Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the other day i had woken up early (before the timer turned his lights on) and as a result of my activities i must have woken him too. i was sitting a few feet away from his cage on the couch watching tv when i saw him moving around so i walked up to see what he was doing.

well he was munching on a very small ficus branch that was yet to form, it was about 1/16 inch in diameter and maybe 2 inches long, and he was chewing on the end of it. im not sure if he actually swallowed any of it or not but he was definitely chewing on it

could it be that he was looking for nutrients that he isnt getting from his regular diet?

i feed him crickets, supers, and silkworms regularly. the crickets and supers get gutloaded with food from cricketfood.com as well as eating fruits and veggies for moisture. the silks obviously eat just silkworm chow. on fridays, i dust 4 or 5 crickets with repcal w/ d3, and on saturdays i dust 4 or 5 crickets with repcal herptivite.

thoughts anyone?

What kind of panther is he? I have 2 blue bar ambilobes and they both eat thier ficus leaves. I e-mailed the breeder about this and he said that he noticed this too so as far as I am concerned it is normal for ambilobes.

Not only is it normal for ambilobes, but it is relatively normal for alot of panther chams. It is always been known that Veilds eat plant matter, but i have always noticed panthers doing the same as well. I think panther owners never noticed this becuase 1. probabaly they never had many panthers, or 2. they are just never lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it. All but two of my panthers eat their leaves. Most of them i noticed starting eating the leaves since they were babies. sometimes right after their heavy meal of feeders. I think in the near future it will be documented in books that panthers eat plant matter as well.

interesting replies. hes a nosy be. whats weird is i dont think he was munching on a leaf, but just a small twig that was too young to sprout leaves. i could be wrong though since i didnt see the whole thing.

do you guys ever try to get your panthers to eat fruits and veggies?

You know what, maybe i should try. One of my chameleons tried to eat my finger once, thinking that it was some kinda worm..heheh...
Maybe i should wave a peice of fruit in front of him.