Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we have a small area in which we let serenity free roam out of the cage.in the bottom of one of the plants i topped off the dark soil with about 4 inches of sand.we noticed her pecking at the sand with her tongue.when we would move her back to the top she would only sprint back to the bottom.as if there was food in the sand.now the feeding dish was propped in the sand,so we moved it up higher away from the sand.she noticed sand on the bottom of the dish and started knawing at the sand.we cant keep her away from it.ultimately im going to remove the sand completly.has anyone ever heard of or seen this behavior?

I dont mean to be rude by why the heck do you have sand in there? Its perfect for creating an impaction in many lizards (but not all).

Here is what you should do. Take out the sand. Then put like a screen over the the dirt so she cant get to it. Cut wholes in the screen to allow the plant to grow through. Or you can place large rocks, like palm sized on top of the soil.

Be careful with your chameleon, they arent like other lizards at all.
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Gen'rals gathered in their masses,
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction,
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning,
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind,
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh Lord Yeah!
(War Pigs: Black Sabbath)

Take out the sand, it can cause an impaction.

Dirt eating/sand eating is often a sign of a mineral defeciency. What kind of mineral supplementation is she getting? You want to give vitamin D3 with calcium, and a multivitamin, separatly - no single supplement is good, you need at least two or three.

I reccomend minerall 0, which is just minerals, along with rep-cal (not reptical, or reptocal) WITH D3, and herptivite as a multivitamin.

right now she is just giving her crix powdered with reptivite vitamins by zoo med.she is 3-4 months old so we're trying our best to learn as much as we can to raise a healthy cham.we just started gutloading with orange flukers.we now realize how important this is also.is this not enough?if not what other products would i need?

I use reptivite as an occational supplement, once a month or so, JUST to enusre that my animals are getting a lttle preformed vitamin A. Other than that, I don't use it much.

I use herptivite for their main multivitamin source, about once a week, in VERY small quantities - like one lightly dusted cricket a week.

The most important supplement - the real critical one - is calcium and D3. Even with a UVB bulb, indoor chameleons wil need artificial D3 and supplemental calcium regularly, especially during their growing stages. At the 3-4 month mark, veileds are starting to grow very fast. Without a good calcium and D3 source (Rep-Cal or Mineral I), the odds of your chameleon getting calcium problems are very high.

Repcal is much higher in D3, so you need to be more careful with it. either works well, so just get the one most available to you.

We were told by the pet store that the reptivite was thealcium so of course I didn't check. Now I'm really confused and I hope I haven't been depriving her of calciu and over loading her with vitamins. I feel like such a bad mom, please help me sort this out before it affects her if it already hasnt. I'm guessing this is why she keeps eating the sand and dirt in the bottom of her live plants.

Reptivite DOES contain minerals as well as calcium. The problem (and the reason this is the really hard part of the hobby), is that it contains them in the wrong percentages and proportions.

Don't trash it - it's a decent product, but not for minerals. It's a bit high in vitamin A for regular use, so I use it once or twice a month as a vitamin A supplement - "just in case".

Here is what I use: Rep-cal with D3, Miner-all without D3(Miner-all 0), and herptivite.

Rep-cal is just calcium, and D3 - lots of D3. I take rep-cal, and "cut" it with minerall 0. I usually do a 1:3 ratio of repcal to minerall. Minerall has more minerals than just calcium, which is good. I like to have flexibility, so instead of just using minerall I (with D3), or repcal, I use both. When my animals are outside, in full sun, they get JUST the minerall, so I don't overdose them on D3. When they're growing, or developing eggs, I give them a little extra rep-cal, so they are sure to get all the D3 they need.

i've used both rep-cal and minerall I alone, an dthey both work. I just like the flexibility of basically separating my D3 and mineral supplementation.

Definatly, go to a pet store and find either Miner-all I, or Rep-cal with D3. I'd do it today. Your chameleon is growing fast right now, and it's going to need D3 in order to developproperly.

We really appreciate that reply, ssoooooooooo informative, thank you thank you, I believe we now have a better understnding and I am so glad we have gotten to the bottom of this. We will be going tonite or tomorrow morning to get the correct supplements I just hope we're not to late. We can't thank you enough and we look foward to many more posts and updates.

I am relatively new to chams. My first lived to 2 1/2 years. I found this forum when she was in serious trouble. The folks here really helped out in alot of ways.

It may all be overwhelming....vits, calcium, gutloading, etc...the thing is, these are advanced animals to care for. I still learn everyday. Trust me...it was all a little forign in the beginning!

Here are a few pics of my old cham and new cham...I can't guarantee how the will come up....the one with the tounge out is my female (RIP) Pudge. The other is the "new guy" Squiggy!

Good luck with your cham.

Kris

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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar (Another lost pet RIP and party on with Harold!)
2.0 Horses Smoothie and Rocky
1.0 Husbands (he puts up with me)
1.2 Kids-Trevor (congrats c/o 2006), Logan and Rylie
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
1.1 Veiled Chams Squiggy and Pudge (may she RIP)
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky

Glad to see your taking an active approach in the care for her. Your chams diet intake is only as healthy and good for them as the feeders diet themselves. If the crixs or mealworms or whatever is eating the same "gut load" day in and day out with infrequent changes to the type itself or cleanliness, the chams may some times become uninterested in their food nor is it nutritional for them. It may take a bit longer to do but it becomes habitual and relatively quick over time, but I suggest changing the feeders diet every so often with different matter. I find the cricket gel becomes contaminated quiet frequently so instead I soak baby carrots in water and use them for water and nutrients they eat as well. I also offer two bowls, one on each side of the tank to avoid suffocation and cannibalism. I change out and sterilize these every two or three days, depending on the amount of feeders in the tank and feces. For feeders diet I use is a combination of organic dry dog food, calcium enriched fish flakes, oats, various grains, cut up fruit and veggies (as long as it doesn't stand in the tank for long), and powdered milk. Try feeding them different healthy foods. Hope everything goes well.

of the soil? Sand is used in soil mixes for drainage. It can be mixed in or layered BELOW the soil to add drainage. Putting it on top - especially so much - will suffocate the soil by retaining water (the soil will) and will produce a great little habitat for fungus gnat. They are are harmless to humans and herps, but annoying as hell. I have never heard of anyone putting sand on top unless it is in a cactus or other succulent but more for aesthetics.

As for covering your soil I use plastic canvas which can be found in any craft store or craft dept. It is about 30 cents for an 8x12" sheet. What's nice is that it lets water and air circulate, will not rust, has no sharp edges and will never rot. You can cut it into any shape around stems and use coated paper clips to hold in place. I use it on all my cham plants. Here is a pic

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan and Stan Jr.!
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I put about 1/4" of a certain type of sand on top of the soil in my plants and its the same sand that I use for the egglaying containers. I use that sand because the chameleons can eat it and have never become impacted (I have had necropsies done to be sure). They have never bled from it either. The sand is produced by Kings and comes in a white bag with red, blue and yellow sandbox toys on the front. I have used it for years.

in her urates in a post below? Ingesting sand is most likely the problem.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan and Stan Jr.!
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet