Is it safe to use outdoor sticks?

[Vnessinessa]

I was curious if it is safe to use outdoor sticks in a chameleons enclosure? They don' have bark on them, but I also don't know what species of tree I cut them from. I will appreciate any input. Obviously I don' want to do anything that will harm him.

 

[Vnessinessa]

My enclosure

 

[skateboardia]

yes! safe and sometimes even better for your cham as long as you've cleaned them and made sure no outdoor bugs are on them (the outdoor bugs might have parasites or other health-related warnings)

 

[Virgil1972]

They are safe to use. I take them from outside and put them in.

 

[timw1]

Skateboardia is right, you can use clean branches from outside. If you are concerned you can soak them in your bathtub with a small amount of bleach added to the water. Make sure to rinse the branches with clean water before using them. Also, the substrate on the bottom of your enclosure is not recommended and you can use some foliage near the top.

 

[Crashbandit05]

You can do a quick search of the flora/fauna in your area and find appropriate branches to use. I use mainly poplar branches and cut them to size. I leave the bark and all on but visually inspect each one for bugs or whatever. Never had an issue..

 

[renzo0684]

You should really add more live plants. But other than that looking good

 

[jamest0o0]

I throw mine in, with the bugs, just be aware of anything dangerous in your area. Where I live there's nothing to worry about so I just take them and put them right in the cage, without so much as rinsing them. These animals grow up on mostly toxic trees around tons of poisonous insects. They'll be just fine if you use common sense

 

[dragonjane13]

I throw mine in, with the bugs, just be aware of anything dangerous in your area. Where I live there's nothing to worry about so I just take them and put them right in the cage, without so much as rinsing them. These animals grow up on mostly toxic trees around tons of poisonous insects. They'll be just fine if you use common sense

Not sure I follow the logic of -they grow up in nature with potentially harmful and lethal bugs/fauna so its no worry it being in their man made enclose- that would stress me out I think

 

[jamest0o0]

The logic isn't to put dangerous things into the enclosure, it's to not overworry about unnecessary things(trust me i did, so not trying to be rude). If you find a safe tree, look it over, and throw it in if you want. You obviously will not want to throw a branch covered in fire ants in. Chameleons are very resilient and are almost always killed from bad daily husbandry. I don't know of any cases where an unwashed branch killed someone's otherwise healthy chameleon. I guess it could happen? But so could a million other terribly unlucky things.

 

[dragonjane13]

I don't know of any cases where an unwashed branch killed someone's otherwise healthy chameleon. I guess it could happen? But so could a million other terribly unlucky things.

That was my point originally. Like other exotic animals and reptiles, unknown causes of death are common so the introduction of a potentially foreign contaminant wouldn't necessarily show itself or be diagnosable upon becoming sick. I use natural branches myself, but I strip the outer bark and bake the for an hour in the oven to be sure. I'd try to avoid anything that has sap in it.

 

[jamest0o0]

@dragonjane13 i said that sarcastically.... maybe point out some of these unknown cases? It's pretty clear what kills most chameleons(continuous bad husbandry). You can do what you want, it won't hurt, but chameleons live on trees, with bark. There's no reason to go through all that. Common sense, don't use a highly toxic tree with dangerous insects on it and you will be fine.

 

[jamest0o0]

Really, if people take anything I said as they should go ahead and add dangerous plants and insects into their enclosure because they live among them in the wild, then they are not qualified to keep a chameleon to begin with.

 

[dragonjane13]

@dragonjane13 i said that sarcastically.... maybe point out some of these unknown cases?

Scrolling through the medical threads, plenty of them involve ppl AND vets struggling to diagnose symptoms. It's not about overworrying, it's about taking precautions to eliminate potential worries. Most keepers are housing chameleons far far away from their original habitat so foreign fauna is indeed an unknown factor. All I'm saying mate, no need to be defensive, just trying to help.

 

[jamest0o0]

@dragonjane13 I'm not being defensive, trust me I was of the same beliefs you are at one point. I can bet you will not see many people that have a lot of experience in the hobby, with issues that they are clueless about. And if there is, i would almost guarantee it did not come from a branch introduced. I get your point, I really do. My point is just that there are plenty of legitimate things to worry about. I spent hours baking branches, picking them clean, etc in the past. I don't have time for that. Especially not for a resilient tree dwelling animal like chameleons. I planned on posting pictures later, I have branches with bark hanging off, moss, isopods from the woods, etc.

 

[jamest0o0]

I will admit, I am a believer in substrate, safe outdoor collection, and non-sterile enclosures. I get that's not everyone's method and we have our own preferred ways but it has done very well for me and many other keepers out there. So I'll advocate it.

 

[dragonjane13]

Fair enough. But to go beyond chameleons, I have kept and breed other reptiles including snakes and if anybody keeps other species of reptiles near each other or even in adjacent rooms, trust me from experience, baking a stick for an hour is 100x easier in the long run than dealing with things like spider mites. To each their own. But I don't trust just my poor eyesight.

 

[jamest0o0]

Oh yeah snakes are a different story, their mite issues are a problem that seem to come up a lot(I don't have any snakes, my fiance would explode lol). I don't know of anyone that has had anything like that with chameleons. I'd say our main worry is coccidia in the Cham hobby. I only feed my chams roaches to try and lower the risk of something like that happening. Most* parasites are host specific and only found in the areas the animal is from.

But yeah, no disrespect of course. I'm not bashing anyone for cleaning branches and sterilizing, It's just not my way of doing things. Figured I'd share my thoughts on it.

 

[Vnessinessa]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies. I appreciate it very much! Sorry for the late reply. I have been in hospital.