Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I put 2 hibiscus trees and 3 pothos plants in my cham's enclosure, plus a bunch of vines and bend a branches, it looked awesome. Then, within a week the first hibiscus died and within about 2 more weeks the second one has died! I've gone through 3 small hibiscus and I just can't keep them alive! I don't really have pot room in the cage so they didn't get a bigger pot, is that the problem? My reptarium is only about 30" tall so I can't really go with trees. Is there something else equally good (besides ficus) for my veiled cham that I could use? I really liked the hibiscus, but I just don't think I can get along with those, lol. Any advice greatly appreciated, TIA! Becki

Becki-

Hibiscus need allot of light and don't fare to well indoors. I would try an Umbrella tree. Hope this helps!
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John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Are you talking about a Hawaiian umbrella tree? I googled it and came up with (outrageously expensive) hawaiian umbrella trees that seemed to be a type of bonsai, or (enormous, bigger than a house) rainforest trees. Should I be looking for something more specific? The ones I saw for sale were tiny, like too small for a cham, and cost $30 - $130!

Hi-

This is what I am talking about.

You can see a list of plants and some other photos HERE! Hope this helps!
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John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Thank you very much! I'm going to look for those but keep an ear out for any other suggestions just incase the umbrella tree is too hard to find.

Now what about just using fake vines and such? I prefer the live plants but I can't just keep replacing them! I do have 3 pothos that are flourishing, would it be ok to do the rest of the enclosure in fake plants?

A few plant tips. Make sure your pots can drain. When you repot the plants to get rid of nasty pesticides the nursery may have used put some pebbles or gravel in the bottom of the pot. Plants in cham cages get too much water mostly. Also, if you use a pot saucer you need to make sure water doesn't just sit there. It will rot the roots. Either let the pot drain directly onto the cage bottom or raise the pot up on gravel so it isn't sitting in accumulated water. Pot soil gets pretty compacted and doesn't absorb water or plant food as well, so I occasionally loosen the soil with a barbeque fork. Hibiscus needs lots of light, so if you use it you may have to give it a separate spotlight. That "umbrella plant" Schefflera is really common and inexpensive at places like Home Depot, KMart, etc. it is often sold as "tropical foliage". Look for the same palm shaped lobed leaves as in the pic. I find that plants in cham cages often get bare and spindly below the tops. Makes sense, as all the lighting is on the cage top so that is where the plant can absorb the light. To keep my plants bushy all over I often put a tube light with a less expensive grow bulb vertically along one side of the cage. Really helps! Also, the cham is more likely to roam more of its cage if the bottom is not dark.

I actually found a really nice one tonight at walmart for $10! Thanks for the suggestion, I really like this tree, I hope my chameleon does too, lol.
Thanks again!