Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a Panther Chameleon, being that I'm going to be a first time owner, I have a million and one questions. But I have two questions that are at the forefront of my mind.

1) Do Crotons make good plants for a Panther's habitat?
2) I know there are hundreds of sites out there that list plants that are suitable for Chameleons. Having said that, what plant(s) would you recommend that is easy to sterilize & keep and is also nice to look at?

Thanks in advance.

Runski.

I really like the umbrella plants I have in my cages. They are really easy for the chams to climb on. I also added some pothos for decoration. Ficus is good too.

Thank you very much.

Runski

ok ive seen a few plants called umbrella plants an i know ones a indian rhubarb thats toxic.. which plant are ya talking about?
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We like using the pothos, ficus tree, and umbrella tree. We have had the best luck with the pothos as they can take overwatering. If you would like to see some photos of the plants, and some extra care info, checkout this link. Getting Started.

Just make sure you rinse the plant off well before placing it in the cage.

Take care
Farrah

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Farrah & Vincent
Email: Screameleons@yahoo.com
Phone: (571) 437-0642
Website: http://www.Screameleons.com

Thank you very much.

Runski

Thanks for the quick replies.

How about the Croton question? Are they suitable for a Panther's habitat?

-Runski

Croton is fine provided that you can provide for it's high light requirements which are very high. These plants take nothing less than full sun outside and of course are very cold sensetive (of course so are the panthers.) They also need to dry out slightly between waterings so you will want to use a soil mix that drains well perhaps being 25 to 35% sand. If you can give it the right conditions they actually grow fairly large. I actually had one in one of my outdoor cages with a female panther in fact. This particular cage gets direct sun from about 7 to 8 am. until about 1 pm varying with the seasons. Any way this is particular cage gets th most amount of sun in the lower depths of my chameleon cages and it was not bright enough for the croton. It took a few years but it finally succomed this year although I should add that These are outdoor cages and the plants are in the Ground. Even though I plastic my cages in winter night-time temps sometimes drop into the upper 40's low 50's F. Usually this plant would lose it's leaves and go dormant when night-temps started dipping into the upper 50's. Dormancy is usually not normal for these plants and from experience with lots of tropicals here in Fla. I can tell you that is pretty cold sensitive. These are neat plants though and the nectar from the flowers is sweet tasting should you be lucky enough to get it to flower (the flowers somewhat resemble Dracaena flowers.) Some other cool plants you could try are coffee plants which can take fairly low light and wet soil. Eugenia uniflora also known as the surinam cherry or the hedge cherry(they are used for hedges here and are fairly common here in Fla. as well as So. Ca. these plants need a little more light than coffee plants but they grow fast are very bushy and can be pruned severly. and most of all they aren't a ficus.

Thanks a lot for the insight.

-Runski

I believe that in the screameleons pics (the setup on the right) there is a croton at the bottom of the cage. I tried using Umbrellas for a long time but you have to use a pretty big pot and they are not as dense as some plants. This ended up over watering the soil and fungus gnats every 3 weeks (then have to repot the plants. I had 4 umbrellas (2 in his cage at a time) I would switch them out every 4 days or so and I still had the problem. So I switched over to Dracaenas the ones with the big floppy thick green leaves (smooth solid green not the thinner green/yellow ones) These you can keep in a much much smaller pot and the tops are much more dense they catch almost all the water so no soaking wet soil. Only thing is I had to add allot of dowel rods and climbing vines because there are not as many "branches to climb on compared to the umbrella plants. Some people use small Palm plants for the same reasons. Oh yeah I use a few pothos too and spread the vines out for climbing. Pothos is the best Cham plant if you ask me.

Here is how Boris's cage looked with the 2 umbrella trees. Kinda bare. I will post pics tonight of how it looks with the Dracaena (nice and jungle like!)

here is Boris outside hanging out in by the pothos

Oh yeah I also switched from 3 narrow flow white misting heads down to 2 wide flow red heads which has helped with water over flow as well.

Definately get a nice ficus.. My cham likes to hide in his sometimes.
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I have to say I like Pothos best. Big dense leaves, easy to clean, and practacly impossible to kill! I tried ficus with no luck...they could not stand up to the heavy watering.

All my chameleons have their own pothos.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther
1.1 Ambilobe Panther