Sulking, confusion, plant rotation

[jojackson]

First curiosity of keeping a (veiled male) chameleon has arisen. Like my tree frogs, it seems he has gotten used to the placing/position etc of his cage furnishings including plants.

If I re-arrange my frogs terrariums, they become confused and agitated, sleep on the terrarium floor, go dark and basically get the ***ts! They also hop madly around and risk self inflicted injury, so I always maintain the terrarium exactly (after major cleaning) by using a photo!

The cham!: 2 days ago, I decided some of the plants (mainly the blasted hibiscus that hates me) looked a bit worse for wear, also ofcourse I maintain the strictest hygene with any reptile and wanted to clean the cage out.
(see it in https://www.chameleonforums.com/d-i-y-veiled-20224/ <- This thread)

So I stripped the cage without thinking to take a photo, since ive never come accross this oddity with reptiles, and after cleaning, replaced the mini 'jungle'
seen in the thread above, with one large ficus that goes to the roof.

I included some of his branches, for access to the floor, re-created his basking spot (the lighting/heating wasnt moved), added a few horizontal
highways including beneath his dripper, and put him back.

He has access to all the areas he had before, but hes not having a bit of it!
Though relaxed (his color is nice and normal light green) he seems confused,
hes remaning pretty much on one branch and not venturing far.

This is a major problem because:

A. hes not drinking from the dripper (being observant I have maintained his hydration by misting alot more)

B. hes not actively hunting now, only catching the few feeders the happen past him (i have hand fed him because of this)

Sooooo...long story short, (bit late for that? Lol) Apart from buying another 'set' of the exact same plants and taking a photo of positioning before rotation) [which I will do anyway] , Have any of you dealt with this?

Also, I think the hibiscus definately does better outdoors and looks sad due to trying to acclimatise to artifical light conditions, If I constantly rotate them every other week, this process is repeated again and again and the plants will never recover.

At this point I intend to recreate his former enviroment (sans hibiscus) and see how he goes.

Any ideas? How do you deal with plants?

Cheers

 

[jojackson]

c'mon, nobody uses live plants?

 

[sandrachameleon]

I cant say I've ever encountered a chameleon that appeared distressed by a change in cage decor. I've never taken care to put things back the way they were.

 

[coolmoon]

I rotate the sickly plants out and replace them. I haven't had problems when changing the cage around either. Sometimes it takes a day or two for them to get used to the new setup.

 

[NewOwner]

My chameleon doesnt care where her plants are, maybe its not the location its the plant, Maybe she doesnt like the hibuscus, i know that my cham doesnt like big bushy plants, she likes one short, and a bunch of vines for highways.. The last time she had a large plant, she stood on the ledge of out custom cage, and just stood all day... til i put the ficus back in...

Hope that helps..

 

[dante8858]

I cant say I've ever encountered a chameleon that appeared distressed by a change in cage decor. I've never taken care to put things back the way they were.

I have to disagree....my Mellers freaked out when I took out his dead ficus and replaced it with a new one. Everything else I put back in their previous spots and he wouldn't walk arcoss his vines to get to the heat. He was rubbing his nose on the top of the cage and everything. I had to place him near his heat...and even then it still took him a few days of crawling along the mesh for him to accept the new plant! I know weird huh!?

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have to disagree....my Mellers freaked out when I took out his dead ficus and replaced it with a new one. Everything else I put back in their previous spots and he wouldn't walk arcoss his vines to get to the heat. He was rubbing his nose on the top of the cage and everything. I had to place him near his heat...and even then it still took him a few days of crawling along the mesh for him to accept the new plant! I know weird huh!?

Fasinating!

Clearly your experiences differ from mine.

I wonder if one type of chameleon is more sensative than another type (panther, veiled, mellers, etc)? Or maybe NewOwner is onto something - maybe its not the position but the type of stuff in the enclosure? I typically use only pothos now, with sticks and vines - just the position changes, not the type of plant.

 

[Fred]

c'mon, nobody uses live plants?

WHAT??!! Yes, live plants are very important, they retain H2O dropplets much better and longer and they help keep humidity up more naturally!! Will your cham die from not having live plants-NO- but that just my opinion. We have a indoor plant light that is above the enclosure and our plants are happy and healthy!! You can buy them at home depot and place them in the same fixture as the linier UVB bulb if u buy a double light fixture.

 

[jojackson]

The plant species havent changed, It went from

x1 hibiscus, x1 ficus, x2 pothos, x2 shefflera

to...

1 large ficus. I think its the fact the little forest above extended no higher than half way up the cage, so he had free space around the top. the big ficus goes all the way to the top and ofcourse the dense froilage is at the top now, so perhaps it affects the heat gradient. (i confess to not having checked)

Thankyou all for replying.