Chameleon not hunting

[Raven]

We had lights called grolights....which were UVB but not great. when I bought my first chameleon I was asked why I would buy it and told they only live a week or two. The first one lived over a year...stopped counting at a year....the next one was a adult female and lived over 4 years with me. First eggs (C. Chamaeleon) I hatched...I had no idea what temperature to keep them at and lucked out with my guess....and couldn't believe that they actually hatched! Information/knowledge has definitely increased since then!

Hey! I have a full spectrum grow light that I use for my plants over winter. I’ve been wondering if it would be alright to use for my Veiled Chameleon. It’s one of the ones that has the little squares as lights. There’s white, red, blue, purple I believe and orange and I believe it even has red lights. You can’t switch it from veg to bloom, that option isn’t on the one I have. I bought it off eBay and it worked great for my tropical plant collection. I want to try to use it for Bling but am unsure. What do you think?

 

[kinyonga]

Moss worries me...I'm always afraid the chameleon will bite off a chunk that doesn't get chewed up enough and might cause an impaction...so in spite of how good it looks ( and it does look good) I don't use it...especially with veiled chameleons that eat some vegetation normally.

 

[kinyonga]

Hey! I have a full spectrum grow light that I use for my plants over winter. I’ve been wondering if it would be alright to use for my Veiled Chameleon. It’s one of the ones that has the little squares as lights. There’s white, red, blue, purple I believe and orange and I believe it even has red lights. You can’t switch it from veg to bloom, that option isn’t on the one I have. I bought it off eBay and it worked great for my tropical plant collection. I want to try to use it for Bling but am unsure. What do you think?

I'm sorry I can't give you an answer to that question. They need the
normal spectrum of sunlight.

 

[CasqueAbove]

Years ago I used fish tanks because when I started keeping chameleons (back in the days before the wheel was invented) that's all they had

My first was a Jackson’s. Long ago. It was the advances and knowledge that finally convinced me to try again 30+ years later.

 

[Raven]

Moss worries me...I'm always afraid the chameleon will bite off a chunk that doesn't get chewed up enough and might cause an impaction...so in spite of how good it looks ( and it does look good) I don't use it...especially with veiled chameleons that eat some vegetation normally.

Yeah, after talking to Gingero I think I am going to remove the moss and the coconut husk and replace with potted plants instead. The thing I am worried about as far as that goes is the soil. I use Fox Farm soils which are all organic for my plants and use liquid fertilizer on some of them. I'm not sure if it is safe or not but I have thought about using sterilized oyster shells and other sea shells to cover the soil with. Maybe some large chunks of lava rock.

 

[Raven]

My first was a Jackson’s. Long ago. It was the advances and knowledge that finally convinced me to try again 30+ years later.

Oh I love Jackson's! They're so cute with their horns and it's so awesome how they are the only species of chameleon that gives live birth. My sister and I were debating on whether they would be considered mammals for that reason. They would have to be, you'd think. When she was in college, I can't remember what class she said it was, she was taught that it is now politically incorrect to call reptiles- reptiles. She said that now the correct way to refer to them is to call them by their species. I found that to be quite amusing.
Anyway, how did it go having a Jackson's? What kind did you have? How old did he or she grow to be?

 

[Ares05]

Raven I would start your own thread.. from what you are saying I think you may have some husbandry issues.

 

[Gingero]

Yeah, after talking to Gingero I think I am going to remove the moss and the coconut husk and replace with potted plants instead. The thing I am worried about as far as that goes is the soil. I use Fox Farm soils which are all organic for my plants and use liquid fertilizer on some of them. I'm not sure if it is safe or not but I have thought about using sterilized oyster shells and other sea shells to cover the soil with. Maybe some large chunks of lava rock.

Good call on the potted plants, but I'd definitely avoid using any plants that have liquid fertilizers. I'm just picturing a bug crawling through that and then your cham eating that bug. Not worth the risk imo. You're probably better off repotting them with organic potting soil or getting new plants all together.

 

[Gingero]

Raven I would start your own thread.. from what you are saying I think you may have some husbandry issues.

Yeah she does already: https://www.chameleonforums.com/posts/1559025/ Feel free to chime in

 

[Ares05]

Lol i'm slow this morning

 

[Raven]

Good call on the potted plants, but I'd definitely avoid using any plants that have liquid fertilizers. I'm just picturing a bug crawling through that and then your cham eating that bug. Not worth the risk imo. You're probably better off repotting them with organic potting soil or getting new plants all together.

I’m constantly getting new plants. Lol! I’m a plant enthusiast. I’ve got close to 40, probably more. I like rare and unusual plants like the Tacca Chantrieri (Black Bat Plant) and Tacca Integrifolia (White bat). I’ve got a garden full of rare tropical plants. I got a Bleeding Heart vine today and was going to put in in Bling’s home but I read that they are a level 3 toxicity and it’s not recommend for pets who would ingest any part of the plant. So that’s a definitive never mind. One day I might build a very large enclosure with all my plumeria plants and let him live in it outdoors for the summer when he gets bigger. I know they have to be ok especially if veiled chameleons are starting to invade certain parts of Hawaii. Plumeria trees are everywhere over there.

 

[Raven]

Raven I would start your own thread.. from what you are saying I think you may have some husbandry issues.

I did. Just talking with other people on here. That’s ok huh?

 

[Ares05]

I wasn't getting at the fact you were talking. You were talking about your chameleon and its setup, but some of the things you were saying about your setup and husbandry didn't sound correct/safe. Hence why I asked you start your own thread, but you had already, because I didn't look hard enough.

 

[Raven]

I wasn't getting at the fact you were talking. You were talking about your chameleon and its setup, but some of the things you were saying about your setup and husbandry didn't sound correct/safe. Hence why I asked you start your own thread, but you had already, because I didn't look hard enough.

It’s quite alright! I didn’t take any offense at all. So are you an Aries or is your chameleon’s name Ares? Or is that your name?

 

[jamest0o0]

Nothing wrong with liquid fertilizer... just depends what kind it is. Liquid fertilizer could mean many things and any soil worth anything will have some form of fertilizer in it.

 

[cyberlocc]

@Raven and @Gingero

Fox Farms is fine, its expensive, but its fine .

Like James said above, Fertilizer could mean many things, chemical ferts, you dont want. Foxfarms "OceanForest" and "Happyfrog", have natural ferts. OF has bat poop, and HF has Mycorrhizae and Worm Casings, both of which are useful, and actually mixing the 2 blends would be best.

There is also more than nothing wrong with Fertilizer, outside of CPs, and a few others, you will struggle to grow healthy plants without Fertilizer, its just not going to pan out very well longterm. However, Fertilizer comes from unexpected places, Bioactive Vivariums provide Fertilizer by your Cham popping, which is Fert in its own right, but the CUC break it down, and make more Fert, as they do with the Leaf Litter ect, its their job. When you see Ferts like "Bat Guano" or "Earthworm Casings" thats really all that is, Poo, mix your Chams poo in the soil too, more Fert .

I would personally even add CUC, and Cham Poo, to your potted plants. As you still want Fert for them as well, for the best health for your plants. Plants need food too, and thats what fertilizer is, food for your plants. They are fed in Nature, from the various bugs and animals that poo, and breakdown the various things, to feed the plants.

Alot of folks, I know think their plants die, because of bad or lack of lighting, but I bet most of the time its more a lack of nutrients. If your using RO water, covering the soil with rocks, removing all poo and using acidic nutrient deprived Eco Earth, your plants have zero nutrients available, ever. Some plants, like Carnivourous Plants, are adapted to this, and have found new ways to get nutrients, like CPs eating bugs. They would prefer to be in Peat or Sphag, that is very acidic and nutrient free, they grown in Sphagnum Bogs in Situ, and have adapted by eating bugs. However the majority of plants, need Fert IE food.


In Ravens case, I would just add CUC, and let them deal with the current poo, and what falls in let it fall in. Add after awhile, Fert does not last forever, your Foxfarms is very strong Fert wise for the first 30 days, so dont add poo during that time, too much nutrients can burn the roots. Your soil will be well ferted for about 3 months though, after that it will taper off, and then I would add poo that you find, to the soil, with CUC ideally.

Fox Farms, also is not the best draining soil, most folks in Horticulture that use it, add Perilite. If you dont want to add Perilite, due to impaction risk, you can add some reptibark or fir shavings, orchid bark, tree fern, ect, whatever you want but I would add something, to allow it to drain a little better. It is also on the acidic side, and lots of folks add Limestone (Calcium Carbonate) to buffer the PH, especially if using RO water. That depends heavily on your plants, and what they like, lots of plants like acidic soil, some dont but will get use to it, feeders will drop CC and buffer it over time anwyay, so no worry there, was just a note.

 

[Raven]

Nothing wrong with liquid fertilizer... just depends what kind it is. Liquid fertilizer could mean many things and any soil worth anything will have some form of fertilizer in it.

I feel the same way. I use all organic soils. Fox Farm soils and their liquid fertilizers. Have to keep the plants fertilized if you want pretty, healthy plants. Otherwise I’ll just keep fake plants for his enclosure if it’s that big of a deal. I’m not willing to sacrifice all the hard work I put into my plants to get them to grow so beautifully and the money that went into them... nah. But honestly I think that as long as it’s organic it should be fine. The only thing I use that’s not organic is Scott’s Super Bloom for my plumerias and they’re way too big to go into his enclosure.

 

[Raven]

@Raven and @Gingero

Fox Farms is fine, its expensive, but its fine .

Like James said above, Fertilizer could mean many things, chemical ferts, you dont want. Foxfarms "OceanForest" and "Happyfrog", have natural ferts. OF has bat poop, and HF has Mycorrhizae and Worm Casings, both of which are useful, and actually mixing the 2 blends would be best.

There is also more than nothing wrong with Fertilizer, outside of CPs, and a few others, you will struggle to grow healthy plants without Fertilizer, its just not going to pan out very well longterm. However, Fertilizer comes from unexpected places, Bioactive Vivariums provide Fertilizer by your Cham popping, which is Fert in its own right, but the CUC break it down, and make more Fert, as they do with the Leaf Litter ect, its their job. When you see Ferts like "Bat Guano" or "Earthworm Casings" thats really all that is, Poo, mix your Chams poo in the soil too, more Fert .

I would personally even add CUC, and Cham Poo, to your potted plants. As you still want Fert for them as well, for the best health for your plants. Plants need food too, and thats what fertilizer is, food for your plants. They are fed in Nature, from the various bugs and animals that poo, and breakdown the various things, to feed the plants.

Alot of folks, I know think their plants die, because of bad or lack of lighting, but I bet most of the time its more a lack of nutrients. If your using RO water, covering the soil with rocks, removing all poo and using acidic nutrient deprived Eco Earth, your plants have zero nutrients available, ever. Some plants, like Carnivourous Plants, are adapted to this, and have found new ways to get nutrients, like CPs eating bugs. They would prefer to be in Peat or Sphag, that is very acidic and nutrient free, they grown in Sphagnum Bogs in Situ, and have adapted by eating bugs. However the majority of plants, need Fert IE food.


In Ravens case, I would just add CUC, and let them deal with the current poo, and what falls in let it fall in. Add after awhile, Fert does not last forever, your Foxfarms is very strong Fert wise for the first 30 days, so dont add poo during that time, too much nutrients can burn the roots. Your soil will be well ferted for about 3 months though, after that it will taper off, and then I would add poo that you find, to the soil, with CUC ideally.

Fox Farms, also is not the best draining soil, most folks in Horticulture that use it, add Perilite. If you dont want to add Perilite, due to impaction risk, you can add some reptibark or fir shavings, orchid bark, tree fern, ect, whatever you want but I would add something, to allow it to drain a little better. It is also on the acidic side, and lots of folks add Limestone (Calcium Carbonate) to buffer the PH, especially if using RO water. That depends heavily on your plants, and what they like, lots of plants like acidic soil, some dont but will get use to it, feeders will drop CC and buffer it over time anwyay, so no worry there, was just a note.

That’s exactly what I do for my plants is mix FFHF and FFOF together with added perlite and bark for the case of my Tacca Chantrieri and Tacca Integrifolia. As well as the Medinilla plants. I’m not sure what RO water is. I just use water out of the sink and sometimes rain water if I can manage to remember to catch it when it rains. My plants are doing amazing. I use FF ferts too unless it’s for my plumerias, then I use Scott’s Super Bloom.
That’s what my point is about using ferts too. You will most definitely struggle to have a beautiful garden without them. They have to eat just like we do. Yes, they get food from the sun but that’s just not enough to keep a healthy and happy plant. I put a lot of hard work, time, energy and money into my plants and I’m not fixing to change that. If I can’t use the plants in my Chams home because of ferts and soil, I’ll just use fake plants.
Hey! I like the idea of using my Cham’s poop for the plants! I thought about it briefly but then dismissed it because I wasn’t sure if it’s safe yet. Thank you for confirming that. But I do realize his tiny poop won’t be enough to fertilize my plant babies alone.
And thank you for confirming the fert thing because I was getting so confused. People saying use natural plants but don’t fertilize them and don’t use soil. Errmmm what? Lol! That’s not going to work at all. I knew it had to be ok to use natural ferts like bat guano and fish emulsion and the FF line up of ferts!! I was thinking there’s no way people are growing plants in their Cham’s enclosure with no soil and no ferts at all! How could they live?! It was getting soooo confusing!
I’m not sure what CUC, RO Water, CP’s, or CC stands for... lol! Sorry! This site, YouTube and Reddit are the only “social media” sites I use so I’m kinda behind on the abbreviations.
As far as rocks go, I sometimes use Lava rock to put on top of my plant’s soil to hold the soil down when I water and it also makes it look pretty. It’s never messed me up on fertilizing though. I’ve never noticed it anyway. All my plants besides this new sorry ass bleeding heart cutting that I recently got from eBay look great. Man I was so mad when I got that tiny, REALLY bad looking rooted cutting. I don’t think it will make it. Poor thing looks like it’s going to kill over any second. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Anyway, thank you for clarifying things for me!! This was super helpful for me!!

 

[jamest0o0]

That’s exactly what I do for my plants is mix FFHF and FFOF together with added perlite and bark for the case of my Tacca Chantrieri and Tacca Integrifolia. As well as the Medinilla plants. I’m not sure what RO water is. I just use water out of the sink and sometimes rain water if I can manage to remember to catch it when it rains. My plants are doing amazing. I use FF ferts too unless it’s for my plumerias, then I use Scott’s Super Bloom.
That’s what my point is about using ferts too. You will most definitely struggle to have a beautiful garden without them. They have to eat just like we do. Yes, they get food from the sun but that’s just not enough to keep a healthy and happy plant. I put a lot of hard work, time, energy and money into my plants and I’m not fixing to change that. If I can’t use the plants in my Chams home because of ferts and soil, I’ll just use fake plants.
Hey! I like the idea of using my Cham’s poop for the plants! I thought about it briefly but then dismissed it because I wasn’t sure if it’s safe yet. Thank you for confirming that. But I do realize his tiny poop won’t be enough to fertilize my plant babies alone.
And thank you for confirming the fert thing because I was getting so confused. People saying use natural plants but don’t fertilize them and don’t use soil. Errmmm what? Lol! That’s not going to work at all. I knew it had to be ok to use natural ferts like bat guano and fish emulsion and the FF line up of ferts!! I was thinking there’s no way people are growing plants in their Cham’s enclosure with no soil and no ferts at all! How could they live?! It was getting soooo confusing!
I’m not sure what CUC, RO Water, CP’s, or CC stands for... lol! Sorry! This site, YouTube and Reddit are the only “social media” sites I use so I’m kinda behind on the abbreviations.
As far as rocks go, I sometimes use Lava rock to put on top of my plant’s soil to hold the soil down when I water and it also makes it look pretty. It’s never messed me up on fertilizing though. I’ve never noticed it anyway. All my plants besides this new sorry ass bleeding heart cutting that I recently got from eBay look great. Man I was so mad when I got that tiny, REALLY bad looking rooted cutting. I don’t think it will make it. Poor thing looks like it’s going to kill over any second. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Anyway, thank you for clarifying things for me!! This was super helpful for me!!

There's certain baseline thinvs that people tend to spread around just to be safe with newbies... A lot of people hear fertilizer and think of some powerful chemicals, but as cyber mentioned fertilizer could be something as simple as roach poop. You are totally right about the need for fertilizing plants, it won't harm anything.

Cyber was abbreviating calcium carbonate with CC, carnivorous plants= CP. He mentioned them because they do not generally need fertilizer and it will actually harm them in a lot of cases(you might know this already). RO= reverse osmosis water, basically filtered water with small traces of minerals. CuC= clean up crew, critters like isopods and springtails that will feed on poop, mold/fungi, dead leaves, shed skin, etc.

 

[Raven]

There's certain baseline thinvs that people tend to spread around just to be safe with newbies... A lot of people hear fertilizer and think of some powerful chemicals, but as cyber mentioned fertilizer could be something as simple as roach poop. You are totally right about the need for fertilizing plants, it won't harm anything.

Cyber was abbreviating calcium carbonate with CC, carnivorous plants= CP. He mentioned them because they do not generally need fertilizer and it will actually harm them in a lot of cases(you might know this already). RO= reverse osmosis water, basically filtered water with small traces of minerals. CuC= clean up crew, critters like isopods and springtails that will feed on poop, mold/fungi, dead leaves, shed skin, etc.

Ok, I got ya. Thank you for your help with the abbreviations. Yeah, I don’t even drink bottled water. Lol! Sometimes I do if it’s Fuji Spring water. That stuff tastes so good and smooth. But it’s rare that I drink bottled water and my plants NEVER get bottled water. Now I will prepare their water at least 24 hours ahead of time so the bleach can evaporate out. I might start boiling the water too but I think it will take beneficial things out of the water that my plants could use. So I’m not completely sure about doing that yet. Maybe I will do it for a few weeks just to test it out and see if the plants do any better than they already are. But I’m totally against using bottled water for plants. That makes no since to me. They don’t need bottled water in the wild.... not trying to insult anyone’s intelligence here because I know a lot of people do use bottled water for their plants. But to me personally it don’t make any since what so ever unless it’s a sensitive plant like M. Magnifica that was grown from seed and grew up on bottled water which a lot of people do. I almost bought a big one that was grown like that. When the man who raised the plant told me that he has only used bottled water on it, that caused me to look else where. I got a small 4 inch potted M. Magnifica for pretty cheap last year from Aloha Tropicals online and she’s still doing good today. Now she did start losing a lot of her growth crystals when I took her from under the grow lamp and put her out for the spring weather but I think she’ll be fine. She’s growing new leaves. That’s a good sign.
Do you grow plants too?