Chameleon Plant Q’s

[Jc555]

I have a few Q’s about a plant i want to get for my chameleon enclosure (Veiled), the plant is schefflera (Abricola)

1. I know this is a mid light plant, so what should be my standards with lighting wise making sure its mainly not dieing (losing minimal leaves)? My light setup right now is two Daylight blue 60w bulbs for basking, and a T5 UVB.

2. Water amountage i read they like it dry on the top in between mistings of my ReptiRain which i use, my question is how should i regulate this? There isnt really a specific amount currently my chameleon is sprayed for 30 seconds every 3 hours, in a direction to where his fake leaves are dripping to the ground (Where this plants pot will be) Should i just regulate the ReptiRains misters until the soil can dry on top and be moist in the lower area of the potting soil?

3. Just a question in general about drainage with plants, as they need it i am getting a pot with drainage holes, i have never done this before being my first chameleon, drainage wise how do i avoid water from escaping the enclosure (Screen)?

Thanks

 

[NickTide]

are the daylights LED? if so, your lighting should be fine.

This is tricky. Shefs like to be soaked and then allow the soild to dry out. I would say, have two plants. Rotate every few months so you can give them better conditions.

They make catch pans that fit the zoomed cages. if you offer plenty of water, you need to plumb in a fitting and hose.

 

[Syreptyon]

1. How big is your enclosure? It's unusual to be using multiple basking bulbs. Also, you ought to replace the blue lights with regular incandescents. Colored lights are not recommended for chameleons. Is your UVB a compact or a linear tube?

2. Your misting time is so short, I don't think you even need to worry about it (honestly very short for your chameleon, too, tbh - 2 min or more is recommended if you're keeping your cham in screen).

3. Most people have a drainage system for their cages already. There are lots of threads on it you can search through, or you can use paper towels that you change out daily.

Overall, I think you're overthinking this plant way too much! Scheffleras are super low maintenance, which is part of why they're great. Currently, I keep a big one in my panther's cage with a 5.0 linear reptisun and a 6500K linear plant light. But I've successfully kept them with nothing but the UVB in a not particularly sunny room. As for water, I have a MistKing that goes off for between 2 and 5 minutes multiple times throughout the day. The vast majority of that water ends up in my schefflera and its soil is usually damp. These wet conditions have not seemed to affect it as it continues to grow steadily

 

[JacksJill]

The only extra thing I do for my schefflera is to repot them with an inch of gravel in the bottom of the pot so they have good drainage. I use linear fluorescents in the 6500K range or incandescent spots in the same range depending on the cage size. My cages are heavily planted. They get sprayed by my mister 4-5 times a day.

 

[Jc555]

are the daylights LED? if so, your lighting should be fine.

This is tricky. Shefs like to be soaked and then allow the soild to dry out. I would say, have two plants. Rotate every few months so you can give them better conditions.

They make catch pans that fit the zoomed cages. if you offer plenty of water, you need to plumb in a fitting and hose.

To answer all of your questions,
1.No.. as i said a bulb as in the shape of one that goes in a lamp, those two are basking, then i have a T5 UVB which is long.

2. Rotate the plants? I mean that sounds complicated and i wasnt intending on setting up two enclosures for them certainly, and where i live it is definitely cold out in winter.

3. zoo med catch pan i understand (One that goes on bottom) but the fittings and hose does that connect to some drainage hole or something im not familiar with that thanks.

 

[Jc555]

1. How big is your enclosure? It's unusual to be using multiple basking bulbs. Also, you ought to replace the blue lights with regular incandescents. Colored lights are not recommended for chameleons. Is your UVB a compact or a linear tube?

2. Your misting time is so short, I don't think you even need to worry about it (honestly very short for your chameleon, too, tbh - 2 min or more is recommended if you're keeping your cham in screen).

3. Most people have a drainage system for their cages already. There are lots of threads on it you can search through, or you can use paper towels that you change out daily.

Overall, I think you're overthinking this plant way too much! Scheffleras are super low maintenance, which is part of why they're great. Currently, I keep a big one in my panther's cage with a 5.0 linear reptisun and a 6500K linear plant light. But I've successfully kept them with nothing but the UVB in a not particularly sunny room. As for water, I have a MistKing that goes off for between 2 and 5 minutes multiple times throughout the day. The vast majority of that water ends up in my schefflera and its soil is usually damp. These wet conditions have not seemed to affect it as it continues to grow steadily

1. Well heres the story, i originally got the zoo med chameleon lighting starter kit and recognized thats likely not enough UVB ( only 1 flourescent 5.0 Mini compact UVB bulb). As well as i thought and asked on this forum for this double light starter kit set up that applies 2 bulbs at once, should both be these blue 60W day bulbs and these are natural blue light not painted or coated and recommended by zoo med to say the least they may be wrong but who knows. My UVB was very recently just a singular compact UVB T5 as i said, now it is a linear T5 UVB

2. I have a reptirain right now which is the best local mister available to me, it dosent spray more than a minute but when i was spray just 15 seconds per 6 hours the water was leaking out of the enclosure onto the floor and electrical setup which was bad, as well i knew that wasn’t sufficient for my cham observing him, so i upped it to 30 sec every 3 hours but covered the substrateless bottom for now with a thick towel for the well being to absorb this leaking water (The water is getting on the ground and leaking out.) I can surely up it to 1 minute but i dont know how to stop this leakage currently.

3. I just found a good drainage system searching the forums.

I probably am overthinking this all, i like to make sure i can give my animals or anything requiring care the best conditions they can have to thrive, will i need a mistking? I mean the reptirain obviously isn’t recommended but the only difference i see is watering time (basically im asking will one minute do). Thanks for the response.

 

[Jc555]

The only extra thing I do for my schefflera is to repot them with an inch of gravel in the bottom of the pot so they have good drainage. I use linear fluorescents in the 6500K range or incandescent spots in the same range depending on the cage size. My cages are heavily planted. They get sprayed by my mister 4-5 times a day.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Jc555]

But to reply to all as a whole, just a thing my cham needs a basking spot, ive just heard of linear bulbs which is fine i assume i just never knew that was an option as i wanted a singular basking compact bulb setup and an individual UVB linear setup.