Safe Plant Help Please folks

[Goatsniper]

Looking at the safe plant list, there is hundreds, possibly thousands of different plants that we can put safely in the cage with our chameleons. I'm headed out this afternoon to revamp the cage for my new Jackson that I adopted a few days ago. I see that "ficus trees" are very popular, and I am cool with that. Does anyone have suggestions as to which plants are pretty, easy to keep alive, dont require alot of fertilizers etc. I would like to have some sort of flowering plant or something that looks pretty. I use Pothos with my Uromastyx, because they are destructive little demons and the pothos is super cheap and grows like a weed. His cage is extremely visible when you walk into my house, and I would like it to not only be pleasing to the eye, but pleasing to the little dude as well.

 

[Zubi]

Umbrella plants are really sturdy and cover alot, but they aren't really pretty

 

[melonman]

Good news i got to keep my babies!!....i went to home depot yesterday and most of their indoor plant are the safe plants i got like 3 for 20$..

 

[Goatsniper]

nice. what were you doing when you fed him crickets? pulin the legs off and putting them in the bowl? or letting them cruise around the cage?

 

[Goatsniper]

thanks Zubi. They dont look bad! The Walmarts around here in san diego are communists and dont sell plants or guns so i dont shop there. I will check out homedepot.

 

[Adam Harrelson]

pothos are very good

 

[melonman]

I would feed him medium crix and leave everything on them some will get out but hell get them......he might might not eat alot because he getting to almost 1 year so ......you know ill slow down a bit

 

[Carlton]

I'm headed out this afternoon to revamp the cage for my new Jackson that I adopted a few days ago. I see that "ficus trees" are very popular, and I am cool with that. Does anyone have suggestions as to which plants are pretty, easy to keep alive, dont require alot of fertilizers etc. I would like to have some sort of flowering plant or something that looks pretty. I use Pothos with my Uromastyx, because they are destructive little demons and the pothos is super cheap and grows like a weed. His cage is extremely visible when you walk into my house, and I would like it to not only be pleasing to the eye, but pleasing to the little dude as well.

As jackson's don't tend to chew on their plants you won't have to worry as much about toxicity as you would if you had a veiled. What will appeal to your jax will be visual cover...the easier he can duck away and hide out of sight the better he'll probably like it.

A big consideration for cage plants will be which types do OK under relatively low light conditions (even with a Reptisun and a basking light it is still not intense enough for many plants to thrive once you get below the top leaves), and those that can handle getting sprayed multiple times every day. The cage conditions may be too wet for a lot of house plants which is why most don't get used. Many plants won't flower under typical cage conditions...they may stay green, but you may never get them to bloom. All potted plants will need fertilizing occasionally, especially if you have to pot them with fast draining potting soil (helps keep them from getting root rot from being wet so much of the time). You can use a diluted liquid fertilizer designed for houseplants pretty easily.

Also, many plants won't do well if your cham climbs around on them much (Bromiliads, epiphytes). Their leaves are either too delicate to handle cham claws, or they are not the right shape to permit cham climbing. Many plants don't hold water droplets well either, and many chams will lick water droplets off the leaf surfaces.

The plants most of us end up with are chosen because they work. One less commonly used plant I've had some luck with is Hibiscus. Sometimes they get enough focused light to bloom, but often not. They are edible and the flowers are bright. Some people have luck with small indoor citrus trees too. Ferns can be trouble as they want a specific level of bright but indirect light and stable humidity. They are usually too fragile though.

If I want to add color to a cham's cage I add a few selected silk leaved flowers to the general decor. The cham really won't care about that much.

 

[Goatsniper]

thanks alot carlton.