Cage cleaning is an important aspect of husbandry but probably not everyone's favorite. It is still as vital as humidity, temperature or nutrition for the healthy life of your chameleon.
I have adapted my training at keeping a veterinary hospital cage clean to cleaning a chameleon habitat. Where possible I will discuss products that can be easily purchased at the grocery store or pharmacy. No matter what products you use, read and follow the manufacturers directions and pay special attention to the warnings. Used incorrectly they could harm you or your pets.
What are we trying to get rid of when we clean our chameleon’s environment? The big three are parasite eggs and oocysts, bacteria and fungus. We may not be able to kill the most tenacious of these but we can systematically remove them and keep their numbers in check. In nature the rain, wind and sun do the cleaning. Now that we have contained our chameleon in a cage that doesn’t clean itself and is smaller than their normal territory we need the proper tools and solutions to get the job done.
I will break this down into four levels of cleaning -daily cleaning- -weekly cleaning- -deep cleaning- -disinfection-
I don’t have a magic number for how often these need to be done but the more diligent you are in your daily and weekly cleanings the less often you will need to do the deep cleanings and hopefully disinfection. Disinfection is for when you plan to reuse a cage for a new chameleon or you are dealing with an infection and treatment includes elimination of sources of reinfection.
Basics
Cleaning is most effective when you clean starting from the cleanest spot and work toward the dirtiest. The idea is to make everything cleaner not spread equal amounts of contamination everywhere. To do this start at the top and clean your way down to the bottom. While your UVB light will help sanitize the upper portion of your cage like sunlight would, poop really does roll down hill and the moisture on the bottom of your cage is an ideal place for bacterial and fungal growth. Clean your top branches and leaves working toward the bottom and then wipe the bottom down last. When cleaning multiple cages wash your hands and start with fresh paper towels on each cage to avoid spreading sources of infection from cage to cage. If you have new or sick animals in isolation from the rest of your collection do them last. I would start with neonate cages, then breeding females, then juveniles and finally adults. This is less critical but I’m trying to work from weakest immune system to strongest just in case. No matter what clean isolation cages last.
Daily Cleaning
Supplies: paper towels, clean water. Optional: white vinegar diluted 1:1, hydrogen peroxide 3%
Daily cleaning consists of removing any chameleon waste, dead feeders and fallen leaves while your chameleon is in the cage. Have everything you need ready so you can be quick and not disrupt your chameleon for long. You can use paper towel with just water or half strength vinegar or household strength peroxide on it. Vinegar will also help prevent the build up from hard water on cage fixtures. If you use vinegar or peroxide you should wipe the residue off with a damp paper towel to rinse and dry. If rinsed quickly these products will not harm live plant leaves. The purpose of daily cleaning is to prevent fecal material and debris build up in the cage where feeders might eat it, get eaten and reinfect your cham with any parasite eggs they may have passed. This can be done daily or as often as poop is present.
Frequent cleaning is the perfect opportunity to examine your chameleon's feces and urates for signs of parasites or improper hydration. You will always know which is the most recent sample and be able to spot problems more quickly. If your chameleon is grumpy you may even get the chance to look inside his mouth.
To be continued...
I will cover weekly cleaning and some disinfectant options in Part 2
I have adapted my training at keeping a veterinary hospital cage clean to cleaning a chameleon habitat. Where possible I will discuss products that can be easily purchased at the grocery store or pharmacy. No matter what products you use, read and follow the manufacturers directions and pay special attention to the warnings. Used incorrectly they could harm you or your pets.
What are we trying to get rid of when we clean our chameleon’s environment? The big three are parasite eggs and oocysts, bacteria and fungus. We may not be able to kill the most tenacious of these but we can systematically remove them and keep their numbers in check. In nature the rain, wind and sun do the cleaning. Now that we have contained our chameleon in a cage that doesn’t clean itself and is smaller than their normal territory we need the proper tools and solutions to get the job done.
I will break this down into four levels of cleaning -daily cleaning- -weekly cleaning- -deep cleaning- -disinfection-
I don’t have a magic number for how often these need to be done but the more diligent you are in your daily and weekly cleanings the less often you will need to do the deep cleanings and hopefully disinfection. Disinfection is for when you plan to reuse a cage for a new chameleon or you are dealing with an infection and treatment includes elimination of sources of reinfection.
Basics
Cleaning is most effective when you clean starting from the cleanest spot and work toward the dirtiest. The idea is to make everything cleaner not spread equal amounts of contamination everywhere. To do this start at the top and clean your way down to the bottom. While your UVB light will help sanitize the upper portion of your cage like sunlight would, poop really does roll down hill and the moisture on the bottom of your cage is an ideal place for bacterial and fungal growth. Clean your top branches and leaves working toward the bottom and then wipe the bottom down last. When cleaning multiple cages wash your hands and start with fresh paper towels on each cage to avoid spreading sources of infection from cage to cage. If you have new or sick animals in isolation from the rest of your collection do them last. I would start with neonate cages, then breeding females, then juveniles and finally adults. This is less critical but I’m trying to work from weakest immune system to strongest just in case. No matter what clean isolation cages last.
Daily Cleaning
Supplies: paper towels, clean water. Optional: white vinegar diluted 1:1, hydrogen peroxide 3%
Daily cleaning consists of removing any chameleon waste, dead feeders and fallen leaves while your chameleon is in the cage. Have everything you need ready so you can be quick and not disrupt your chameleon for long. You can use paper towel with just water or half strength vinegar or household strength peroxide on it. Vinegar will also help prevent the build up from hard water on cage fixtures. If you use vinegar or peroxide you should wipe the residue off with a damp paper towel to rinse and dry. If rinsed quickly these products will not harm live plant leaves. The purpose of daily cleaning is to prevent fecal material and debris build up in the cage where feeders might eat it, get eaten and reinfect your cham with any parasite eggs they may have passed. This can be done daily or as often as poop is present.
Frequent cleaning is the perfect opportunity to examine your chameleon's feces and urates for signs of parasites or improper hydration. You will always know which is the most recent sample and be able to spot problems more quickly. If your chameleon is grumpy you may even get the chance to look inside his mouth.
To be continued...
I will cover weekly cleaning and some disinfectant options in Part 2
