uh.. Stick eating??

[Sticktongue]

So i put a couple branches in my enclosure from my back yard. i cooked them to kill anything. well yesterday and today i've seen him bite the ends of it trying to rip something off. If he does manage a little, is it ok or will it cause problems inside?

 

[hallenhe]

Some of them get weird notions into their scaly little heads - my panther yearns to eat sticks, certain dead leaves, a particular piece of bark on the oak tree... Wood isn't going to be toxic, but it's not digestible to a chameleon (or other higher vertebrates), it's not going to dissolve too readily, and it may be sharp or get uncomfortably lodged somewhere. I'd replace the tasty sticks with cage decor too big for him to gnaw off anything and swallow it.

 

[Cham Fan]

Or possibly debark the stick. If you've baked it the bark should be kinda brittle and easy to slough off.

 

[Sticktongue]

Thats a good idea, Cham Fan. I'll try that.

 

[codiwatkins]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE debark the stick as already stated. I had a baby panther that did this quiet often and I always just disregarded it. Well one day he actually got a tiny piece of bark and inhaled it and it blocked his wind tube and he suffocated to death in my hands. There is a post floating around of when it happened...very very sad...

 

[Cham Fan]

Aw Codi that is so sad... at least he had the comfort of your hands in his last moments. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your cham.

 

[Sticktongue]

Well today i had to add a draning system to my cage, so i just took the real sticks and out and left them out just to be sure. Thanks for the help

 

[laurie]

Well today i had to add a draning system to my cage, so i just took the real sticks and out and left them out just to be sure. Thanks for the help

We have to do what we have to do for these little creatures, but they are worth all the work. jmo

 

[Silkyslim]

My Samson would do the same thing, I took the sticks out and got rid of the bark. Samson still bites at the sometimes but there is nothing for him to ingest.