Alternative sanitizing methods

I recently had a problem with a cham with parasites. I want to sanitize the cage, I know the best is to put everything to soak on a water-chlorine solution, throw out the plants and put new ones. But what do you think about steam? Have you seen those steam cleaners? don't you think steam heat could kill parasites on vines, cage screen and cage floor?

What do you think?

chameleoholic said:

I recently had a problem with a female with intestinal worms, it was too advanced and she died. I have to sanitize the cage, I know the best is to put everything to soak on a water-chlorine solution. But what do you think about steam? Have you seen those steam cleaners? don't you think steam heat could kill parasites on vines and cage floor?

What do you think?

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I use steam and love it. It works really well for me. I usually wash with antibacterial soap then steam the heck out of the cages.

I would boil the vines if I were you. Even my bio vine seems to hold up fine to a 10 min boil.

What about freezing - put the cage outsite in the Canadian Winter for a few days

Ultra Violet C is an option too

Steam or freezing are good alternatives. Next time you find a roundworm, try dropping it in bleach and chances are it wont die. I know, I tried it once. Keep in mind that roundworms live in the gut . Its full of bile and stomach acid , so it is built for an acidic environment.

Hahaha!!!!! Man!!! You guys are geniuses!!! I never though about freezing! and that one its free right now here in Canada!!! Plus hassle free, just put the cage outside on the deck and voila! Oh my god I never thought I would be so glad to have a temperature of minus something.

Clifford said:

What about freezing - put the cage outsite in the Canadian Winter for a few days

Ultra Violet C is an option too

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UVC for sure will kill the parasites while at the same time exposing you to the significant risk of getting cancer. If you do it with the chameleon inside the cage, it surely can kill him as well. UVC is very volatile and should be handled very carefully


Freezing won't do a thing to certain parasites such as coccidia.
Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, Freezing won't do a thing to roundworms eggs.
So, after that couple of days freezing the cage once you warm it up, the eggs will be active again to reinfect your chameleon.

Steam will probably do it for sure but it requires long contact with a very hot vapor.
The only steam cleaner that actually does the job and delivered a very hot steam cost an arm and a leg (600 bucks).
http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/whitewing-steam-cleaner.html

a very good steam cleaner is very likely to kill parasites.

Water and chlorine will NOT kill coccidia. So, it's useless.
Water and Chlorine will kill worms but not their eggs. The chlorine solution + soapy water will, however, loosen the stickiness of the eggs. so, when you blast the cage with water the eggs will washed away with the water.

I have read that grazing animals will reinfect each other by dropping stools in the pastires where they graze, but that cold winters will kill all intestinal worms, including roundworms and their eggs. I'll need to confirm this information.

Dodolah, do you have any sources for your info.. I'll need to find the source that supported my comment??? I could be wrong.

ChromaChameleons said:

I have read that grazing animals will reinfect each other by dropping stools in the pastires where they braze, but that cold winters will kill all intestinal worms, including roundworms and their eggs. I'll need to confirm this information.

Dodolah, do you have any sources for your info.. I'll need to find the source that supported my comment??? I could be wrong.

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The worms will die. not the eggs.
sure:
http://weblife.org/humanure/chapter7_18.html
http://www.horsemenslab.com/content.php?p=roundworms


The coccidia can survive all the way to -13C
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/HEALTH/coccidia.htm
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119754783/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
I think you can kill them by extreme freezing in some sort of a lab.

Here is the effect of gamma radiation to coccidia
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=8366c948ed5347267478993e7753b0f4

That level of freezing would most likely make whatever the eggs/parasites are on brittle or make it melt.

HMMMMMMMMMMM. What about that bubble gum remover stuff? Just a thought that popped into my head while reading. That stuff is like liquid nitrogen or something. I saw a kid spray his own arm with it when I was in highschool. What a dumb It literally froze his forearm to where his skin sorta shrivled up and about 4 seconds later it went back to normal. Well the skin stretched back out to normal needless to say he had very bad burns on his forearm hahahahahahaa. Sorry gotta laugh at some peoples stupidity.

Anyone ever think of this?

Good info.. looks like heat is more effective than cold, but requires a minimum duration.

ChromaChameleons said:

Good info.. looks like heat is more effective than cold, but requires a minimum duration.

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yes. I suggest boiling whatever that can be boiled and steam the rest after washing it with water+ chlorine solution and soapy water.
The steamer has to release HOT vapor and the objects need to be exposed to the steam for a duration of time (which I admittedly do not know how long).

UVC sounds great.. but, it comes with risk of radiating my cell as well. So, no thanks.
the plants? yeah toss them away..
I know it's a bummer.

cainschams said:

HMMMMMMMMMMM. What about that bubble gum remover stuff? Just a thought that popped into my head while reading. That stuff is like liquid nitrogen or something. I saw a kid spray his own arm with it when I was in highschool. What a dumb It literally froze his forearm to where his skin sorta shrivled up and about 4 seconds later it went back to normal. Well the skin stretched back out to normal needless to say he had very bad burns on his forearm hahahahahahaa. Sorry gotta laugh at some peoples stupidity.

Anyone ever think of this?

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if he can survive it, i bet the parasite eggs can survive it as well and probably much longer.
Oocyst can survive in a very harsh environment for 6 months.
They are called the most successful organism in survival by animalplanet for a reason

They are annoying as hell!
but, it seems they are here to stay.. and there is nothing much we can do about it.

I think that most techniques to get rid of any kind of pest that bothers out chams tends to be very labor intensive. No one kind of method works.

The best example I can give would be to use fleas. It you just treat the dog you end up with the eggs in the house hatching and back on the dog. If you treat the dog and don't treat the house at the same time for a few weeks you still end up with fleas on your dog.

I guess what I am trying to say is, no matter what method you use, you need to time both treatments to get the most out of it and run it long enough to end the infection cycle. What that time period is, I don't know.

I Personally use hydrogen peroxide. I am not sure how effective it is but the chams have been doing very well so far.

hope that helps

OPI

Thought this was interesting...
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Disinfectants.html

EXCELLENT link. I was going to cut and paste some info from my microbiology class on the exact thing.

Bad thing about UV light is it is surface-only. Any nook or cranny will keep them safe.

I take all objects to be cleaned and submerge them in Hydrogen peroxide for a few hours. It'll kill most anything in time, including bacterial spores, if given TIME. On the surface, it's only a moderate killer of tough bacteria.

Steam is tricky, as it is very hard to sterilize anything in an uncontained space with steam - that's why autoclaves use a contained, pressurzed chamber.

For most cage furnishings, clean it well, and submerge in a strong hydrogen peroxide solution for a while. That kills lots of stuff, and doesnt' damage the material or make it toxic.

Bleach is good for cleaning something smooth like plastic containers, but it does jack against protozoan parasites.

Something from the heath inspector:
normal stool (solid turd) found in swimming pool, increase chlorine and shut down for a few hours.
loose stool, increase chlorine, shut down for a few days.
watery tool, increase chlorine, shut the sucker down for over week.

cant' remeber the exact number of days.

The reason is a Girardia and crypto - protozoan cysts can deal with high chlorine levels, and really only get filtered out.

How bout Electrolyzed water

Scientists say it's powerful enough to kill anthrax spores without harming people or the environment. We need to come up with some household units, to make it at home. Just salt and water run through a electric field.

ChromaChameleons said:

Steam or freezing are good alternatives. Next time you find a roundworm, try dropping it in bleach and chances are it wont die. I know, I tried it once. Keep in mind that roundworms live in the gut . Its full of bile and stomach acid , so it is built for an acidic environment.

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A bit off topic, but bleach is basic, not acidic. Makes roundworms even scarier knowing they can survive all that.

roundworms are tough buggers, thats fer sure!

Interesting stuff.

I've opted to put the cage formerly occupied by a chameleon formerly (i hope) with pinworms out in the garage for the winter. Its not as cold here as other places in Canada, but there's still going to be some freezing temps before Spring. Plants went into the compost. Branches are on the wood pile and will make it onto a fire someday soon.
Come summer I will put the cage in strong direct sunlight for a few days or a more, then use my steam cleaner on it (it is a good one). I have two extra cages, so taking my time to deal with it isnt an issue. I amy also spray it with a dish soap hot water solution, scrub surfaces with a plastic scrubby, and rinse with the hose (can only do this in summer so that it dries fast, as I have wood based cages that ought not to stay wet long). Then I will repaint. I was planning to change the colour anyhow. If anything can make it through all that, its here to stay!

To answer the original question - I think steam cleaning is a very good option. The fewer chemicals needlessly released into our environment the better.