Chameleon just took a bite out of his plant....

[Daesie11]

Yep I've read a ton on here about bioactive setups and gotten lots of advice Most likely when he's bigger I will end up moving him into a simpler screen enclosure, maybe just keep this as a terrarium, or who knows. Still seeing!

Keep up updated with how he is doing!

 

[bombadillo2]

Update! Miles enjoys cucumber now He also has tried some strawberry. So far hasn't tried any of the other fruits/veggies I've offered him. Bites out of his Pothos are scattered around

 

[tdeamicis]

Things like this confuse me.... Online it is mentioned veiled chameleons can eat fruit/veggies if they want, here people talk about giving them this and yet, I also see this being discouraged. What is the right answer? Can veiled chameleons have veggies/hibiscus flowers/fruits.

 

[Beman]

Things like this confuse me.... Online it is mentioned veiled chameleons can eat fruit/veggies if they want, here people talk about giving them this and yet, I also see this being discouraged. What is the right answer? Can veiled chameleons have veggies/hibiscus flowers/fruits.

So the right answer is absolutely no fruits. These are high in sugars and their bodies just can not digest it. It is not encouraged to feed them greens either due to the same issue of not being able to digest it. They are insectivores so their diet should be insects.

While Veileds do eat their plants it has not been studied to know why. We do know that they can not fully digest the plants. It comes out still in pieces. Some think it is due to them having a softer bodied diet in the wild so they do this to balance it out.

But since they do eat plants we only use plants with them that are Veiled tested. They seem to be very partial to hibiscus flowers, pothos leaves, and money tree leaves IME. I also use Draceana but they have never shown interest in eating them.

This is why fake plants used with Veileds is extremely dangerous. They will still try to bite off pieces and those pieces can become an impaction issue.

You will find that online there are many sources of info that are either very incorrect or outdated. This forum along with a few sites are accurate.
These are good sites https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://caskabove.com/

 

[tdeamicis]

So the right answer is absolutely no fruits. These are high in sugars and their bodies just can not digest it. It is not encouraged to feed them greens either due to the same issue of not being able to digest it. They are insectivores so their diet should be insects.

While Veileds do eat their plants it has not been studied to know why. We do know that they can not fully digest the plants. It comes out still in pieces. Some think it is due to them having a softer bodied diet in the wild so they do this to balance it out.

But since they do eat plants we only use plants with them that are Veiled tested. They seem to be very partial to hibiscus flowers, pothos leaves, and money tree leaves IME. I also use Draceana but they have never shown interest in eating them.

This is why fake plants used with Veileds is extremely dangerous. They will still try to bite off pieces and those pieces can become an impaction issue.

You will find that online there are many sources of info that are either very incorrect or outdated. This forum along with a few sites are accurate.
These are good sites https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://caskabove.com/

Thank you so much. I am trying to learn, but when there is such variety of "safe lists" out there, it is hard to know. Thank you for your great reply and help. I so greatly appreciate it.

 

[Snuits]

Just incase you haven't seen these! ♡

 

[Beman]

Thank you so much. I am trying to learn, but when there is such variety of "safe lists" out there, it is hard to know. Thank you for your great reply and help. I so greatly appreciate it.

Your welcome. You will get a ton of information thrown at you in the beginning. It is not only overwhelming but extremely frustrating trying to sort through the BS. Stick with the links I gave you.

The chameleon academy site is very accurate. The issue with plants is there are many that are not considered tried and "safe" with Veileds. In the end your better off sticking with those that are. Eventually you will learn to understand the oxilates in plants. There are those that are comparable with other safe plants. So same oxilate levels. Most of us as we become more comfortable with this type of knowledge we will add in other plants.

 

[kinyonga]

Common chameleons (chamaeleo Chamaeleon) in the wild have been said to eat small amounts of fruit....oustalet's chameleons in the wild have also been found to eat small amounts of fruit.
So far, to the best of my knowledge, veiled chameleons have only been said to eat leaves in the wild...and it's been suggested that they do it to aid in moving the soft bodies of insects they eat at certain times of the year, through the digestive system.

So far, I know of no studies that show the vieleds eat fruits or greens other than the leaves. It's curious to me though that nobody forces them to eat it in captivity and yet they do. I'm sure time will tell.

It's be suggested that it's not good do them anyway. I have no studies for that either.