How to disinfect chameleon enclosure after parasites

[bbyoda]

Thank you so much for your response and support. This community has been a godsend long before I signed up and posted when I was still figuring chameleon care out. What enclosure did you use for a temporary setup? Or did you use your initial enclosure but sterilized and gutted of infectous material?

I used my initial enclosure after removing everything, cleaning the entire cage, and replacing with new sticks.

My worry is that any sticks I put in there while she's infected could get contaminated. On several occasions she's had a ton of clear mucus in her poop and she's smeared it all over her sticks while she walked. I've bought flukers vines for easy sterilization but I worry about her infecting her screen cages when she almost inevitably climbs them in her protest of a substandard smaller cage.

I didn't change out the sticks or pothos during Yoda's quarantine period, but he was pooping in one spot on the floor. I would say just get a bunch of branches and swap them out if they get pooed on.

1. Did your guy climb screens when he was in treatment?
   
   Yes, it didn't seem to matter. I did wipe down the screen to start though.
   
2. How much did you handle him/let him out of his quarantine enclosure while in treatment if at all?
   
   I had to handle him to give him meds. Otherwise I left him alone.
   
3. How long did it take him to be cleared of coccidia? My vet said we'd do another fecal test in two months but her coccidia medication is two doses 48 hours apart. (Pinworm is 3 doses 10 days apart so a month)
   
   It took a couple months and we did two fecal rechecks to make sure the treatment worked. You'll find out at the next fecal if yours is on the right path.
   
4. Was he mad at you and was there any way to make it a little easier on him?
   
   He was mad. I just got better at giving meds faster and with more confidence. Him being feisty is a good sign though! Means he's got some fight in him

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

I used my initial enclosure after removing everything, cleaning the entire cage, and replacing with new sticks.



I didn't change out the sticks or pothos during Yoda's quarantine period, but he was pooping in one spot on the floor. I would say just get a bunch of branches and swap them out if they get pooed on.

1. Did your guy climb screens when he was in treatment?
   
   Yes, it didn't seem to matter. I did wipe down the screen to start though.
2. How much did you handle him/let him out of his quarantine enclosure while in treatment if at all?
   
   I had to handle him to give him meds. Otherwise I left him alone.
3. How long did it take him to be cleared of coccidia? My vet said we'd do another fecal test in two months but her coccidia medication is two doses 48 hours apart. (Pinworm is 3 doses 10 days apart so a month)
   
   It took a couple months and we did two fecal rechecks to make sure the treatment worked. You'll find out at the next fecal if yours is on the right path.
4. Was he mad at you and was there any way to make it a little easier on him?
   
   He was mad. I just got better at giving meds faster and with more confidence. Him being feisty is a good sign though! Means he's got some fight in him

Since you kept him in his initial enclosure, was it difficult cleaning a large enclosure every week? How did you go about it? Is coccidia only contagious (Re infectious) through ingesting water with it in?

 

[bbyoda]

Since you kept him in his initial enclosure, was it difficult cleaning a large enclosure every week? How did you go about it? Is coccidia only contagious (Re infectious) through ingesting water with it in?

His initial enclosure was actually his baby enclosure! And I only cleaned it at the start, then swapped out paper towels at the bottom of the enclosure daily. So the upkeep for me was fairly easy. Except when the paper towels got saturated by the mister.

Coccidia is contagious through the oocysts that are shed in feces. Oocysts are just a phase of life in the coccidia life cycle. You want to minimize poo to mouth contact (easier said than done I guess lol). And also remove / minimize anything porous that'll hold onto those effing oocysts.

 

[bbyoda]

Parasites are common in wild caught chameleons so breeders who get them have quarantine protocols - searching for those in the forums might give you some ideas.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

His initial enclosure was actually his baby enclosure! And I only cleaned it at the start, then swapped out paper towels at the bottom of the enclosure daily. So the upkeep for me was fairly easy. Except when the paper towels got saturated by the mister.

Coccidia is contagious through the oocysts that are shed in feces. Oocysts are just a phase of life in the coccidia life cycle. You want to minimize poo to mouth contact (easier said than done I guess lol). And also remove / minimize anything porous that'll hold onto those effing oocysts.

Were your misting nozzles okay? I installed a nozzle on the top a while ago but it’s never been ‘plugged in’ or attached to a tube or had any water go through it.
How were his poops? My concern is because hers are sometimes so mucousy it sometimes sticks to her body (the clear mucus not her poo itself) and she may be spreading/smearing oocysts wherever she walks! Vines, screens, or whatever.

 

[bbyoda]

Were your misting nozzles okay? I installed a nozzle on the top a while ago but it’s never been ‘plugged in’ or attached to a tube or had any water go through it.
How were his poops? My concern is because hers are sometimes so mucousy it sometimes sticks to her body (the clear mucus not her poo itself) and she may be spreading/smearing oocysts wherever she walks! Vines, screens, or whatever.

Yeah the chances she got anything on the misting nozzles seems low to me. I don't think I cleaned mine now that I think about it.

It sounds like your girl is having a rough go of it. My boy didn't have runny poos. The best you can do is clean everything to start, swap out branches or pull plastic vines etc that she gets her poo on, and keep medicating and testing her poo. It's gonna take some time so you want to find a good process for reducing reinfection risk.

 

[MissSkittles]

I'll ask @MissSkittles more since she's definitely her receptive colors and acting restless.

Is she currently acting receptive? You’ll want to keep a very close eye on her behavior and colors. Often they can behave and look the same as being receptive right before needing to lay their eggs. It’s why it’s best to keep a lay bin in the enclosure permanently, but you can’t really do that right now. So, I think I’ll suggest doing something that sounds odd and unconventional, but should give you an indication if she’s in need of a lay bin. Using a disposable medium sized shallow container (like a shallow deli cup), put some dirt in it. It doesn’t really matter much where you put it - up high, on the bottom, where ever. Just make sure she can get to it. If she needs to lay eggs, she’ll try digging in it and then you’ll know to put a proper lay bin in for her. For a lay bin, opaque plastic of at least 12” long and wide, filled to about 5-6” deep with washed play sand. You want the sand to be moist enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. For her permanent bin, drill some tiny holes in the bottom for drainage. Provide a couple of stable ways in/out. Once she enters and starts digging, she needs absolute total privacy. If she sees us, she could stop digging and become egg bound. Covering the bottom half of the enclosure with a light sheet is best. She may dig a couple of holes until she likes one. When she’s satisfied with her tunnel, she’ll turn around and lay her eggs. She’ll completely cover all the holes. When she’s sitting in her usual basking spot, very dirty and much thinner, you know she’s finished. Feed and hydrate her very well for a couple of days. Hornworms and silkworms are great for this. Then resume her regular diet. Count the eggs and hopefully there will be less than 30. Toss them out - being infertile they will rot. The whole process can take a couple of days and she may or may not sleep in her tunnel.
I weigh my chams regularly which does help sometimes to know if they are close to laying or not. However, the regimen for reducing egg production has been very effective for my girls and honestly I don’t really get the same signs. Their weights go up and down with no eggs laid. They have receptive periods with no eggs laid. I just stay ready at all times and keep track of colors. My one girl will darken up all over when gravid. My other girl has always been more subtle. I’ll give some pics to demonstrate below. My one girl has been laying once a year. My other girl hasn’t laid since Feb 2020 and I don’t even think she gets receptive anymore. Her relaxed colors have almost fully returned to solid green. For some girls, the regimen doesn’t seem to work, but I think they are the exception to the rule.
Receptive Stella

Gravid Stella - she’s darkened up all over

Receptive Grumpy

Gravid Grumpy - only her dots have really darkened.

 

[Beman]

• Called my vet and the nurse/receptionist said to order the cream from chewy.com and they'd approve the prescription; just wanted to make sure that was okay for reptiles with you. https://www.chewy.com/silver-sulfadiazine-cream-1/dp/379019 Chewy tends to be more for dogs and cats, plus while my vet does treat exotics, it's pretty clear she's more familiar with beardies and not so much on chams; at this point, I definitely know more about cham specific care than she does (that isn't me being arrogant or anything I swear).
• I ask if it's okay for chams since veileds use their casque (where she got burned) to catch water/roll it down to their mouth to drink, and my girl also has some burn on her lower lip. Is the cream safe if they accidentally ingest some?
• So to be clear, these bulbs I got for the basking lamp are no good? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CDHMPJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Or would they be okay if I got a plant hanger arm/lamp holder to raise the heat lamp? Why incandescent?
• I feed her almost exclusively dubia roaches and BSFL/nutrigrubs. Sometimes hornworms (when I can afford it) and more often sometimes banded crickets because they're her favorite (but I hate keeping the for their smell and difficulty to collect for food). But I never "free feed" her; too much trouble and risk of the bugs getting away somehow in the little cracks of the cage or me losing them and not being able to collect them back (so they don't befoul her cage esp crickets). I always hand cup feed her, usually having her walk onto my other arm to eat to build trust. That way I can monitor her behavior/hunger and make sure no bugs escape or fall out of her mouth into the cage if she takes too big of a bite. She's only "gotten full" and left a few BSFL like 3 times tops; if the leftover feeders never left a bowl that was only briefly touched by her tongue, could those still be infected with coccidia?
• Related, should I completely wash/sterilize her "bowl" with peroxide between each feeding? I usually only wash it once a week or if she squirted bug guts in it to make the most of leftover calcium/pollen supplement.

I'll ask @MissSkittles more since she's definitely her receptive colors and acting restless. Thanks!

That cream is correct.

I would need to see where the burn is on her lip. You would use a qtip and apply a thin layer to all burned areas even the casque each day.

Those bulbs are fine she is just able to get far too close to them. So pull the fixture up. Test temps on the screen. Make sure they are no hotter than 80 and that you can hold your hand there for a few minutes without feeling like your hand is frying.

bowl feeding is fine. Do not leave it in the cage. You can just wash this with soap and hot water. No need to use peroxide unless it has been left in the cage or she poops in it.

The parasite passes through the body intestines and the eggs or oocysts come out in the fecal. This is why a bare cage is important. Because reinfection can happen from licking or eating where fecal and oocysts were on branches etc. These eggs are the reason we have to use peroxide because they can live for years on surfaces. water just moves them does not kill them off.