What items can cause impaction?

[Syn]

I want to make a list (blog) for my website about what items can cause impaction and why.

I know things like perlite can, etc. But I'd like some reasons why and personal experiences and the like, too.

So, please post here, and if you don't want me to post this on my blog then just say so.

Thanks!

 

[Clifford]

Anything hard to digest:
mealworms (if eaten with frequency); rocks; sticks and bark; plastic "leaves"; beetles (if eaten with frequency)

 

[Syn]

Plastic leaves, oh jeez, I wonder how a chameleon can even get those off the branch if it's the durable kind.

 

[veiledchamguy]

Any Substrate, with feeders on the floor no matter what your chams sticky tounge will grab dirt and whatever it is.


fertilizer rocks in your plant pots (they are white) because they look apealing to the chams. Put small stones in the bottom so they cant get to them

I never had substrate of any kind but i didnt watch my cham a couple times eat the white fertilizer when he was like almost two years luckily he survived I then read rocks are the solution!

hope this helps

 

[Syn]

The perlite is the white stuff.. I think. Thanks veiled!

 

[sandrachameleon]

dehydration can likely be a contributor

 

[Syn]

Thanks Sandra!

 

[Syn]

Wondering if consumption of fruits/vegetables with hard skin is a factor?

 

[dodolah]

coccidia can also indirectly lead to impaction from what I've heard from my vet.
anything that is way too big.
Even crickets that are way too large. Hence, the rule of not feeding insects bigger than your chameleon forehead width.

 

[zelink14]

I've heard Phoenix Worms' skins are extremely tough, and need to be pierced before feeding. That could very likely cause impaction without proper hydration.

Same thing with a build-up of chitin. It is possible to get impacted by a staple food like crickets. D:

Hydration is very VERY important.

 

[desultadox]

Freight train, bicycle, small child...

Uh, I bet a big hard leaf could do it.

 

[Syn]

I hope I'm not eaten by my chams Desultadox!

coccidia, anything too big,phoenix worms, low hydration.. chitin buildup

 

[dodolah]

I hope I'm not eaten by my chams Desultadox!

coccidia, anything too big,phoenix worms, low hydration.. chitin buildup

idk about phoenix worm can cause impaction..
I would hold off passing it as truths until it can be proven.
I fed them phoenix worm almost daily (when they are still young).
So far, not a problem.

 

[Syn]

dodolah, Lizardlover has told me he has had the experience. I suppose it's different for all chams.

 

[Lizardlover]

Not impaction, just being undigested, thats why people suggest the pin method. But yes my cham didnt digest them and it couldve caused impaction

 

[Syn]

Sorry yeah, I meant to add no impaction, but yes. Undigested, yuck.

 

[nick barta]

Plastic leaves, oh jeez, I wonder how a chameleon can even get those off the branch if it's the durable kind.

Syn,

If you pull on your plastic leaves and they stay on, you will be fine. If you have plastic vines and plants that the leaves come off when you pull them, pull the plant out! I lost a huge fishers to a plastic leaf that got caught in the back of his throat, probably got it while striking a feeder. I choose not to use plastic, but if you do, pull on those leaves girl!!

 

[nick barta]

I've heard Phoenix Worms' skins are extremely tough, and need to be pierced before feeding. That could very likely cause impaction without proper hydration.

Same thing with a build-up of chitin. It is possible to get impacted by a staple food like crickets. D:

Hydration is very VERY important.

Phoenix worms are a soft bodied worm, not tough. The thought that you should puncture a phoenix worm before feeding was that the worm was thought capable of eating through the reptiles stomach, so stabbing it would assist in dying to protect the eater from the eaten. No proof of phoenix worms eating through stomachs or intestines was documented, but the stories just keep growing. One blog talked about the worms coming out in the defecation alive and squirming, and since they look like a maggot.....thats how rumors get started!

 

[Syn]

Of course - I always check for durability of everything I put in the cage, real or fake. If a whole branch comes off with a little tug, I don't use it.