Hi,
I'm new to the forum, but love gardening. I'm having a very hard time with a unusual situation that maybe someone can help me with.
I happen to also love chameleons as well as gardening and I have a large cage 48"x48"x24"wide, that I use to keep my pet chameleons in. The problem is that my chameleons love live plants and its very healthy for them plus it gives the cage a natural environment, kind of like an atrium. Only with more air flow.
Right now my cage is not ready, but I bought two types of plants which are sitting in my room awaiting the cage that they will be put in. (screen enclosure on 3 sides) One is an umbrella tree and the other a simple potho. I bought these particular plants because they are safe for my new pet to come and inexpensive.
My plants are sitting next to an open window for now, that faces south, so not too much direct sunlight, but some during parts of the day (mid afternoon). One of them and I believe its the umbrella is shedding its leaves terribly and I can tell already it will not survive in a cage if its already doing this. I have only had these plants for about 2 weeks so far.
Does anyone have any idea how to help these plants survive and hopefully thrive in this situation. Or how to get them to survive in the cage setting later? (I also had this problem with a ficus before when I used to do this).
The cage will also have a misting system in it set at 5-12 misting every hour or more, depending on how well the chameleon drinks or how much water the plants are getting. I am also considering laying moss at the bottom of the cage, which I know will need more moisture as well. But I will be able to move the nozzles where I want them when it is set up, to either directly hit the plants or not.
I generally water them when the first 2 inches of the top soil feels dry and as of now, have a plastic container to catch or hold water as needed.
These plants will eventually end up with a UV and UVB bulb not too high above them when they are put in the cage. Any Ideas of what Im doing wrong and how I can get them to survive? I'm afraid it will be lack of light that may be the issue, am I correct in this? Thanks for anything to help me make this work. Oh house temp is around 78 degrees as of now, until winter comes where it will be colder if needed.
I also raise epiphyllums if anyone would like a cutting.
thanks ,
mary