CLEAN UP CREW

jack_wardayyyy

Established Member
Hi everyone!

My Cham has been in his bioactive set up for a month but I’m worried about the clean up crew.

I’m sure the springtails are surviving as I put some more in there a week ago and 4 days after when I lifted some soil I could see them.

However I’m worried the isopods are dying I’ve put 3 tubs of the fast species in orange something I think they were called.

I haven’t seen his feces been eaten since I started leaving it.
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I use the powder orange in my gecko tanks and never see even a trace of one during the day. At night though, they are all over. Sneak in with a flashlight…umm…torch and take a good look. Generally they don’t really do urates, so you’ll still see those, but the poo should be gone in time.
 
I use the powder orange in my gecko tanks and never see even a trace of one during the day. At night though, they are all over. Sneak in with a flashlight…umm…torch and take a good look. Generally they don’t really do urates, so you’ll still see those, but the poo should be gone in time.
Awesome that’s great to know because I was about to buy 5 more tubs 🤣 already put 3 in! They’re the ones that are really fast. I tried to turn up some soil and find them but it’s hard to get deep enough so all I saw was springtails :( how long for the poop do you reckon? Some has started to go white on the outside. Will the urate go over time?

Also unrelated how long do you have your misting sessions go on for?

Had to take my boys vines out today as he’s started getting cuts on his feet :( had to put more logs into make up for it feel so bad didn’t know the vines would hurt his feet like that and the sad thing is he loves them
 
Awesome that’s great to know because I was about to buy 5 more tubs 🤣 already put 3 in! They’re the ones that are really fast. I tried to turn up some soil and find them but it’s hard to get deep enough so all I saw was springtails :( how long for the poop do you reckon? Some has started to go white on the outside. Will the urate go over time?

Also unrelated how long do you have your misting sessions go on for?

Had to take my boys vines out today as he’s started getting cuts on his feet :( had to put more logs into make up for it feel so bad didn’t know the vines would hurt his feet like that and the sad thing is he loves them
No idea how long it will take, but the poo will eventually get taken care of. I’m not so sure about the urates though. I only ever saw a few in my cham enclosures and that was only because they had dropped onto a leaf or something. In my gecko tanks, I remove the urates every now and then as they never seem to get broken down.
I mist for 2 minutes, 3 times a day and then a couple of short 15 second ones during the night.
Isopods like to hide in lots of different places - between the substrate and whatever you’re using to keep it all in, in the drainage layer of clay balls or whatever you’ve got, under cork bark, etc. The orange guys are super fast and much better at hiding than say the giant canyon. One way I ‘test’ for them is I put a small piece of food in a corner. I may not see the isopods, but I never see that bit of food again either.
 
Lol I only have seen one orange recently, which is not good enough as I paid good money for them I was expecting a theatrical show at least on a Saturday night , I have emailed the company I have had no reply I believe they have blocked me. Any way misting varies I was misting for one minute before lights on and humidity was going up high , which wasn't a problem it just wasn't coming back down , what works for one may not work for another currently misting for 30 seconds b4 lights on , no misting during the day when lights are on running a dripper, like as I say one shirt doesn't fit all , and we have different ideas, I try to keep my humidity correct as possible check urates, also if you follow strand and petra necas , about fogging (I F TEMPS ARE LOW ENOUGH) chameleon obtain the majority of their hydration at night. I choose not to mist during the day as temps are high and not a good mix with the already high humidity.
 
If at all possible I would highly encourage you to swap out those rubberized vines.

As for the vines those plastic coated ones are really awful for chameleons, they have a texture that runs off and chameleons often rub their eyes on branches and vines. If at all possible try to swap for natural woods or more vining plants.... Never had issues like cuts on the feet or anything on natural items.

They are so common and often part of the "kit" it seems very counterintuitive that that are "BAD" for our chams.
 
Lol I only have seen one orange recently, which is not good enough as I paid good money for them I was expecting a theatrical show at least on a Saturday night , I have emailed the company I have had no reply I believe they have blocked me. Any way misting varies I was misting for one minute before lights on and humidity was going up high , which wasn't a problem it just wasn't coming back down , what works for one may not work for another currently misting for 30 seconds b4 lights on , no misting during the day when lights are on running a dripper, like as I say one shirt doesn't fit all , and we have different ideas, I try to keep my humidity correct as possible check urates, also if you follow strand and petra necas , about fogging (I F TEMPS ARE LOW ENOUGH) chameleon obtain the majority of their hydration at night. I choose not to mist during the day as temps are high and not a good mix with the already high humidity.
Too bad we’re on opposite sides of the pond or I’d send you a bunch of giant canyon isopods.
 
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