Is it ok to have bedding in a terrarium for a veiled chameleon?

Question

Is it ok to have bedding in a terrarium for a veiled chameleon?

Answer 1

Depends on the age of the chameleon and what sort of bedding you're using. I have topsoil with my adults, but plain white paper towels with my hatchlings because they were choking to death on the soil and they like to use the paper towels to wipe off the soil from the incubator. If you haven't bought anything yet, I highly recommend... oh what's it called?... I think It's called earthgrow or something like that. it's made from coconut fiber and comes in a brick which you have to soak in water. It's more hygenic for the chameleons. You won't find it at walmart. Also make sure your terrarium is screen on three or more sides! If you want to learn more I highly recomend picking up a copy of The Chameleon Keeper's Reference Series Volume 1 Care and Breeding of Chameleons published by The Herpetocultural Library it covers the Veiled in depth but also panther chameleons, Parson's, and Jackson's! It's really great!

Answer 2

Ideally, no. Yes, it will help with the humidity, but we have seen many problems with dermatitis (skin infection) due to substrate that hasn't been cleaned enough or often enough. The best option is newspaper, changed daily or laminate flooring. You don't want to use indoor outdoor carpet as it can snag their tiny little tootsies!



Also, if they ingests any particulate substrate, they can get blocked, need expensive surgery and potentially die!

Answer 3

google search veiled chameleon care turns up herpindex.com and they say no. bare plastic or terrarium bottom glass. lot of info there check it out

Answer 4

Well, they have bedding in the wild. It would probably be fine, but make sure it's not something they can choke on or get poisoned by.

Answer 5

It has to be a really big terrarium then.