What are some good Brookesia appropriate plants of Madagascar?

[yoteango]

I decided to go ahead and put together a Brookesia setup. I'm trying to make it as naturalistic as I can, with native plants and whatnot. Ideally plants found in the northern area where B. stumpii can be found. I've been using iNatualist to do my research. My logic is that if I can't get the plants going, then I certainly can't keep the little ones around either. Hopefully my logic is right that it will make a nice bellwether as I tune my setup and I'll be able to get a nice cage established in the meantime. However finding them in the first place is proving to be difficult. I got some small orchids, and found a couple other things that iNaturalist says were found in Madagascar, but it's hard finding things endemic that are available and then even harder to find ones that don't have spike and thorns, don't get too big, aren't succulents found in the dryer areas, aren't dangerous in other ways, and aren't like $65 for a two leaf propagation. Don't know when I will manage to get my hands on the actual chameleons, or even if I should before the holidays, but my heart's ready to start it up.

Here's my list of what I'll most likely put in, along with where they are found in Madagascar. I'll probably get it all set up this weekend and gonna get a nice branch so the vines can vine.

Plant list
Here's some of the options I found.

Probably.
Stephanotis - Personally grown from seed. I have a few that do not thrive and hopefully I can change that. Location
Blue Pea - Bought seeds on amazon. I know normal peas work well. Lets see how they do. Location
Begonia semperflorens - Lowe's garden section. Too hardy for a bellwether. Not native. Same area as superciliaris. Location

Probably not.
Coleus - Lowe's garden section. Same as the above begonia. Not native. Location
Pentas lanceolata - Lowe's garden section. Not native. Location

Unlikely right now.
Begonia lyalli - My dream plant right now that is technically available and would probably be the bellwether I'm looking for. Not cheap. Location

No.
Euphorbia leuconeura - Euphorbia scare me a little. Location
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What are some good Brookesia appropriate plants of Madagascar?
What have you found that works? What are your thoughts? Anything good I missed? There's 2000 different species of plants in the area. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I know there's gotta be something there.

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[Beman]

@Mendez @javadi might be able to assist you.

 

[Brad]

This enclosure in the thread linked below was not built for pygmy chameleons but the plants may provide some inspiration.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...species-of-plants-13-months-of-growth.174196/

 

[Mendez]

This is such an awesome thread @yoteango! I've been thinking about trying out Madagascar Jasmine (Stephanotis) for some time, though I just haven't gotten around to it. I plan on doing a massive pygmy enclosure overhaul soon, so perhaps I'll steal your plant list and give it a try

For pygmies, I've just been using a lot of non-native plants since they are just easier to get a hold of. Lots of Ficus benjamina as the main focal plant for them to climb on. Pygmies are like tanks compared to normal chameleons. They really aren't that nimble and their center of gravity is like a black hole (they are a lot heavier than they are nimble) therefore can't distribute weight as well as a normal chameleon can. This means the sturdier the plant, the better. They won't necessarily wreck a delicate plant, but they might droop the stem they are climbing on considerably. So if you do provide weaker plants, you'll want to add a lot of thin, sturdy sticks into the mix for them to climb on.

Plants I've used that aren't native:
-pretty much any fern you can imagine (Boston fern, queen's something fern, etc)
-schleferra arboricola
-Ficus benjamina (probably my favorite because these little trees look like actual trees, appeasing to the eye. And they will support the body of chunky pygmies.
-tradescantia (not super sturdy unless they have sticks to support the stems)
-Coffea arabica

Sorry I couldn't be of any actual use to your thread. I haven't used any native plants. But with your list, I'm excited to try some out in the future. And when I do, I'll be sure to post an update here on the forum.