Plants - Live or Plastic

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Just through reading all the posts and looking at pictures it is becoming evident that there are quite a few people that use plastic plants. With the option to use either plastic or live plants for your chameleons. I would not mind hearing why one would choose one over the other. Me having got a greenhouse I almost exclusively use live plants. However the use of plastic plants for chameleon I find interesting and it would be great to hear why you on the forums prefers one over the other please comment.

I have stayed away from plastic plants because if a chameleon manages to eat a plastic plant the plastic is not digestible and may cause more internal problems such as internal blockage for the chameleon than a live plant would. However with chameleons that do not consume much plant material this may not be a problem.

 

[dodolah]

I am all for real plants. on top of the possible blockage from accidental consumption, plastic plants does not add humidity and the silk type absorb water. So, chameleons that used to lap the dew on the leaves for hydration might not have enough water to drink.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I am all for real plants. on top of the possible blockage from accidental consumption, plastic plants does not add humidity and the silk type absorb water. So, chameleons that used to lap the dew on the leaves for hydration might not have enough water to drink.

I agree however plastic plants are a lot less maintance and creates less of a mess than live plants that make considering them a option. If you are an individual with a busy schedual like so many us or don't want dirt in the house the use of plastic plants makes some sense. There could be other overlooked uses that I would not mind hearing about as well that I have not heard about which I could not say because I have not used plastic plants.

 

[BocaJan]

I have a bunch of chams and I can't keep the real plant and the dirt clean from the chams poop. So, I now use plastic plants and put various edibles in their cages. I have learned who likes what and who doesn't want anything but meat! LOL. I can keep their cages much cleaner this way. If I only had one or two chams I would use plants and just let them eat the plants if they wanted.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

I use plastic for baby bins only. It is much easier to soap them up and clean off the poop. Once they move up to screen cages they get real plants.

Sterilize them again and used for the next set of hatchlings.

 

[summoner12]

I think people end up with plastic because they are told or they think that plasic will be easier to clean up.... I don't think it really matters when it comes down to that.

as for my reason to use the real thing? looks nice and grows back and helps with humidity

 

[summoner12]

I use plastic for baby bins only. It is much easier to soap them up and clean off the poop. Once they move up to screen cages they get real plants.

Sterilize them again and used for the next set of hatchlings.

agreed, same here. although i don't riase mad amounts of babies like you lol

 

[Brad Ramsey]

You will see the occasional artificial vine in pictures of my enclosures.
I use them to fill spaces and add cover where real plants just won't go.
99% real plants here though for all the obvious reasons.

-Brad

 

[ColorCham427]

I use bio-vines and wrap some fake leaves around them, or hang some fake leaves down from the ceiling for hiding purposes.

I don't use fake plants any longer in baby bins. I actually don't use bins for babies now, I use small screen cages instead.

The leaves on fake plants don't hold water on them for more than a few mintues, they suck.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Plastic plants do make a lot of sens in a couple of situations. If you live in an apartment or some where you do not have a back yard or area where you can work with live plants such as pruning or re-potting plants, plastics plants make sense and are less of a hassle. Or if you just not good at keeping plants indoors (sounds kind of strange though normally if you can handle chameleons you can handle plants).

 

[eppcheck]

I use 80% real plants/trees. Some of my plants don't reach the top of the enclosure, therefore I use some fake plants up top to make them feel more hidden. Once the plant grows thick into the cages I'll remove the fake plants.

They are only used to fill in the blank/empty spots at the moment.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I use 80% real plants/trees. Some of my plants don't reach the top of the enclosure, therefore I use some fake plants up top to make them feel more hidden. Once the plant grows thick into the cages I'll remove the fake plants.

They are only used to fill in the blank/empty spots at the moment.
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That's appropriate, I'm certain the chameleons do not mind the extra greenery in their cage.

 

[Ellron]

I use bio-vines and wrap some fake leaves around them, or hang some fake leaves down from the ceiling for hiding purposes.....

Same with me. I use a combination of fake plants and real.

 

[SliK JiM]

If I could I wouldn't use fake plants/vines at all, but they're just so much easier to bend/fit into the right places that it makes it so much better using both real and fake. Also, I use fake plants around the basking spot as real plants normally dislike that much heat!

 

[Olimpia]

I use real plants in mine, but I might use fake flowers to add a bit of fun to the cages. Hey, I have to enjoy looking at the cages too. So I always have real trees and plants but maybe a couple fake orchids to spice things up. For my panthers I never try to use a lot of color in their cages, so it's mainly my Jackson's, but one of my baby panthers has a fake wysteria branch in his cage, because it's a good climbing branch and has the pretty purple hanging flowers. So he loves to hide in the flowers, and I can enjoy a bit of color coming from his cage while he's still his baby browns.

So yes, always real plants and sometimes fake flowers.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I find it surprising and interesting how many people use both. Before these forums I always assumed only live plants were used and now the combination of live plants and plastic plants is used more often that just live plants. That surprises me from what I used to assume.

 

[barebones]

I use fake plants and fake vines, that is what they recommended at the pet store I bought all my stuff from, I find she doesn't eat them and she is content, atleast once a day I hold up a leave to her mouth and mist the leaf and she drinks from it. I am however considering adding some real plants to help out my humidity.

 

[summoner12]

I wouldn't really take the advice from a pet shop too seriously... Most of the time they are clueless.

 

[SliK JiM]

I wouldn't really take the advice from a pet shop too seriously... Most of the time they are clueless.

Too true sadly!

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I only have real plants. All my cages 6ft-8ft have a tree from home depot in them that I get for less than $7 during the fall every year. Their 75% sales make me so happy. Also they have umbrella plants on super sale around that time as well. It's amazing. Real plants are so beneficial. Even my free ranges consist of only real plants. I just put a plastic drop cloth for painting under them.



Justin