to those with drainage trays under cage...

[BryanP]

Do you still use the bottom that came with the screen cage?

Im afraid, and rightly so after checking things out, that water will get under the bottom plastic and between the drainage tray i built.

Does everyone just use or or the other or do you use both?

 

[Kboz1991]

I do I drilled a bunch of holes in the pvc floor of the cage so it would drain into the cage

 

[BryanP]

I drilled a hole in the center to accommodate a sink drain. the issue im having is the live plants are heavy and deflect the pvc floor.

Any ideas on how to tackle this? how have others done it?

I dont want water to sit between the 2 otherwise mold will inevitably grow.

 

[DaSlackMan]

I'm going to use Dragon Ledges to keep my plants off of the floor.

 

[BryanP]

View media item 43288
Maybe a picture will help clarify how i have my cage set up.

I was thinking about dragon ledges but i wonder how i would set that up

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I do I drilled a bunch of holes in the pvc floor of the cage so it would drain into the cage

This is the same thing I do. I drilled about 100 holes or so into the PVC floor of my cage so that way all of the water from my misting has a way to escape out of the cage. I used small enough holes that no insects can get out, but all of the excess water can. It all drips down into the drainage tray quite nicely. Sure there is a tad bit of water that clings to the bottom of the PVC floor as it drains through it.... But that is why you deep clean your cage every month or so. I personally do mine once a month. I take my chameleon out and let him chill on a fake tree in my living room while I take his entire floor out and scrub it with bleach. I also scrub the drainage tray while the PVC floor is out of the cage because it allows me easy access to the drainage tray without actually having to take the entire cage off of it. I also wipe down the cage walls with some disinfectant spray and scrub any leaves that may have shed skin, feces, or anything else on them. To rinse it all out, I run my mister about 5 minutes and let it drench the cage and wash everything out. I also manually spray the cage walls with a hand sprayer just so I know there are no spots that are missed. Then I put the floor back in and put the cham back in and he is a happy camper. I do all of that once a month, in addition to spot-cleaning the cage and plants throughout the month as necessary to remove feces, dead insects, and shed skin.

Never had a problem with mold in my cage (yet - crosses fingers!)

 

[KapitalJ]

May you be so kind as to tell me what type of disinfectant you use @trickedoutbiker ? I ran out of "F10" and not sure where to get it anymore. I used to use "Detol" for my snake bins, would this be ok for chams as well?

 

[andy27012]

Use a magic eraser and a 1 to 10 bleach solution. Just make sure that you rinse it well after your done and I usually let mine sun dry. As long as you can't smell bleach your safe. I would use it in my freshwater aquariums all the time for any fake plants and it's cheap enough to use as a soak. Reptile basics carries f10 rtu and concentrate.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

May you be so kind as to tell me what type of disinfectant you use @trickedoutbiker ?

Sorry about the delayed reply. I've had allergies that have been whooping my butt and haven't found the motivation to do much of anything really.

As for disinfectant, I use Zoo Med's Wipe Out 1. Follow this link HERE to see it on their web page.

I don't purchase it from Zoo Med's website or anywhere online, I just go to the pet store and get some. I also don't get the one you see on Zoo Med's website, I actually get their 32 OZ bottle, seen HERE, because it is the best value.

I clean the solid bottom floor panel in my cage with straight bleach and let it sit a few minutes, then I rinse it off really good, hand dry it, and let it air dry. I use bleach on that panel because it gets the dirtiest out of everything in my cage and it's also where all of the water drips through to my drainage tray, therefore it harbors the most bacteria in the whole cage. So I make sure it is cleaned really good with the bleach. While I am letting the solid bottom panel dry off, I use straight bleach to clean the inside of my drainage tray where all of my water drips to before draining out of the tray and into a bucket below. This area too, will harbor lots of bacteria if not cleaned periodically, so I make sure to get it looking nice and brand new. I also use straight bleach [on a rag] to wipe down all screening in the cage (top screen, door screen, and bottom access panel screen). I do this because it is pretty quick and easy to disinfect the screens this way as the only thing that really gets on the screens (in my experience) are bug guts during a tongue strike. I typically spot clean any bugs guts that I ever see mashed into the screen from my chameleon eating, but the deep clean each month giving the screens a quick scrub over ensures I kill any bacteria that may still be on the screens.

I use the Zoo Med Wipe Out 1 on everything else: the PVC walls, branches, rocks covering soil, and plant leaves because they don't get as dirty. That, and I don't want to use the straight bleach solution on the leaves or branches because that could cause my plants harm and make odd looking spots on the leaves or the branches. Sure, I could dilute it. But I just don't like the idea of using even a diluted bleach solution on my plant leaves because bleach really isn't good for plants at all. I could use distilled white vinegar or even organic Grape Seed Extract, but I choose to use the Zoo Med Wipe Out 1 because I think it works great and it's pretty cheap honestly. A little goes a long way with it. The Wipe Out 1 kills Salmonella, choleraesis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and can reduce the spread of bacterial infections among your animals. It also helps to prevent mold from growing and will kill any mold that may already be present. It's really easy to rinse off of your cage and your branches or your plants. I just spray it on all of the branches, all of the leaves, and on all of the PVC walls. As the instructions state, I let it sit for about 5 minutes before I take a rag and wipe everything off, giving it a bit of a scrub as I go. I wipe off all leaves, branches, and walls, getting rid of any dirt, and it disinfects everything as well. As for the plant rocks, I take them and scrub them individually with a rag which is a bit soaked in some Wipe Out and let them sit for a bit before I start to rinse everything. After doing all of this, I run my MistKing for about 5 minutes to rinse everything off and it completely soaks my cage, rinsing away the Wipe Out spray. Afterwards, I take my handheld pump-sprayer and coat every square inch of the inside of my cage (including the screens - inside AND outside for those) in water even more, making sure I don't miss a single spot. This helps to rinse away any of the remaining Wipe Out that may have not washed away by using the MistKing, and spraying down the screens inside and outside with water for a few minutes rinses away the small traces of bleach from wiping down the screens with the bleach rag.

After all of this, I let the cage dry and air out for an hour or two before placing my chameleon back into the enclosure so that way no fumes of any kind are left behind for him to inhale.

I've never seen any mold of any kind in my cage and everything always looks really nice and clean. I do this deep clean once a month. I spot clean all the time as needed when I see dead insects or feces on the ground or on plants.

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

You're better off using White Distilled Vinegar. I think some of those products are a hoax. I put vinegar in a misting bottle, spray all my plants and everything with it. Just enough to cover the leaves and stems. I then pick up the pots they are in and white under them and scrub the floor with vinegar also. I let the vinegar sit for about 5 minutes and then I run my mistking for about 30 minutes. This usually washes away everything ans all the dirt and washes away all the vinegar leaving your plants, branches, and etc. clean and disinfected. Another plus, vinegar will be as cheap as ZooMed Wipeout and you're getting about 10 times the amount. You would have to go through at least half a bottle just to spray every little crack and crevice. I can fill up an entire hand mister with vinegar and spray the crap out of everything.

 

[Kboz1991]

Do you dilute the vinegar?

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

Do you dilute the vinegar?

Nope. Just straight vinegar.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I hate the smell of vinegar and thus, don't use it. It's all on preference really. There are many different methods you can use. The WIPE OUT 1 really isn't a gimmick. They have proven it to be disinfective. You're right on the vinegar being cheaper though but at a lil under $20 for a 32 oz bottle of the WIPE OUT, it's really not that bad. Like I said, a little goes a long ways. The spray nozzle on the 32 oz is great and turns it into a mist that coats everything. I've had the same bottle since November of 2015 and it is still about half full. No need to soak everything till it drips, it works fine as a gentle mist over everything. Like I said though, it's all on preference. Just as I use bleach on my floor panel while you and probably many others use vinegar.

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

I hate the smell of vinegar and thus, don't use it. It's all on preference really. There are many different methods you can use. The WIPE OUT 1 really isn't a gimmick. They have proven it to be disinfective. You're right on the vinegar being cheaper though but at a lil under $20 for a 32 oz bottle of the WIPE OUT, it's really not that bad. Like I said, a little goes a long ways. The spray nozzle on the 32 oz is great and turns it into a mist that coats everything. I've had the same bottle since November of 2015 and it is still about half full. No need to soak everything till it drips, it works fine as a gentle mist over everything. Like I said though, it's all on preference. Just as I use bleach on my floor panel while you and probably many others use vinegar.

$20 for 32 oz.?! Ouch.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

My bank is still fat And as stated, I still have lots left and it's been almost a year. Goes a long ways.

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

I'd rather suck it up and soak everything good with vinegar. Instead of having to be stingy and using little spurts at a time. You can only spread liquid so far, I could go through half a bottle a month with just how often I clean out my bottom tray. That and $20 is a rip off. You can buy 3-4 bottles of large vinegar at that price.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I'd rather suck it up and soak everything good with vinegar. Instead of having to be stingy and using little spurts at a time. You can only spread liquid so far, I could go through half a bottle a month with just how often I clean out my bottom tray. That and $20 is a rip off. You can buy 3-4 bottles of large vinegar at that price.

Indeed the price of vinegar is cheaper. I said you were right on that. You'd go through half a bottle a month cleaning the bottom? Holy cow. You deep cleaning daily?

I spot clean as needed and deep clean once a month. I lightly spray everything and it works like magic. Never and dirt or mold anywhere. Cleans great. No need to make it all drippy, it works great with just a light spray over everything. I don't use the WIPE OUT to spot clean. I just use a wet rag for that. I deep clean it at end of each month. There's no need to use sanitizer every time you clean. You think someone walks around in the wild and wipes every little thing for the chameleons?

It's all in preference about what you use. I'm not stingy, I just don't mind spending the $20 once a year, if that. I can definitely afford it.

 

[Kboz1991]

I use a little wipe out and mostly dulited hair developer 40% and a 1 - 10 ratio solution so it's really 4% hydrogen peroxide with warm water. Developer is 3 bucks a bottle and it kills everything. Works great just to throw that out there

 

[Nicholasdeaan]

I use a little wipe out and mostly dulited hair developer 40% and a 1 - 10 ratio solution so it's really 4% hydrogen peroxide with warm water. Developer is 3 bucks a bottle and it kills everything. Works great just to throw that out there

What is developer made up of?

 

[Kboz1991]

It's just hydrogen peroxide. Instead of 3% for cuts and stuff is 40% for dying hair and stuff like that. So you water it down to around 5 % it's the only thing that kills coccidia and when it breaks down its only h20 and air so after it dries you have nothing. Plus if you think you plants have bugs in them like gnats you can let it dry out and water it with it and it kills them all and after I clean the cage and all with it I run the mister or wash it for a while. Wear gloves it can burn you but after it fizzles up it breaks down to nothing. I myself believe it's a better alternative to bleach but you can ask others this is the main cleaning solvent I use for deep cleaning and wipe out for spot cleaning. You get it at girl beauty stores like sallys I think it's called I'm a guy and it's a different world in there. Look up threads about using it or start one to get a definitive answer I'm only one person but I've never had a problem with it