Substrate? also, question about plants

[pixiemisa]

I know that substrates are not recommended, however, i was wondering about having large chunks of substrate, such as large wood chips, or coconut bark, but all in chunks large enough that ingestion would be impossible. Would this be ok?

Also, i just put him into his new, much larger, terrarium, with three live plants. There is a pothos, shefflera and ficus. I plan on getting a hibiscus as well when my local garden shop has some in. Tengu has been eating the pothos leaves quite a bit. Not huge amounts, but i've certainly seen him munching a few times since the switch yesterday. I noticed in the plant section that it says removal of the pothos should be considered if large amount of leaves are being ingested. What is a large amount? How concerned should i be?


(He is about 6 months old, if that helps)

 

[dodolah]

The other problem of having substrate is it tend to harbor harmful germs, mold (since chameleon care requires daily misting), and make cleaning difficult. I say get rid of it.

if you see your pothos leaves keep getting eaten everyday, i say take the pothos out.

hope that helps

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Yea ...
No substrate. It's too good of a place for feeders to hide (and die) .. it will turn into a mess.
Why not just follow proven practices? No substrate is best.
As far as pothos is concerned ... doesn't really seem to be bad for veileds.
Let him eat what he wants. You might try clipping some collard greens to branches occasionally to see if he'll eat that instead ... just so you don't have to replace the pothos every few weeks.

-Brad

 

[King Baboon]

Sand

I was wondering about some substrate too.
Maybe can i use desert sand or is not safe? A cage without any substrate is so much hard to clean.

 

[Dave Weldon]

I was wondering about some substrate too.
Maybe can i use desert sand or is not safe? A cage without any substrate is so much hard to clean.

Howdy,

Stick with plants potted in organic soil, raised above a simple PVC floor drilled for drainage. It is easy to keep clean and sanitized. Many keepers recommend using those glass "rocks" on top of the potted plants to keep insects out of the soil and minimize the chances of inappropriate soil ingestion.

 

[xoiceox]

does anyone have pix of their plants covered? I wanna put my pothos in but need to cover the soil because it has the lil foam balls. Thanx!

 

[mczoo]

i took my plants and "washed" them in a warm homer bucket of water added organic soil then put rocks over it to prevent diging or eating. i do not of years of experience but it has worked so far

Sean

 

[gentlejamo]

I also want to use a substrate, but pretty much everyone on here agrees that no substrate is the best approach. So what are you using on the bottom of the cage? I want to use something cuz having nothing just looks....well...impersonal....but maybe thats just me. I like a very inviting environment.

 

[plop9025]

I use grass carpet. Adds color and easy to clean.