Hurting his mouth/teeth on white garden ROCKS!

[bigant25]

I'm pissed off and I'm worried, my 5 month old Ambilobe male went to go try and eat some dirt one day this week On Wednesday so immediately I went to Home Depot and got a bunch of standard white home/garden filler rocks - they are about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide and about 9 or 10 of them there rocks -more then covers the dirt around his potted plant so problem solved (this was Wednesday) now today I'm jumping in the shower rushing to get ready and I see him climb down the plant stare down the rocks and then aggressively lunge out mouth wide open and bite one rock repeatedly , at each try he would snap and bite down and grind his teeth on the Rock in 3 quick lunges I could faintly hear his teeth griding in the rigid surface of the rock
Shocked I ran over opened the cage and lightly tapped him on the nose 3 times and yelled NO like I would a dog, he quickly climbed back up to his basking vine and stayed motionless. I'm thinking crap I hope he learned his lesson. Sure enough right on que I came out of the shower and there he was again BITING the FCKING RoCK! ? I took two of my socks and threw them on top of the rocks to cover them up and I had to run out asap for thanksgiving dinner I had an LIRR train to catch / so just a quick fix for now I guess I'll be home tomorrow night and he's all set his setup is automated pretty much and I fed him a lot this morn
I really hope he doesn't **** up his mouth and or teeth on these rocks ???!! Wtf!! He seemed so aggressive and ' lit up' when he was doing it like he was warding off a rival so wierd ! Ugh this the last thing I need him smashing up his face on rocks

 

[bigant25]

Crap I just did.a search on the forums and it seems a half dozen Or so posting showing the same wierd behavior and it seems to be all posts about male panthers doing it aggressively!?

 

[Mike Fisher]

Two theories on this, they sometimes mistake white for calcium dusted feeders, but that is usually in the case of ingesting potting styrofoam or perlite particles.

The second theory is that larger white objects are seen as a threat, like a predator. It is probably inborn although some chams are not bothered by it.

The fix is simple, remove the white rocks.

 

[MelissaB]

I've seen my panthers chew on vines, but so far they've left the rocks alone. I use smooth black and white rocks. I did see one of my guys chew on a grout covered foam planter. I had to remove it for several months, but now he ignores it. I wonder if they teethe when they're younger.
I don't think your chameleon will associate you telling him no and tapping his nose with leaving the rocks alone. It might make him afraid of you. I understand that it was done in the heat of the moment, in the hopes of discouraging him from chewing on the rocks.

 

[bigant25]

Yes of course that was just my reaction it did not deter him one bit as he went right back at it , I guess will have to remove the white rocks and replace them with dark one?? Otherwise he's gonna eat the soil the SOB

 

[MelissaB]

He's beautiful.