schefflera abricola

[chameleon884]

can somebody tell me the pros and cons of having a umbrella plant in my chams cage? i really like the way they look and would love to have one in my chameleons cage. are they hard to take care of?



yay my 100th post!!!!

 

[Ionstorm]

I use the schefflera abricola in all of my chameleon tanks. I have had great luck with them. They are very hearty, the only one I had a problem with was in a solid pot and was unable to drain. I am now using proper pots with some drainage and they grow great no problems. The leaves are big and offer alot of cover, and hold the water droplets well.

The only con would be they do drop their leaves when the leaves get older. If you put a big plant in the cage you will be cleaning leaves weekly. Not a big issue and I just clean them up with regular scheduled cleaning.

I would recommend them. Personally I like to buy a bigger bush and seperate it into 2 or 3 smaller ones, since you will likely be repotting anyways. No trouble with the plants or roots when splitting them so far.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I love how they look, they do hold water on their leaves really well, just don't let them stay too wet too long. I have trouble keeping them dry enough, they tend to die on me a lot. Then again I don't have much luck keeping plants alive - tricky fragile animals no problem! But plants...

 

[VeiledOwner87]

they are great, only con to me is some of the limbs may not be able to hold the weight of the cham. other than that, they are awsome. one of my favorites

 

[getwitit]

I like them. A hardy plant..although my only scheff is now just about dead since I got it back from my friend last week who took care of my cam's for 2 weeks(he must not have watered it once lol). Very true about them possibly being too weak/small if your cham is too big.