Vizzini
New Member
Hi Everyone, still new to the forums. Got my male panther cham about a week ago, he is about 3 1/2 months old, according to the breeder. His cage temps are around 70-75 ambient and 80-85 in his basking area. When I furnished his cage, I bought a schefflera plant that takes up in between 1/2 and 2/3 of his cage height (16"x16"x30"), so it sits around 10-12 inches under the top of the enclosure. (I know that I will have to replace this cage with a bigger one when he gets bigger). I bought this plant in hopes that it would grow with him. I have fake vines in the upper part of his cage to provide him with some foliage near his basking spot until the plant grows in.
I cleaned the plant and repotted it with organic soil when I purchased it. He seems to love the plant, and spends a fair amount of time in it, however the plant seems to be dying slowly, the leaves are starting to "curl" and some have drooped a fair amount. I know that you can overwater schefflera plants, but checked the soil and it seems to be more on the moist side rather than soaked or really wet. I have a reptirain that mists his cage 3 times a day for 30 seconds each time while I am at work, and I occasionally set his dripper up for 30 minutes or so in the afternoon when I get home. Could this be too much?
Anyways, I have a double light enclosure (came with the cage), but I replaced the CFL UVB light with a reptisun T5 linear lamp (still use the heat bulb that came with the kit), so I have an open socket in the double lamp enclosure. I was thinking of purchasing a 6500k CFL to go into the empty socket in hopes that it would help keep the plant alive and healthy. I was wondering if anyone has had experience using a 6500k bulb on top of the enclosure. I'm assuming I might have to buy a smaller wattage warming bulb as the added light bulb will most likely produce some extra heat, I am currently using a Reptisun 100w Daylight Blue bulb that came with the cage. Any input on whether on not this would work? Any ideas on what wattage equivalent I should get for the lone plant (100w, 150w, etc.)?
If anyone has experience keeping schefflera plants alive in their cham cage that gets little to no sunlight during the day any advice would be appreciated.
Sorry if this has been asked in the past, I cannot seem to find a thread specifically dedicated to plant care. If there is one already, can someone point me in the correct direction?
I think that is it, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make sure I got most if not all the necessary information to help answer my question.
I cleaned the plant and repotted it with organic soil when I purchased it. He seems to love the plant, and spends a fair amount of time in it, however the plant seems to be dying slowly, the leaves are starting to "curl" and some have drooped a fair amount. I know that you can overwater schefflera plants, but checked the soil and it seems to be more on the moist side rather than soaked or really wet. I have a reptirain that mists his cage 3 times a day for 30 seconds each time while I am at work, and I occasionally set his dripper up for 30 minutes or so in the afternoon when I get home. Could this be too much?
Anyways, I have a double light enclosure (came with the cage), but I replaced the CFL UVB light with a reptisun T5 linear lamp (still use the heat bulb that came with the kit), so I have an open socket in the double lamp enclosure. I was thinking of purchasing a 6500k CFL to go into the empty socket in hopes that it would help keep the plant alive and healthy. I was wondering if anyone has had experience using a 6500k bulb on top of the enclosure. I'm assuming I might have to buy a smaller wattage warming bulb as the added light bulb will most likely produce some extra heat, I am currently using a Reptisun 100w Daylight Blue bulb that came with the cage. Any input on whether on not this would work? Any ideas on what wattage equivalent I should get for the lone plant (100w, 150w, etc.)?
If anyone has experience keeping schefflera plants alive in their cham cage that gets little to no sunlight during the day any advice would be appreciated.
Sorry if this has been asked in the past, I cannot seem to find a thread specifically dedicated to plant care. If there is one already, can someone point me in the correct direction?
I think that is it, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make sure I got most if not all the necessary information to help answer my question.
