Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have some pothos in my vieled chameleons cage and I usually put river stones over the soil. Lately I have noticed mold or fungi or something growing under the river stones and on any exposed soil. It is kinda white but some are more yellow. Is this stuff dangerous for my cham? Am I keeping it too moist? I dont know what to do about this stuff, help. Thank you, jrbl

Mold is toxic to chams. While he might not go down and chomp on it himself, if any crix get to it, and he eats the crix, there could be a problem. It is from the soil being too moist. Also, I find that different types of soil mold faster than others.
I would repot the plant, or at least take away the stones and scrape off all of the mold (a few inches should do the trick). Let the dirt air out for a bit, and don't water it for a week or two. Then, try using moss on top instead of stones. It should give a bit more air circulation. If it is plain dirt, you can even leave it open. If you then have a problem with you cham eating it you can add the moss. Another thing you can do is take some kind of plastic netting (from a dollar store butterfly net, or the stuff that holds chocolate eggs, etc) and glue it to the top of the pot in such a way that it keeps your cham out of the dirt.
That should keep any mold at bay!

...she is determined to so I put small river stones on them all temporarily but will do screen/netting this weekend as she still shoots the rocks! I tried moss at Sonia's suggestion but she ate that, too!

As for the mold it also can be airborne (the spores) so it really does need to be controlled. If you have house plants only because you keep chams and not because you love plants then I do recommend the netting or screen so you don't have to worry about the condition of the plant as much. One reason why pothos are so great for cham keepers is that they will take a lot of neglect and abuse. Better to under water than over water. More houseplants die from excess rather than too little water.

One more planting tip: use clay rather than plastic pots b/c they are porous and are more forgiving if you over water. A plastic pot holds that moisture in and can rot roots, support fungus gnat life cycles and, as you just experienced, grow mold.

lele