My goal with Dragon Strand was to give us in the chameleon community the tools that allow us to create better lives for our chameleons. One aspect that I would like to address is cleanliness of the cage.
Raise of hands of everyone who likes to clean cages!…<crickets>
Keeping The Chameleon Cage Clean
I wanted to make it easier for us to do a more thorough cleaning on a regular basis. For this discussion, I am using these terms:
“Spot Cleaning” is using a paper towel to pick up poop when an offending pile appears.
“Deep Cleaning” is taking the floor panel out and scrubbing it with soap and/or bleach for a disinfection.
Spot Cleaning is a standard part of our cleaning regimen. But spot cleaning is deceptive. Although most of the visible waste has been removed and the floor looks clear, there is still bacteria and parasite eggs left. A deep cleaning is necessary to remove those undesirable elements from our chameleon cage. A deep clean, though, requires plants to be lifted off the floor and the cage to be without a floor for the time that it takes to disinfect, rinse, and dry the floor.
We all know that deep cleaning is the only way to have a hope to get through a quarantine or deparasitization period. But why keep best practices only for those situations? I would like to propose that we should bring those best practices to our everyday husbandry.
How the Large Chameleon Cage Kit Helps Cleaning
To this end I have put together a Large Chameleon Cage Kit which has the elements necessary to make deep cleaning easy to bring in as a standard practice. To do this I took the Large Keeper Cage, included the Dragon Ledges, and added in an extra floor panel.
Here is how it works. To start off with, the Large Keeper Cage is appropriate for chameleons in size from three month old up to adult male Veiled, panther, or Jackson’s Chameleons so we can use this for the life of the chameleon from the point that you get it. This cage size will work for all but the largest species.
And on to the cleaning part...The reason why we spot clean is to save time and until Dragon Ledges came around most people had a potted plant sitting in the middle of the floor. Removing the floor panel was a chore. The included Dragon Ledges allow you to mount branches and potted plants along the screen wall and, most importantly, keep the pots off of the floor. Have you noticed how water can congregate under pots? That water has brought bacteria and parasite eggs with it. We want to avoid that situation!
The cage below was created using the Large Keeper Screen Cage and Dragon Ledges. Note the dense plant growth possible with the Dragon Ledges and still maintaining a clear floor.
Now that we have a clear floor we can work on our cleaning protocol. With an extra floor panel we can remove the soiled floor panel and replace it with a clean one immediately. We now can relax with cleaning the soiled floor panel. If you are using bleach you will want to rinse thoroughly and them leave it to dry in the natural UVB sunlight. This can be done in the morning and by the next morning the floor panel is ready to go into the cage to replace the used floor.
Pulling It All Together
My hope by offering this “kit” is to encourage us to include a more robust cleaning protocol into our husbandry. Of course, you are welcome (and encouraged) to apply these concepts to any cage you have or buy, but the Dragon Strand Large Chameleon Cage Kit is available to bring these components in one box. The “Kit” contains one 23.75” wide x 23” deep x 48” tall cage, five Dragon ledges, and two floor panels. The Kit is available in an all screen version for $159 and in a clearside version (three clear sides and one screen) for $250 at the Dragonstrand.com website. For ordering information go to http://dragonstrand.com/large-keeper-chameleon-cage-kit/
