chameleon chewing on branch

[kasia]

my panther chameleon chews on his branches and the plastic leafs in his cage i know they sometimes lick branches to check if another chameleon is in the territory... is he biting them for the same reason or is there a different reason for this behavior?

 

[Kat77]

Sometimes chameleons will attack the vines and sticks in their enclosures. I see my Melleri do it all the time. I haven't seen my panthers do it, but I don't think that yours doing it is abnormal. Is your chameleon young? It seems like they do that sort of thing as entertainment, playing almost.
Do you have any live plants in your enclosure? You may want to get some if you don't and ditch the fakes. If your chameleon is a leaf biter you don't want him/her to ingest anything that will cause trouble and possibly cause him to become impacted.

One of my panther boys used to eat his ficus leaves when he was a baby. Another thing to consider.

 

[kinyonga]

Panthers are known to chew on branches. As was suggested by Kat77 I would remove the artificial vines, etc. and get some real ones.

 

[kasia]

Sometimes chameleons will attack the vines and sticks in their enclosures. I see my Melleri do it all the time. I haven't seen my panthers do it, but I don't think that yours doing it is abnormal. Is your chameleon young? It seems like they do that sort of thing as entertainment, playing almost.
Do you have any live plants in your enclosure? You may want to get some if you don't and ditch the fakes. If your chameleon is a leaf biter you don't want him/her to ingest anything that will cause trouble and possibly cause him to become impacted.

One of my panther boys used to eat his ficus leaves when he was a baby. Another thing to consider.

Thx ...yes he is young ... and no i don't have any live plants yet ... i will try to get some as soon as i can and replace my fake ones with live ones thx alot for the advice

 

[Sang]

i got to watch mine crawl down to the bottom of the cage, and take a big bite of potting soil, chew it up and swallow it. SO of course i immediatly covered it with river rock.

but this is the first time i have seen him do this. ... i just hope he doesn't get impacted.

so basically he could just be trying stuff out in the cage....maybe he things the branches are rough and wants to work em down.

 

[bighutch917]

Same here. I have two panthers (brothers - Tango & Cash) and one loves to attack natural wood vines and the other soil and ficus leaves. It scares the heck out of me because I worry that he may injure his mouth or impact his stomach. From what I understand it's common.

 

[panthercham]

One of my Panthers from a very young age has always had a fascination and loves to bite the zip ties that hold the branches in place....not all the zip ties but just 1 in the corner that he likes to take his frustration out on. I have changed it many times to different colors...black, green, yellow....he doesnt care it still gets bitten

 

[JoshCrane1]

my male used to chew his white ziptie, i changed the ziptie to a twist tie and it seemed to work so far.

 

[Fidel]

I've seen young panthers do this when they are nervous, like if you suddenly approach the cage.

 

[MotherHenna]

Any idea when they out grow this unsettling behavior?
I remember my first one chewing on branches but don't remember how long it lasted. Now Einstein is doing the same thing, but with great gusto. Any knob or end of a branch he can get his mouth around seems fair game. I've reduced as much as possible (but still left branches) but it does seem to be a favorite past time.
I'd rather he chewed on a leaf from time to time. Wood makes me nervous.
Thanks.

 

[MutantHybrid]

Hi all,

Such activity might be normal or it might be associated with the chameleons being captive. Animals that are away from their natural habitat might show signs of odd behaviors in artificial settings.

In any event, as a complete novice in cameleon care I placed bark chips for bedding in the bottom of an aquarium setup, just like the pet store did, until I figured out quite quickly that such bedding was unneeded and impractical, not to mention potentially harmful. Thus far, my Veiled Chameleon juvenile has swallowed a number of wooden chips, potting soil, and who knows what else when I am not looking. Even after I removed the bark bedding and placed her in a screened cage, she still goes down to get some potting soil or chews on a stick, biting off bits of bark when she can. Apparently, most of the time, chameleons can ingest and pass such bits of matter without difficulty. It is likely only on occasion that such matter causes a blockage, but completely safe is better than chance. Best bet is to remove all lose matter that might be a problem and hope you don't miss anything.

 

[jojackson]

Is ficus toxic to chameleons then if ingested?

 

[MutantHybrid]

I have read that ficus is not toxic for chameleons to eat, however; the sap can be an irritant, particularly in chameleon eyes.

 

[jojackson]

Thanks, I read that also, just wondered why it was so popular!
I think ill stick to hibiscus since its known safe. Im not game to try pothos since several sites mention it contains oxylates? which cause pain when ingested, though im sure alot of cham owners allow their pets to eat it, without apparent harm, Id rather not.

Im wondering what species of plant they normally inhabit in Yemen (veilds)?

 

[MutantHybrid]

My chameleon chewed on her pothos at first, but after she realized that mustard and kale greens were good, she hasn't tried to eat any pothos from what I have observed. She did not seem to shy away from eating pothos, so it likely does not cause chameleons much if any pain, but I read that it can cause renal failure in large quatities (as in eating only pothos every day for months). Since my chameleon no longer is interested in the pothos as a food source it is likely that she might have suffered a bit of indigestion from it, but never exhibited anything serious from just a bite or two every so often. I suppose the main point would be that chameleons might try pothos if nothing else is offered, but prefer other forms of greens.

 

[BocaJan]

I see little chomp marks on my pothos, hybiscus and ficus. Sometimes it is a hole and sometimes just a chomp with the piece still intact. However, they do prefer kale when I put it in their dish. Each cage has a spot for a little dish and I put veggies and sometimes worms in it. Usually they will just zap the worm from my fingers or the dish before I get it in place - little piggies!

 

[SpocksMom4]

Can Jacksons chameleons eat aloe vera plants and other similar succulents?

Hello,

I've just acquired a juvenile jacksons a friend of mine who can no longer take care of him and we're trying to bring his enclosure up to speed. So far friend had an aloe and a similar looking succulant but shorter leaves in there as well as another plant that I haven't identified yet. Saw our Spock chewing on other succulent today and want to know if those kinds of plants are ok for him. Would like to completely redo all plants soon, but want to know if succulents are safe to leave in there while we search for replacement plants. We really want to give him a good happy interesting home so he lives a long happy life. Any suggestions?

 

[BradleyCBarnes]

My baby panther frequently chews branches BUT it becomes more frequent when her feed dish is empty and she hasn't eaten in a while. Try and supply more crickets/worms to see if that helps. Try to water more frequent too, and make sure you have an efficient dripper for him/her to drink from.