Plants

[noobcha]

What are some good foliage plants for chameleon cages? Most of the ones we've purchased died out, they're not living like our golden pothos is.

 

[JohnDoe]

The pothos is one of the best I find, but I also like the ficus. It is rough at first and may lose leafs. These are the only two plants I really mess with. My favorite is the Pothos because they grow so fast, but my wife likes the looks of the ficus and how she can trim it to her liking.

 

[Ninkylou]

I'm a fan of the big Sheffelera's and the Pothos. I make sure that my plants have lots of drainage and I try to keep my Raindomes from dripping right into my plants. I have additional plant lighting to aid in keeping the plants alive.

 

[zsazsa85]

I have ficus, ficus tree, photos and schefflera arrives soon.
I read here about 6500k fluorescent tube,they produce enough lighy for the plants in the cage.

 

[noobcha]

I killed my ficus...lol and my collius and my heavenly bamboo. The only thing that is living is my pothos.

I'm going to look up the other plant that was suggested, maybe it'll be something i can keep alive.

My chameleons are in a netted cage that was built for them.

 

[zsazsa85]

Try to get that 6500k light! It is on Amazon too!

 

[noobcha]

i will look into it!!! the vets want me to get new uvb lights for the chams anyway. apparently the kind they sell at petsmart isn't suggested as they have harmful rays

 

[Carlton]

i will look into it!!! the vets want me to get new uvb lights for the chams anyway. apparently the kind they sell at petsmart isn't suggested as they have harmful rays

They might not actually have "harmful" rays, just not the correct balance of the UV spectrum. What lights did your vet say to avoid? The older compact fluorescent lights had problems but that's not true now. If you tell us the brand maybe we can help you pick the right type.

 

[Carlton]

I killed my ficus...lol and my collius and my heavenly bamboo. The only thing that is living is my pothos.

I'm going to look up the other plant that was suggested, maybe it'll be something i can keep alive.

My chameleons are in a netted cage that was built for them.

There are lots of reasons cage plants die. They often don't get enough direct light (if they are not right at the top of the cage, or shaded out by taller plants), the soil is constantly soggy and their roots rot, and the soil molds too. All this is fixable.

 

[noobcha]

thank you very much. i'm on a mission today to find him a new plant. going to look into bulbs too for them both.

 

[Swayne8998]

Ficus, schefflera, and pothos are all plants I would use and recommend. Over time they will grow to really fill up your cage. You can use 65k lights to help them grow, and use a fast draining soil mixture comprised mostly of sand or a mix of small rocks and top soil to get that water out quickly, because with all the moisture they are receiving in that cage it becomes very easy to get root rot.

If you get your plants at a place like Lowes, Walmart, etc. you can get them much cheaper than at a place like a florists. Just make sure to change out the soil and wash the plant roots off because more than likely the soil will have fertilizer in it.