How often to clean?

[Panthergirl11]

So how often do you guys do a good cleaning on your chams cage? My lil guy has been here a week and I've spot cleaned his cage some but I feel like I need to really clean it and get all the poop off. But I don't wanna stress him out since he's new. Should I put it off a week or try this weekend? How often do you guys clean? He's in a small cage so I feel like it needs to be cleaned more often.

 

[Solid Snake]

I spot clean everyday.
Take out dead leaves, and any feces.

I do a total clean about once a month where I do a whole teardown and scrub.

IMO, it is important to get the poop out of there.
Its just nastyness, and sickness getting tracked through the cage.

 

[FabrizioHC]

I spot clean everyday.
Take out dead leaves, and any feces.

I do a total clean about once a month where I do a whole teardown and scrub.

IMO, it is important to get the poop out of there.
Its just nastyness, and sickness getting tracked through the cage.

Are leafs bad for the chameleon? Like, is it bad to use it as some kind of "substrate"?

I have always wondered that.

 

[Solid Snake]

Are leafs bad for the chameleon? Like, is it bad to use it as some kind of "substrate"?

I have always wondered that.

That is a very good question.
Chameleons, being arboreal, hardly come in contact with dirt and "substrate" type material in their day-to-day.
Its unatural for them to eat it.
While some eat fresh plant matter, dry plant matter and "substrate" material like dirt can cause impacation, and death.

It is "bad" to use a substrate on the bottom or the enclosure for this reason.

While chameleons may actually go and eat the substrate on purpose, its much more likely that ingestion will happen accidentaly, by shooting a feeder that is on the substrate.

I keep mine bare, and just wipe it clean.
My potted plants have moss and micro flora on top, so that no dirt is accessible to the animal. Many people use river rocks to cover the dirt.
Some do not cover the dirt, but still do not use substrate.