schefflera is dieing

[jck09]

how do i keep these plants alive in my cham cage? i want to keep live plants in his cage but this is the second schefflera that has died on me. the leaves all hang down and are starting to turn brown. id appreciate any help anyone has.

 

[SuperRad]

Same thing happened to me like 2 times in a row. I started watering them more, about once every other day with about 1 - 2 cups of water and i haven't had the problem since.

 

[Justin Carl]

It might be from your chameleon walking all over it.
Try adding some extra branches and vines.
Shefflera's are very easy to kill.

 

[lele]

Same thing happened to me like 2 times in a row. I started watering them more, about once every other day with about 1 - 2 cups of water and i haven't had the problem since.

is it in a large pot? scheff's are actually very easy to drown, they do better with less water.

so a note to jck09, if your dripper is going right into it or you do not have good drainage it may be waterlogged. Give it good drainage, make sure it is not sitting in water (raise it up on a layer of stone or gravel in a plant tray or put it on a stand) and water it minimally. OR it is too dry, OR it is too close to the basking light and you are frying it. Cages have lots of variables. do a bit of assessing and see what you can figure out, but it sounds like over or under watering.

 

[Brad]

I have great success with schefflera arboricola. I advise using a large planting pot - the larger the better. My only enclosure at the moment is using a square pot around 14"x14"X12".

Are you using the plant to collect water from a dripper all day? From my experience this will eventually cause problems as the plant will become waterlogged. I rarely water the plant directly, it seems to get enough from the daily mistings.

----
looks like lele beat me to it

 

[ChrisnLisa]

My guess is that it is too close to your basking light.

 

[jck09]

my dripper is not dripping on it. i have the dripper on a fake plant. the schfflera is about 5" from the basking light. i would like to try a ficus but am afraid of the sap hurting my cham.

 

[lele]

definitely too close to the basking light, you are frying it. Many of us have successfully kept our chams with ficus with no trouble. I have used them with both a veiled and a panther, but I do prefer scheffs b/c ficus can be temperamental and drop their leaves when first repotted or when adapting to new environments. they come back quickly, but it is a common complaint.

Can you rearrange your cage to move the scheff away from the basking light and maybe get a hibiscus or other flowering plant up there (you still don't want anything too close to extreme temps)? Do you have a veiled? they often love hibiscus flowers

 

[jck09]

yeah i have a veiled but i cannot find a hibiscus anywhere around me.

 

[fear742]

have a schellfera and 2 ficus plants. kinda weird but alternate the ficus plants together for 2 weeks and the schlefera for 1 in the cage and the opposite on my patio to let em breath and see natural light. works for me except the ficus like it outside and keep their leaves, at least the lil one, and the umbrella likes it inside, grows more.

 

[martyllian]

Necro post! (I know)

Anyhow, mine seems to be dying as well. How do you keep water from NOT dripping into the pot? these things are huge even in a 2x2x4 screen cage. No matter where I put my dripper, it will hit the schefflera leaves and end up in the pot =( I almost killed a gardenia this way, but swapped it out and now the schefflera is going down hill after only 2 days.


ARG. are there any chameleon safe large plants with rigid branches that can stand up to constant watering?

 

[nick barta]

Necro post! (I know)

Anyhow, mine seems to be dying as well. How do you keep water from NOT dripping into the pot? these things are huge even in a 2x2x4 screen cage. No matter where I put my dripper, it will hit the schefflera leaves and end up in the pot =( I almost killed a gardenia this way, but swapped it out and now the schefflera is going down hill after only 2 days.


ARG. are there any chameleon safe large plants with rigid branches that can stand up to constant watering?

I would solve the rigid branches need with branches from outdoor bushes and trees. Then I would use Pathos in a hanging pot for hiding places. The Pothos is one of the most easy plants to keep alive, and when leaves turn brown, just pick them off, and the Pathos will just keep growing. Pathos can live in water, and also survive dryness, so it is my favorite!

 

[martyllian]

I have tons of sticks, branches, vines all over. I may have to figure out how to get a pothos and stick with that. Going to give the schefflera a few more days to see if it just didnt like the repotting process.

 

[dave101]

yeah i agree with the pothos, there really easy to take care of

 

[Sang]

hmm, i got two large ficuses, 2 variety of shefflera, 2 variety of fancy schefflera, and about 5 small ficus benjamina.

they get heavly watered every 4-7 days.. allow appropriate dry out, and make sure you have average sunlight.

let the plant establish its self in its plot, so it can stiffen up and recover from transplanting.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Mix a big bag of orchid bark (or similar) into your potting mixture. This will help with drainage.

Make sure the bark chips are big enough so that the chameleon won't accidentally choke on one. You can solve this potential problem by adding 3 inches of plain soil on top of the bark-mix.

Also put about 2 inches worth of stones into the bottom of the pot before planting to allow for optimum drainage.

If you do this, you don't have to worry about drowning it.

None of these plants (except pothos) take well to transplanting, so keep it to an absolute minimum.

 

[BunnyGirl]

Do you have a Plant Light? I need to keep one on my cham enclosure because they need a light.

 

[martyllian]

I have no problems with drainage, the water all drains through during the day, and I empty the pan underneath at night. It stops dripping around 3:00pm, and the pot stops draining around 6. I use organic potting soil, have 2 stones over the drainage holes as to not let soil out.

I tried finding a Smaller (as in not 17" tall) iron plant stand last night, thinking maybe put it a little further away from the lights.. but wouldnt you know it, you can get 17'', 15"(but pot will not fit in it), or 2 inch tall. I need like 10-12"

Plant stuff is getting annoying. If I didnt have to keep a dripper running to make sure he has opportunity to get water, id be fine. As it is I stand there for 10 minutes misting to watch him flick his tongue quick one or twice into a water droplet. that cannot be enough water. Once in a great while he will stretch into a water droplet on the top screen and drink for about 10 seconds througout the day.

 

[Hilikus311]

Do you have a Plant Light? I need to keep one on my cham enclosure because they need a light.

I think your refering to a Grow light which i use for my plants in addition to my UVB linear flourecent, and im pretty sure the grow light has no affect on my cham from what i can tell and if i used only that my cham would most definatly develop MBD