important. As far as what is biting the leaf, those look to be Chamaeleo calypatratus bites.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[ERKleRose]

I think it’s for the snails

 

[MissSkittles]

You are asking what?

If this a questions about ventilation on a glass enclosure, I recommend adding screen vents. Air circulation is important. As far as what is biting the leaf, those look to be Chamaeleo calypatratus bites.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

Oops! Sorry. I was hoping you’d know about the safety of feeding snails. Op has giant African Land snails that produce lots of eggs. I said I believe they would be safe (parasite free) feeders if the eggs were removed from the adult tank and hatched and raised in a clean one. I’m not 100% on this though and thought you’d know.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Oops! Sorry. I was hoping you’d know about the safety of feeding snails. Op has giant African Land snails that produce lots of eggs. I said I believe they would be safe (parasite free) feeders if the eggs were removed from the adult tank and hatched and raised in a clean one. I’m not 100% on this though and thought you’d know.

I have raised snails before. I have found that Calumma species are fond of making a meal out of snails.

The protocol for producing parisite free snail was/is to captive breed wild caught snails, then to remove the baby snails to another parisite free enclosure.
Then start to breed those captive bred snails (to generations that you are confident are parasite free) and raise those babies as feeder insects/molluscs.

Maybe young African Land Snails as feeders.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[MissSkittles]

I have raised snails before. I have found that Calumma species are fond of making a meal out of snails.

The protocol for producing parisite free snail was/is to captive breed wild caught snails, then to remove the baby snails to another parisite free enclosure.
Then start to breed those captive bred snails (to generations that you are confident are parasite free) and raise those babies as feeder insects/molluscs.

Maybe young African Land Snails as feeders.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

Thanks so much.