Dave Weldon
Avid Member
Howdy,
The McCulloch MC 1246 Home Steam Cleaner boiler's surface may reach a temperature of 240F but the temp at the nozzle will be a lot less
. Even so, it may be effective at killing Coccidia and other microorganisms so long as they are "brought up to temp" long enough. Coccidia, in its cyst state, is a pretty tough "bug" from the standpoint of chemical resistance and environmental conditions, but if hit with temps like 150-160-170-180F or higher, I'd bet that they would be killed. But don't forget that hospital autoclaves used to sterilize medical instruments etc. work at much higher temps and for long exposure periods. "Any living thing will be killed when exposed to saturated steam at 120°C (250° F) longer than 15 minutes."
All of that being said; your biggest benefit will not only be temperature but the physical forces placed on the hiding microorganisms causing them to be physically moved/removed from enclosure surfaces.
Don't forget the you are still left with plants and soil to deal with. In my experience with Coccidia treatments, a combination of soaping-up the enclosure, blasting with a strong hose spray (or typical low cost pressure washer), soaping-up plants and careful low-medium pressure rinsing, and changing potting soil will be effective at ridding Coccidia from your chameleon's environment.
A side note:
One of the harder issues to deal with concerning Coccidia and some other parasites is determining when the drug treatment is complete. Your Vet may explain that a few doses one week and repeated again a week or so later will complete the treatment. One of my chameleons contracted a particularly nasty case while on a "date". It took months of treatment and constant monitoring by microscope to finally determine that it was no longer found in samples. Some of the drugs that I was prescribed were never able to knock it down under 10% of the max count found . In the end, I was successful and it has been over a year with no trace found .
More MC 1246 reviews: http://www.amazon.com/McCulloch-MC1...cm_cr_pr_link_prev_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0
The McCulloch MC 1246 Home Steam Cleaner boiler's surface may reach a temperature of 240F but the temp at the nozzle will be a lot less
. Even so, it may be effective at killing Coccidia and other microorganisms so long as they are "brought up to temp" long enough. Coccidia, in its cyst state, is a pretty tough "bug" from the standpoint of chemical resistance and environmental conditions, but if hit with temps like 150-160-170-180F or higher, I'd bet that they would be killed. But don't forget that hospital autoclaves used to sterilize medical instruments etc. work at much higher temps and for long exposure periods. "Any living thing will be killed when exposed to saturated steam at 120°C (250° F) longer than 15 minutes."All of that being said; your biggest benefit will not only be temperature but the physical forces placed on the hiding microorganisms causing them to be physically moved/removed from enclosure surfaces.
Don't forget the you are still left with plants and soil to deal with
. In my experience with Coccidia treatments, a combination of soaping-up the enclosure, blasting with a strong hose spray (or typical low cost pressure washer), soaping-up plants and careful low-medium pressure rinsing, and changing potting soil will be effective at ridding Coccidia from your chameleon's environment. A side note:
One of the harder issues to deal with concerning Coccidia and some other parasites is determining when the drug treatment is complete
. Your Vet may explain that a few doses one week and repeated again a week or so later will complete the treatment. One of my chameleons contracted a particularly nasty case while on a "date". It took months of treatment and constant monitoring by microscope to finally determine that it was no longer found in samples. Some of the drugs that I was prescribed were never able to knock it down under 10% of the max count found . In the end, I was successful and it has been over a year with no trace found .More MC 1246 reviews: http://www.amazon.com/McCulloch-MC1...cm_cr_pr_link_prev_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0
