Decorating a chameleon terrarium is as important as any other factor like the size. A nice background, live plants, fake plants, and branches will help you to have a good looking terrarium. This will give the chameleon a good site to walk around, hide from sight when they don’t know what to be seen and also look for prey when still in the cage. They will also have a choice of where they want to hang out when for instance they want to bask. At times at night chameleons prefer to hide in leaves as they sleep and providing enough places for all their likes will reduce their stress.
It can at times be very difficult to maintain live plants, but they are best for the chameleons. Live plants do not only make the terrarium look good but also increase the air humidity inside there that have a great benefit to the terrarium. There are specific plants suitable for chameleons like philodendron, ivy, dracaenas, small palms, umbrella tree and ficus. Some other plants can be used to decorate such as bromelias and ferns. Most of these plants can be found in garden centers and reptile fairs. Ensure that the plants you chose do not have sharp leaves or thorns or if they are not poisonous. You are advised to rinse the plants before you put then in the chameleon terrarium.
Chameleons love to climb and this way you will have to get branches, you can get the branches outside from nature or even purchase them. It is advisable that you clean the branches to clean pathogens that may be in them. Ensure that you get branches of different sizes. You can use some fake plants such as Ivy for the decoration of the branches, and this gives them a natural look. Take time to fix the branches and plants to ensure that the chameleons do not fall from the plants and hurt themselves.
Drainage is a crucial thing to put in the chameleon terrarium. This will, however, depend on the type of cage you choose. You can drill some holes in the bottom of the PVC to drain water away from the misting system. You may need a different strategy if you have vivarium with soil. You can use drainage holes and put a bucket at the bottom to catch the water. Ensure that you do not have stagnant water in the cage.
For a well-decorated terrarium, you should cover it with garden soil and cocoa peat. It is not right for you to get soil from your garden because they are full of fungi, bacteria, bugs, and worms. It is also not advisable to use pieces of tree bark or chips of wood at the terrariums bottom for a chameleon. This is because the chameleon cha picks pieces accidentally as they try to catch prey using their prey and this can be fatal. Also consider the right ventilation, light, humidity, and temperature. Ensure that the chameleon terrarium is as comfortable as possible.