Bacteria and Fungus spread?

[gremlin980]

Sadly, I recently had to put down my almost 3 year old panther chameleon Leo. He had a few complications stemming from improper housing while being boarded. He had both a fungal and bacterial infection. My question is, are these transferrable? For instance, in the future if I want to use some of his vines/artificial plants or cage for another chameleon/gecko, would this be harmful to them? If so, do I need to discard them? Or can I clean with lemon juice or something?

 

[SaintJimmy]

Sadly, I recently had to put down my almost 3 year old panther chameleon Leo. He had a few complications stemming from improper housing while being boarded. He had both a fungal and bacterial infection. My question is, are these transferrable? For instance, in the future if I want to use some of his vines/artificial plants or cage for another chameleon/gecko, would this be harmful to them? If so, do I need to discard them? Or can I clean with lemon juice or something?

I think you should disinfect your enclosure no matter what--even if the cham wasn't sick.

Always disinfect your enclosure before putting another cham in it.

I would take the branches out and wash them with soap and water and then rinse well. Or use some sort of disinfectant.

I would definitely clean the entire cage, if you had vines or real plants in there, wash them off good too.

A ficus tree can actually be taken outside and will endure a soapy wash, but rinse it well, and don't get too much soapy water in the dirt.

 

[Ninkylou]

Lemon juice will do nothing. If you are going to sanitize you need to use a 10% household bleach solution, however, for fake vines and fake plants with all of their nooks and crannies I would toss them and start fresh. I don't think its worth the risk...For an enclosure and more pricey items make sure they soak in the bleach for a while, we always said 10 - 20 minutes and then you must rinse it very well with fresh water.

Rocks and real branches can we washed and then baked in the oven as well to sanitize, you would need to look up temperature I have seen a variety of suggestions.

 

[shmeenakoz]

Disinfect the cage with bleach solution as others have said, but all the porous stuff toss it!!! Fungus is nearly impossible to rid, meaning it will come back with bleach! Anything you need to treat fungus will also most likely be to toxic to keep around. Sorry about your loss