Honey, I got some sticks fresh out of the oven

[Eltortu]

I got a cherry branch in it now. Yea the cage is 4' deep 4' wide and 8' tall the door is 6' a bit over kill but they will be happier and thats the goal

Do you have pictures?...

 

[JDUBK]

Bake them outside in the sun, it is so hot anyway...I can't stand this heat...when is supposed to get cold anyway?...

well since its almost Halloween it should be cold soon its always nasty weather then.

 

[Syn]

I was more on the lines of some how baking it?Just a thought you know.

Unless you have an 8 foot oven, you don't bake it. Bleach it, pour boiling water over it. The sun doesn't get hot enough -- but then some members here use branches right out of the "forest" or what have you and right into the cages.

 

[Eltortu]

well since its almost Halloween it should be cold soon its always nasty weather then.

I'll take the cold over the heat...

 

[Cainschams]

It's like WC bugs situation both are just as risky

WC bugs? Personally I have no problem feeding them at all. Some do, some dont for whatever reasons. But sticks? You guys are way to damn paranoid. I use sticks and branches from outside. No baking no nothing. Take them from outside and toss into the enclosure. When they need washed I simply replace them. They are free and should not pose a risk if the bark isnt coming off in large chunks.

 

[rcutchens]

New to keeping chams and, in fact, don't actually have one yet. Truth in disclosure, it's a project I've taken on with my soon to be 11-year old who asked for one. I've been researching everything I can for about the past 4 weeks and he's been really patient but we're still working on getting everything in and setup BEFORE we order the chameleon.

With the branches, I'd originally seen some selling online for as much as $35 plus S&H for six "sticks" basically. I thought that was ridculous and after reading several posts here at Chameleon Forums I was glad to learn that others had been successful at just harvesting branches themselves; which is what I wanted to do because I didn't want to spend nearly $50 for six sticks.

Anyway, my son and I went out to four different varieties of trees in our yard and cut some five branches yesterday. We removed all the leaves, smaller twigs and excess "nubs" - anything that seemed sharp in particular - and then set about cleaning them.

This is going to sound silly but I washed them in the dishwasher with no soap and used the "sanitize" mode which heats up the inside. I then placed them out on the deck to dry int he sun all today and I'm hoping that this is sufficient. Our trees are mature and haven't been sprayed with any chemicals in more than five years so they've taken on a lot of normal weathering since then. Rain, snow, wind, sleet, hail...you name it, we get in in the midwest.

Anyway, I'm hopeful we've done enough but there's still more to do. We also purchased four live plants from a nursery yesterday and we need to repot them which is the next step in the project.

 

[ebotd]

big sticks

I have a 4x2x4 cage and i just put the sticks in the pool... let them soak a bit wash them off with the hose and call it good. works for me

 

[Seeco]

WC bugs? Personally I have no problem feeding them at all. Some do, some dont for whatever reasons. But sticks? You guys are way to damn paranoid. I use sticks and branches from outside. No baking no nothing. Take them from outside and toss into the enclosure. When they need washed I simply replace them. They are free and should not pose a risk if the bark isnt coming off in large chunks.

OUCH! I agree though. If you have free time to work on your chameleon there are more important things to do.