Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi: I searched the archives on plants and now have more qs for you. I would like to have a variety of plants for the indoor cage. What I am wondering is what sort of lighting will provide correct environment for the plant to live? We Dart froggers are prone to using Compact Florescent with a Kelvin of 6,500 to aid in good plant maintanence. I know I must have 2 lights for the Cham-the UV and the Heat source, but I haven't found much discussion on correct lighting for plant maintanence in a Cham cage. Is a CF with 6,500K the right kind for the Cham cage in addition to the other 2 lights or do you folks use something else for the plants. It seems many people are just using the usual Ficus, Umbrella, or Pothos succesfully-and I wished to have more options and I'd like to know more clarifications as to why the other options of plants are not more widely used. Is it simply because good plant growth lights have not made it into the Cham hobby? Thanks-Maggie

well i have been lurking on the dart frog forum...

you people dont have to worry about uvb or heat like we do

we coose ficus,pothos and umbrella becuase they grow the best and provid ethe most safe folidge in the cages.

if you want variet yi suggest getting different types of ficus like a vergated tree and a creeping fig..the fig will attach to the wall and cover it.

anyways most people will use one bulb called a mercury vapor bulb or just MV bulb. it provides heat and uvb..or people use a combination of incandestant bulbs and repti glw/sun 5.0 bulbs

we dont bother with speciel plants lights becuase the plants get good enough light from these

I hope that answers your questions

One of the problems with plants is that you have to be sure to have something that is non-toxic for the animal. There are lots of plants available, and you can find a list on various chameleon sites. www.chameleonsonline has one that I've used. I think that the plants you mentioned are widely used because they are great for either climbing (ficus, etc) or wall covering (pothos etc). Chams need trees to climb and hide in, and the wall covering plants help A LOT with the humdidity. It also depends on which type of cham you are getting. some eat plants more than others (vieleds) in which case you'd want something not only non-toxic, but that doesn'thave irritating sap. some need really high humdity (jax, and other montaine species) so the wall covering plants are a great thing to have. Also cham cages are pretty big. You can have a ton of the smaller plants in there if you'd like, but then you have to anchor them so that they aren't tipped over when climbed on. You'd also need shelves to keep them around the cage (chams don't normally use the floor), and you'd also need to cover the dirt with something ifyour cham decides that he/she likes to eat dirt (like many do). It adds up to a lot of work. Not to mention cleaning around all of these planters to keep them free of poo. Oh, and if you freerange, the crix will have even more places to hide from your cham (one of the reasons i don't freerange food, but that's another story ).
I used to have different trees in planters around my chams cage. One thing that i found useful if you do decide that you want lots of plants in your cage is an 18" window box. I have one along the side of my panthers cage with pothos in it, but I used to have little plants that looked like palm trees (i don't remember names well, lol) and another with a pretty red flower thing (which i killed) and some othe plants in. Only one shelf was needed, and it was long and heavy enough to be easily anchored in.
Oh, if you want to know more, you should direct a question to lele. She is the plant queen.
~Lindsay

Oh, about the lights.. I'm not POSTIVE but I think that with the uv and heat source there should be enough light for the plants. I guess it depends on what kinds of plants you have though. I'm not one for keeping plants. I've killed many over the years. The ones in Orions cage are doing pretty well though (even though i forget to water them a lot!). I think this has to do with the lighting i keep in her cage. If the conditions are right for your cham then they are probably good for whatever plants you chose, assuming that the one;s you chose are appropriate for the type of cham you have. I'd reseach the needs of what cham you have (i probably should know, but i'm WAY behind in reading posts!) and then read the needs of some of the nontoxic plants, and find plants that have the same needs (light, heat, humdity, etc) as your cham. Or, you can buy a bunch of plants you like, and see which ones thrive in your chams environment, like i did (I suggest the research method LOL)
~Lindsay

Unless your looking to do major plant maintenance every day then you are best to go with the usual (umbrella,ficus and pothos). You can use hibiscus also and that will add some color to your cage but I myself have not been able to keep them alive for very long. Using special lights for the plants is just alot of extra and usualy unnecessary work because most chams will eat the plants that you are trying to make grow. Keep it simple, you need large plants for an adult cham so it is easier to use just 2-3 rather than alot of little ones. This is just my opinion and you can take it or leave it.
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Thanks Dawn
1.1 Veiled (Kermit and Moe)
0.1 Helmeted Iguana (Louie)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Velvet)
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