Plants plants plants !

Inky

Established Member
Hey all ! recently i just bought a new cage from dragon stand after figuring out fish tanks are shunned upon . haha. but any ways since the cage is screened and most of my plants from before were suction how should about getting plants and branches for the new cage? sometimes ill go through some fourms and find people who literlly have the amazon in there room but i cant find stuff like that anywhere at my local pet stores ! is there some local store to go to? does it have to be online ? id much rather not shop for plants online but if i have to i have to !
thanks ! calvin
 
I got a bunch of nice and large umbrella trees at home depot for 20$ each. Pothos are really cheap as well and are great for Chams, plus almost impossible to kill. There's also plant nurseries that have a ton available. Just check out a safe plant list and pick out what you'd like to put in there. wash them and repot with organic soil and you're good to go. If you have a veiled just be sure to make sure the plant isn't toxic i hear they like to take a bite out of plants.
 
There are tons and tons of places to find plants - the great thing is that what a great many people consider "houseplants" are perfectly suited for cham enclosures! Take a look at places like Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, or whatever local big box store you have near you that sells home goods type stuff. And before you say it because I can already hear it - "but how do I know some random plant I buy isn't going to kill my chameleon?" Well the good thing for you is that there just so happens to be several safe plant lists on the internet to get you started on some plants to look for.

http://flchams.com/chameleon-safe-plant-list/
http://www.tikitikireptiles.com/pages.php?id=8
2nd post - https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...ts-are-the-best-for-a-veiled-chameleon.29639/

Now those aren't all inclusive, just because it doesn't appear on those lists doesn't mean its necessarily dangerous - just means going to have to go looking for more information. Fortunately the search on here is VERY useful.

Where else to find plants? Perhaps you struck out at the big box stores, look at any local greenhouses/nurseries - an additional benefit of going to a greenhouse/nursery is that generally the plants will be a bit healthier. Big box stores have a habit of neglecting their plants, plus a greenhouse will generally be more knowledgeable about any plants you pick out. After the greenhouse if there is something really specific you're looking for - check online! Online plants do tend to be a bit smaller, and you don't have the benefit of examining in person but you can find lots of exotic plants. One of the first places I check online is eBay, I've bought many many MANY plants off of eBay with very good luck. Also some of the more popular reptile supply stores also sell approved plants - Josh's Frogs has a good selection, as does NEherptoculture. There are also many quality online nurseries which I'm sure a quick search on here will give you some good leads on. :)
 
Forgot to answer your other question :)

As for branches - outside! Many people (myself included) have gotten all of their branches from the great outdoors. Before you go lobbing off just any branch it kind of would be good if you had at least an idea of what sort of tree/shrub it is you're cutting down just to be on the safe side, but in all actuality the good portion of what you're likely to come across is probably going to be all right with a few things in mind - stay away from trees/shrub with lots of sticky sap, stay away from woods with a strong scent to them.
 
Lowe's and home depot typically have umbrella or pothos plants, I had to go to Lowe's for an umbrella and home depot for the pothos, I have suction cupped fake plants in my enclosure and I either leave the suction cup on or some of them can just slide off. Also a lot of times local nurseries have larger umbrella or pothos plants! Check out flchams they have a long safe plant list! On another note, you might want to look into a 6500k full spectrum daylight bulb or jungledawn led to keep live plants alive, I killed multiple plants before I got one.
 
Lowe's and home depot typically have umbrella or pothos plants, I had to go to Lowe's for an umbrella and home depot for the pothos, I have suction cupped fake plants in my enclosure and I either leave the suction cup on or some of them can just slide off. Also a lot of times local nurseries have larger umbrella or pothos plants! Check out flchams they have a long safe plant list! On another note, you might want to look into a 6500k full spectrum daylight bulb or jungledawn led to keep live plants alive, I killed multiple plants before I got one.
could you PM me a link to one of those bulbs?
 
Do you guys know if just a regular pothos is okay? I've read that only golden and silver pothos are okay, and I'm not sure what type mine is but it is definately a pothos.
 
Someone said it looks more like a jade pothos? It's in very low light so there's very little variegation in the leaves. Don't know if that helps.
 

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Pothos is my favorite and helps a lot with humidity. If you buy a plant make sure you look up how to properly clean pesticides and fertilizer from each leaf with alcohol... I forget the percentage. I prune the heck out of my plants before cleaning them because cleaning hundreds of leaves is tedious and new growth happens fast after pruning.

PS Pothos is my favorite and for years was the only plant that everyone agreed was 100% cham safe. It's probably the easiest of the plants to keep and my cage with pothos has a higher humidity than the one with a umbrella.
 
Mine has been sanitized of pests and was in horrible condition when I got it. I've made it way healthier and thought my Carmen would love it in addition to her money plant! I'm getting her and Loretta the xl zoo med cages when I get paid this Saturday and I'm gonna have so much fun setting it up with the pothos!
 
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