Never seen this before

[nash]

So I have a Nosy Be that a little over a year now that I recently moved from a smaller screen cage to a larger reptarium that I got from a friend. Its the 30*16*16 one which I know is a little small but is only a temporary home. Anyway I recently put in a larger dwarf schefllera (sp?) for him to climb around on and his lighting and basking spots are correct so I think those are non-issue points.

I covered the potting soil (100% organic from a local greenhouse) with river stones and one large flat stone. Today when I sprayed him in the morning he drank then went down to the bottom of the plant and acted like he was trying to bite the larger rock. Thing was he was trying to get it in the middle where he couldn't possibly get his mouth around it. It almost looked like he was drinking from it but his tongue wasn't touching. He was rubbing his teeth against it and it looked painful so I took out the rock and he stopped and went back to the top of the cage and assumed his normal routines. Anyone ever seen this. I'm not sure whether to be concerned or amused. Any thoughts?

 

[Julirs]

My male Oustalet does this ocasionally, but I have no idea why.

 

[Justin Carl]

he could have been curious.
every time i put something new in my adult veileds cage he inspects it.
When i put new plants in he always take a chomp out of them.
New Vines must be chomped.
every twist tie must be shot with his tounge.
when i replaced his rocks at the bottom of his cage he shot them.
i guess they just want to see what it is.

 

[nash]

Yeah thats what I was thinking but the biting at the rock looked painful. I could hear him grating against it. Maybe it was just me projecting the discomfort of rubbing my own teeth against rocks and whereas in his case it is some pleasurable experience. Anyways hes stopped now.

 

[Nicodemayo]

I rigged up a new drip system for my female veiled and as soon as i installed it and the gave her some space she went and started gnawing on the nozzle. Water wasn't even running through it yet. Chams i guess can just be curious.

 

[dodolah]

could it be practicing killing bite?
i know some chameleon often bite a tree bark.

 

[nash]

What's killing bite? Like in self defense?

 

[dodolah]

like in trying to kill his prey.
try this thread that i made long time ago:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleon-who-acts-like-6821/

Kristina (her member id is studiocham) brought up a very interesting thought
about "kill" bite (scroll thru the thread)

 

[nash]

Cool thanks.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Pretty normal..........

I think it's pretty normal behavior. I use the smooth river rocks on top of the soil on all my potted plants. Crickets occassionally hide under them and the chams will sit and wait for them to come out. It's a little game. If they see one hiding under the rock they actually move the rock with their snout to get the cricket. I've also seen them try to chew the rock or chew on the end of a Manzanita climbing branch. Not sure why they do it but they do it with a very deliberate manner. Never had a cham hurt themselves doing this. They are not going to continue doing something that causes pain.

 

[joefarah]

I had a veiled that liked to swallow small stones. I always thought she was doing to aid digestion. I've heard of crocs and other animals swallowing stones to help grind up the food in their stomachs, so i figured it was something like that...

I'm probably wrong though.

What about salts? Could they be after some type of salts or minerals?

It certainly is curious behavior.

- Joe

 

[bigant25]

My Ambilobe male Cham starting doing this todAy !! Did urs eventually stop this behavior or any further insight?...... He's cut and paste my post Grinding his teeth on rocks!

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