Should I be concerned he will injure his mouth?

[szpond]

I have two enclosures - one that is empty (16x16x30 glass with an open front) and my male Jackson's enclosure (18x18x36 screen). The empty one, although no animals, has branches/vines in it still. Sometimes I connect a vine across the gap to this terrarium and he has a ball walking from one to the other.

Okay, and here is the problem: in the terrarium, I have clear/white zipties holding together vines and fake leaves. He tries to eat these zipties. He struck at one, I saw it, so I moved him to the other side of the terrarium carefully. But here's the thing, he'll walk right back and try again! The second time he actually walked straight up to it and used his mouth like it was a flower.

I got really concerned and cut off his access to this terrarium. Will it be okay if I just cover them with paper towel? Does he just think they're mealworms?

Or should I just not let him in there/is it nothing to worry about?

 

[SaintJimmy]

I have two enclosures - one that is empty (16x16x30 glass with an open front) and my male Jackson's enclosure (18x18x36 screen). The empty one, although no animals, has branches/vines in it still. Sometimes I connect a vine across the gap to this terrarium and he has a ball walking from one to the other.

Okay, and here is the problem: in the terrarium, I have clear/white zipties holding together vines and fake leaves. He tries to eat these zipties. He struck at one, I saw it, so I moved him to the other side of the terrarium carefully. But here's the thing, he'll walk right back and try again! The second time he actually walked straight up to it and used his mouth like it was a flower.

I got really concerned and cut off his access to this terrarium. Will it be okay if I just cover them with paper towel? Does he just think they're mealworms?

Or should I just not let him in there/is it nothing to worry about?

If part of the zip tie is sticking out, cut the long part off so that it remains only a ring holding your stuff together.

I think he thinks it is a leaf or mealworm. He may choke on it, you should just cut it off, covering it with a paper towel would mean he'd try and eat it again, only to choke on paper towel instead.

Just cut the end of it off so that it still holds your stuff together.

 

[Video Master]

I agree, cut off all the extra from the zip tie.

 

[ReptileLove18]

make sure if you cut the zip ties you file the ends or melt them some so tha they are not sharp that way if he does launch his tongue at them it doesnt cut him!!

you could also try using twist ties, the kind that is sometimes used to keep the plastic around bread loaves to keep the vines and leaves together and cut the extra off of those

 

[audiorazor]

You could also try changing the color of the zip ties. I found dark green ones and doesnt even seem to notice them.

 

[pssh]

Definitely file/melt any sharp ends. A color change might help. If nothing else, he probably wouldnt notice some clear fishing line instead.

 

[szpond]

Before I posted the thread, I tried cutting the ends off but only found that, no matter how close I could get, the ends were sharp. Didn't think to melt -- good idea, thanks for the input!

It's only the clear/white ones he likes. He leaves the orange and dark green ones I have alone.

 

[MelissaB]

I know this is an older post, but if you use pliers to twist the end off the zip tie, there will be no sharp edge. I use kleins (linesmen's pliers), grasp the tail end of the zip tie as close as possible to the locking part and twist (in the same direction) until it pops off.