Veiled Eating schefflera

[BigTex]

my veiled is eating his schefflera, today i saw that several of the leaves were missing and bite marks in several others. if i am not mistaken schefflera are toxic to some extent so, should i remove this plant?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

As far as I know it is the sap from the branches and stems that is toxic, and that it is perfectly normal for the chams to eat a few leaves now and then. It is when you trim the plant (i.e., cut down the branches and stems) that you need to remove the plant and let the sap dry before returning it to the cage. I'm not a horticulturalist, but apparently the fluid in the leaves is different from the fluid in the stems. Like tomatoes- you can eat the fruit but the stems are toxic to many species. And rhubarb- you can eat the flesh (which is actually the stem or branch) but the leaves are toxic. A couple of our chams frequently eat schefflera and it seems to do them good.

 

[BigTex]

thats very interesting, the leaves have been eaten down to the stem but the stems appear to be unharmed in anyway i will try to keep an eye out and make sure that no stems or sap is being consumed

 

[BigTex]

i just caught him in the act again, its like the leaves are candy to him. i just hope nothing is going to happen

 

[pedro92]

My female veiled is doing that now to i was kinda mad because i just bought it 2 weeks ago and its lost so many leaves, but i need to start growing some more of them to have for the future

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

I don't believe it will harm the Veiled to eat the leaves of the Umbrella plant. Keep an eye on him is all you can do really. The Ficus, Hibiscus and Umbrella are supposed to be okay for the chams.

 

[BigTex]

i will keep an eye out no doubt about that, it must taste good. he might end up killing the plant the way he is going

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

As long as he doesn't gorge on the plant, he and it should be okay.

 

[teoo OoT]

My 7month old veiled Charlie is doing the same thing. He eats them down to the stem.