To pot or not to pot that is the question

[Mad Dog Murphy]

So my question to you guys is this,
is it best to plant your plants directly into substrate or leave in pots?
my terrarium will hold 4” of substrate including the drainage layer of clay balls, which I’m thinking now I may need to increase
your thoughts please and recommendations of substrate for male veiled be handy too.

 

[SteveH]

Unless you are going full bioactive there is no need for any substrate.

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Unless you are going full bioactive there is no need for any substrate.

Thanks Steve, probably should have mentioned my intention is to go bio

 

[MissSkittles]

I plant directly into the substrate. Lets the roots spread out and just seems more natural to me.

 

[Beman]

Not sure if you found this but it may help you https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

I plant directly into the substrate. Lets the roots spread out and just seems more natural to me.

I agree it looks more aesthetically pleasing, what depth is your substrate may I ask?

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Not sure if you found this but it may help you https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/

Thanks, I’ll take a look.

 

[MissSkittles]

I agree it looks more aesthetically pleasing, what depth is your substrate may I ask?

I haven’t really measured, but is probably about 5-6” deep. Thinking my veiled girls could just lay their eggs straight in the substrate, I wanted the depth to be about that. I kept it about the same for my males. Just an fyi if you do get adult females that may have laid eggs in a bin before - one of mine rejected the bioactive substrate floor as suitable and out of desperation I had to put the old lay bin in and only then would she lay her eggs. So now my girls have their old lay bins sitting amidst their bioactive floor. Whatever works I guess.

 

[MzLaurie11]

Hi Murphy. I both. My bio is deep as i startedoff with four inches of rocks then sand then soil. I planted my fav plant for chams the swiss cheese plant (heavt stalks and large leaves) directly in the soil and it took the orchid plant finnaly took but both runners(pathos) didnt so in pots. The other cage haS all potted. Theproblem with direvtly in floor is you dont get height and you need some coverage up high. I set up thebio cause my little female panther wouldnt use a laybin.. Iam happyto report she dug a nice hole and laid without issue so my odd setup works like a charm. Oh make sure your soil doesnt have bark or perlite in it. thier tongues r very strong and whatever they hit goes down the gullet. No small rocks either.

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Hi Murphy. I both. My bio is deep as i startedoff with four inches of rocks then sand then soil. I planted my fav plant for chams the swiss cheese plant (heavt stalks and large leaves) directly in the soil and it took the orchid plant finnaly took but both runners(pathos) didnt so in pots. The other cage haS all potted. Theproblem with direvtly in floor is you dont get height and you need some coverage up high. I set up thebio cause my little female panther wouldnt use a laybin.. Iam happyto report she dug a nice hole and laid without issue so my odd setup works like a charm. Oh make sure your soil doesnt have bark or perlite in it. thier tongues r very strong and whatever they hit goes down the gullet. No small rocks either.

I’m glad to hear the cheese plant is a favourite of yours, I have bought one, not particularly big at the minute but should grow well with the jungle dawn light I plan to get, plus I’ve bought a lot of other things to go in, sound advice on checking for perlite etc, thank you

 

[Flick boy]

Hi mines going to be around 10 inches, the jungle dawn is great my schefflera is only under one for around 2 weeks and is / has grown around 1.1/2 ,2 inches already

 

[MzLaurie11]

So you have decided on a male veiled. Good choice for your first chameleon. He will spend the majority of his time in the top third portion of the cage. Once males are full grown they start to patrol the entire cage about once a day looking for that female that may have wandered in. The nice thing is they usually do their business at the same place every day. You need to keep an eye on the stool and urate. Feces comes out first then urate which is usually white ) calcium) if the urate is orange it means the urine is crystslized and may mmean there is a bit of dehydration going on. So keep an eye on that. I have taught my veiled to drink from a syringe while i have him out of the cage. He loves it now but it took a lot of patience to get to this point. My sweet girl doesnt have the hang of it yet but i am not worried as her urates always look good. She likes to lick the stalks of the plants.

 

[Flick boy]

So you have decided on a male veiled. Good choice for your first chameleon. He will spend the majority of his time in the top third portion of the cage. Once males are full grown they start to patrol the entire cage about once a day looking for that female that may have wandered in. The nice thing is they usually do their business at the same place every day. You need to keep an eye on the stool and urate. Feces comes out first then urate which is usually white ) calcium) if the urate is orange it means the urine is crystslized and may mmean there is a bit of dehydration going on. So keep an eye on that. I have taught my veiled to drink from a syringe while i have him out of the cage. He loves it now but it took a lot of patience to get to this point. My sweet girl doesnt have the hang of it yet but i am not worried as her urates always look good. She likes to lick the stalks of the plants.

What is this crack with syringes? A chameleon should be getting their hydration naturally fom naturally running water from rain / our misters , drippers and hight night humidity not from a syringe, unless there is a health issue , ( which with the chameleon mouth structure can be dangerous if not done properly) but why would anyone do it ? ??

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Hi mines going to be around 10 inches, the jungle dawn is great my schefflera is only under one for around 2 weeks and is / has grown around 1.1/2 ,2 inches already

10 inches is deeper than I had anticipated and planned for, but I can make amendments to accommodate it, I’m glad to hear the jungle dawn function well, it’s a must for me, I bought a cheese plant for the bottom but do need something else was thinking of a ficus benjamina but maybe a schefflera would be better as I’m not buying the plants huge, I want to watch them grow, just don’t want the chameleon dying of old age before they fill the terrarium, so anything that grows quick be good.

 

[Flick boy]

I believe that my drainage layer is like 2 inches, and leaf litter on top probably be 1 , so only 7 inches soil. Wandering jew is a nice plant and goes fairly quick , also known as inch plant or tradscantia zebrina .

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

I believe that my drainage layer is like 2 inches, and leaf litter on top probably be 1 , so only 7 inches soil. Wandering jew is a nice plant and goes fairly quick , also known as inch plant or tradscantia zebrina .

I’ve managed to a find a wandering Jew the other day after asking in the nursery, so bought that, nice looking plant for sure.

 

[MzLaurie11]

What is this crack with syringes? A chameleon should be getting their hydration naturally fom naturally running water from rain / our misters , drippers and hight night humidity not from a syringe, unless there is a health issue , ( which with the chameleon mouth structure can be dangerous if not done properly) but why would anyone do it ? ??

I started doing it with a very sick rescue. When i got Hunter i noticed a constant dehydration issue. I tried everything to correct this with no luck. So i started offering him water with a needless syringe. I would be drenched and he got a kick out of this but i was getting him over the fear of it and when he did realize it was water he went for more and his eyes always popped out more when he was hydrated and he ate and digested better. you must understand, i never force it, i just offer. Now if he ever needs meds, it will be a breeze. Because the lung access is under the front of the tongue, you cannot force this or you will drown your cham. At first i used it as a bonding excersise now i offer it evry three days so he is not dependent on it. I wish i had a video to show you but i dont have enough hands, lol

 

[Flick boy]

If its necessary that's fine but if its not then I don't agree , but that's up to you

 

[MissSkittles]

@MzLaurie11 @Flick boy I’m going to say if you wish or need to use a syringe to give water to your chameleon, that is up to you. However, as a rule it isn’t something that should be recommended for someone else to do unless they are having a sick chameleon. We all take certain liberties with our care, but when teaching others, we need to stick to the ideals.

 

[Flick boy]

I started doing it with a very sick rescue. When i got Hunter i noticed a constant dehydration issue. I tried everything to correct this with no luck. So i started offering him water with a needless syringe. I would be drenched and he got a kick out of this but i was getting him over the fear of it and when he did realize it was water he went for more and his eyes always popped out more when he was hydrated and he ate and digested better. you must understand, i never force it, i just offer. Now if he ever needs meds, it will be a breeze. Because the lung access is under the front of the tongue, you cannot force this or you will drown your cham. At first i used it as a bonding excersise now i offer it evry three days so he is not dependent on it. I wish i had a video to show you but i dont have enough hands, lol

You have put at first I used it as a bonding exercise, I would not recommend this to anyone, , ( No ONE) your words could mislead and endanger chams life's, anyone reading this thread , unless advised to give meds or water ( through a pipette) only do so under proper procedure. The end