How often to clean home?

[Brad McLeod]

This is something (probably the only thing) I have yet to find. How often should I clean the enclosure?

I have a female, so I have a deep sand base so she can lay her eggs.

BTW, no need to worry yet, I just got her yesterday.

 

[alwyzchanging]

I clean her cage weekly and completley deep clean it monthly (cleaning consists of taking out all the bottom substrate, cleaning it and cleaning all of the sides). Deep cleaning is when I take the whole cage and steam it, including the fake plants and branches that are in her cage.

 

[rcagosto]

I agree, I also clean my real plants too. Everything gets clean, its not worth having one thing dirty and your cham getting sick cause of it.

 

[Jewel]

About everyday or two I do a spot cleaning by just removing the poop, urates and any leaves that may have fallen off the plants and about once a month a do a complete cage cleaning by removing everything from the cage and cleaning it including the live plants, I use water and teatree oil for this and then I rinse it very well. I clean the feeder tanks out also about every two days and I never have any smell by doing this.

 

[Heika]

If your cham is very young, you won't have to worry about eggs for a while. Most people keep the sand and dirt mixture for egg laying in a seperate bin and put it in the female's cage (or the female into the bin) as needed. Keeping a sand layer is dangerous for a couple of reasons. The sand will hold water from your frequent mistings, and the water will harbor bacterias that will make your chameleon ill. In additon, sand can be ingested as Shirley hunts and could cause an impaction.

About cleaning.. I pick up poo when I see it. Once a week, I shop vac cage bottoms and wipe down the floors with diluted novalsan.

Heika

 

[rcagosto]

Also some insects bury themselves in the sand when feeding an example would be superworms.

 

[Brad McLeod]

Okay, well then, correction already. I will take out the sand, and just use substrate.

Thanks for the info. Spot clean constantly, deep clean weekly.

Seriously, I couldn't find this on any of the care sheets I have found, lol.

 

[rcagosto]

Actually try using no substrate at all, I would recommend paper towels. Any substrate cause be bad for your cham. They don't need substates since they are arboreal, if you need sand for her egg laying, just put a pot with sand and it would be better.

 

[Heika]

The reason you may want to use paper towels right now is because your chameleon is in an aquarium. They will soak up the excess water and help keep feeders from drowning. After she is ready to move to screen caging, installing a drain system into the cage floor works out very well.

Heika

 

[rcagosto]

Thanks Hieka for adding the part about the tank, I forgot to say that.