Veiled likes to eat his ficus plant dirt..

[dandes]

Is it normal for my 5 month old veiled to eat the dirt from his ficus plant pot??

He seems to walk around the bottom of the plant and then shoot his tounge out and grab some dirt and munch it down. Will this harm him or impact him at all? He has been doin it for a few weeks now and his poo seems fine and he is regular.
Does this also indicate his is hungry? I feed him between 15-20 medium brown crickets a day so i would of considered this enough for him..?

 

[jannb]

My Veiled sometimes eats dirt. I covered the soil with large river rocks, that you can buy at the dollar store and this helps. Don't put small rocks because they can also eat small rock and it can kill them. My daughter lost a cham that way.

 

[Kat77]

Usually if a chameleon is eating potting soil there is a nutritional deficiancy. Are you gut loading your crickets and supplementing? It is VERY normal for a veiled to eat ficus leaves, but he shouldn't be eating the dirt. ALSO, if you aren't using organic potting soil there could be very harmful fertilizers in there that could kill him.
I would do what the above poster suggested and get some large flat river rocks to cover the soil.

 

[Canopy Chameleons]

Usually if a chameleon is eating potting soil there is a nutritional deficiancy. Are you gut loading your crickets and supplementing? It is VERY normal for a veiled to eat ficus leaves, but he shouldn't be eating the dirt. ALSO, if you aren't using organic potting soil there could be very harmful fertilizers in there that could kill him.
I would do what the above poster suggested and get some large flat river rocks to cover the soil.

I've found more often than not... they will eat the dirt. Even the healthiest Cham out there, same way birds eat sand and small rocks, maybe it aids in their digestion? As long as their passing it, and the soil is clean and natural, I can't see a problem in it.

 

[dandes]

I gut load my crickets with Greens,spinach,carrot and oatmeal. I also dust them before feeding him with a multivitamin supplement so i would say he is getting his nutritional needs. I'll get myslef some good sized rocks to cover the soil tomorrow

 

[mika]

I supplement with the following:

Repcal Calcium with D3 and withOUT D3
Minerall 0
Herptivite
Vit A (Retinyl Palmitate)

Gutload my crickets with cricketfood.com, veggies, orange slices..

AND MY CHAM STILL EATS SOIL from time to time.. lol

I use supersoil (no fertilizer balls) & as long as it is clean I don't see anything wrong with it either.

He doesn't eat the soil everyday though..

I have a female cham and I don't like to cover the soil with rocks just in case she wants to lay eggs.

That way I can see her digging there & not the floor of the enclosure and I can just transfer her to a bucket with more soil.

 

[dodolah]

I gut load my crickets with Greens,spinach,carrot and oatmeal. I also dust them before feeding him with a multivitamin supplement so i would say he is getting his nutritional needs. I'll get myslef some good sized rocks to cover the soil tomorrow

no spinach please... they contain oxallate that block calcium absorption in your chameleon's body.

 

[dodolah]

I've found more often than not... they will eat the dirt. Even the healthiest Cham out there, same way birds eat sand and small rocks, maybe it aids in their digestion? As long as their passing it, and the soil is clean and natural, I can't see a problem in it.

same here. No matter how many supplementation and gutload regiment, my cham always eat dirt when he was baby.
He gradually stopped as he get older though.
I also let my cham eat dirt. So, i sift the soil to make sure that there is no big lump that can cause impaction.

 

[dandes]

no spinach please... they contain oxallate that block calcium absorption in your chameleon's body.

Ok thanks, i was not aware of that so i'll stop as of now

 

[Brad Ramsey]

In this article I talk a little bit about the veiled chameleons proclivity to enjoy the occasional "dirt snack"
I, personally, don't see a problem with this behavior as long as precautions are taken to avoid impaction.

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/plants.html

-Brad