What do you do with *your* cham poop?

[darthink]

Hi everyone,

So I have a little bit different setup (that many like to voice their 2 cents about), but I have an exo-terra cage therefore it has substrate in the bottom. Now the thing is, and most people must have this problem, my chameleon poop is building up. It's hard to get to some areas where there's poop. I've tried keeping it out of the cage, cleaning it out daily after my cham poops.

Do y'all clean out your poop often? Also, I have little insects in my cage, they look similar to fruit flies, but I don't think they are. I'm scared they've grown in the cage due to the moist soil and/or poop.

I *do* eventually plan on getting an all mesh cage and just using a potted plant, with a bucket below to catch the water from the misting.

 

[ReptileLove18]

the insects are most likely from the soil and substrate, another reason why most owners dont use it. i always clean the poop out of the cage each and every day to prevent bacterial buildup especially because most chams need humidity which makes it much easier for bacteria to grow.

 

[ReptileLove18]

i also have an exo terra cage for when my cham was lil but i didnt put substrate in. i currently have a couple live plants, fake plants, a feeder up, dripper, combo thermometer and hygrometer in mine and it makes it very each to clean up having the bottom bare

 

[stalincat]

I also had an exoterra viv. I had kitchen towels there, worked just fine.
I clean poo as soon as I see it.
Basically, you cham can get internal parasites if the bugs eat poo and your cham eats those bugs. Nasty.

 

[darthink]

Wow, thanks for all the replies!

To those that used an exo terra viv at some point, did you just have potted plants and you put them in the cage? And did water ever build up at the bottom from misting or did your plants have a bowl below the plant to catch the drainage?

Thanks!

 

[ReptileLove18]

i had potted plants and i put a shallow bowl under them and emptied the extra water out every day

 

[ChamHoudini]

I just put paper towels down in the bottom and spot clean poop. After the paper towels have been in there for a few days I change em out while I am letting my guys sit in the sun a little.

 

[Miss Lily]

I remove poop as soon as I see it, but Monty, more often than not, will poop when he's out on my hand, so I usually catch it in a tissue as he does it! I sweat he hates to poop inhis nice new cage, lol!

 

[stalincat]

i had plastic trays at the bottom collecting water. I placed them under my dripper. The rest was fine with paper towels.
Somebody here suggested using incontinence pads. Seems like a good idea

 

[darthink]

Thanks guys! I guess I will eventually be removing the soil and substrate, re-pot the plants in a pot, and leave the bottom empty. I think that would be a much better way of keeping things clean, and eventually maybe move to an all mesh cage or something.

Thanks again for everyone's input!

 

[Ferrah88]

I don't have an exo terra, but I do have something similar, glass, and with substrate. The substrate will eventually be gone (Marimo will be moved to a bigger terrarium eventually) but I do do the following:

I hardly clean the poop, leaves and whatnot, but the reason being is that I actually introduced some bugs to do the "work" for me. I will clean off the leaves every day, poking the poop the the ground and any leaves that fall off. I have earthworms, woodlice(?) and springtails(?) living in my little ecosystem. They're the cleanup crew and actually do a nice job I do check every few days to make sure nothing is molding (shouldn't happen as the ground doesn't stay too moist. Marimo always drink as soon as I spray him, so I don't have to mist as long as I have to with Yuki. I also have a small drainage set up for excess water that actually never comes out...).

If you're not getting rid of the substrate any time soon, and are still worried about the poop-buildup, I would really recommend the springtails as they do a wonderful job!

 

[ChameleonMom]

When I had my exo-terra cage I cleaned poop/urates as I saw it and EVERY night before lights out I would pull out my (for Cham use only) wet vac and suck the water out so it wasn't standing and creating a bacterial environment in which my Cham lived. Obviously you know substrate is a no-no, but you should really consider changing out the substrate sooner rather than later.