Mold on sticks…can I use hydrogen peroxide 3%

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

Hi folks! Has anyone tried using Hydrogen peroxide 3% to sanitize sticks mold on them?
I’m adding a fan to the top of the enclosure to help with airflow however I still am unsure if I just need to replace all the sticks or if I can use hydrogen peroxide to sanitize them.

Has anyone used Flukers vines and are they ok or do they also grow mold…?

Thank you for ALL your help

 

[jamest0o0]

Ahhh this is a subject I love to chime in on… I like to use and recommend natural branches and materials from outside(free of pesticides).

What kind of mold do you have on these sticks? Pictures? Leaf litter and fallen debris is loaded with mold/bacteria in the wild. This is natural and is harmless probably 99.9% of the time. I do not like advocate for sanitizing/sterilizing in most cases. A rinse off and maybe a little sun bake is more than enough and even that is not necessary or helpful on many occasions. What happens(and I have done little tests with this myself), sanitizing kills off all the competing microorganisms/bacteria. So then you have this material that is wide open for whatever to take hold. This is often when mold and harmful bacteria have the opportunity to take hold. To be honest, in most cases even this won’t hurt anything, but it leaves you in a loop of constantly sanitizing things or just waiting until the beneficial bacteria recolonizes the surface.

example: I boiled some cork and then others I just left out in my substrate bins, under dirt, etc. the boiled stuff quickly grew mold in a humid environment, but the unsanitized cork never got a speck. Heated branches will often break down very fast after sanitizing and also become a great home for boring insects, mold, etc.

 

[jamest0o0]

And BTW if we’re talking Coccidia/other pathogen that easily spreads, then it’s understandable to be a little more thorough. Or if you’re reusing materials from a reptile that died, something like that, then it makes sense.

Otherwise I am on the side that sanitizing things does more harm than good and leaves you needing to frequently clean. I throw in good substrate, CuC, plants, etc and forget about it. Done this for years with no issues.

 

[MissSkittles]

I use natural branches and just give a wash with soapy water and a thorough rinse with no issues. The only mold I’ve seen has been from wooden dowels. Fluker’s vines are great. Avoid the black Exo Terra ones as they shed tiny particles that somehow always make their way into cham eyes.

 

[Tkrd69]

Just a question does your enclosure ever dry out between mist cycles? My branches have been in use over a year and no mold. I'm just curious.

 

[Steve A]

Hi folks! Has anyone tried using Hydrogen peroxide 3% to sanitize sticks mold on them?
I’m adding a fan to the top of the enclosure to help with airflow however I still am unsure if I just need to replace all the sticks or if I can use hydrogen peroxide to sanitize them.

Has anyone used Flukers vines and are they ok or do they also grow mold…?

Thank you for ALL your help

TBH I used them early on.

What I found was, they don't last in the environment we create for our chameleons. They get wet, then warm, lights are shining on them, and they have a tendency to flake. They're perfectly fine to use, but once they flake, that's where things can get dangerous for your chameleon.

Not only can the flakes get in your chameleons eye, who is pretty much guaranteed to rub their head on those branches during sheds, but eventually the wire inside also gets exposed.

For me, they simply do not last. And because they can be dangerous when they break down, I won't use them anymore.

Perfectly fine to use while they are in good shape. But for me, some of them only lasted weeks.

So while they are safe to use, I'd highly recommend swapping them out every so often. Which will be costly.

I personally recommend using wild branches. Just fine nice branches of different sizes that don't have bugs, or anything weird looking on them. Scrub them down with some dish soap, hose them off real well, and let them sun bathe until they dry. I did this and outside of pothos, and the window feeder, they're the only thing in my chameleons enclosure and he's doing great. Just put as many as you can, while not making things too tight for him to maneuver in when he is bigger.

Keep in mind this is just MY experience. I believe a lot of chameleon keepers use Flukers vines just fine. This is just what I personally experienced. And since I am lazy, and deathly afraid to cause harm to my chameleon (lol), I just choose what I feel is the safe route: wild branches that are initially cleaned.

 

[JacksJill]

Depending on how moldy your branches are they may already be structurally compromised. Some softer woods will breakdown rather quickly and break under the weight of a chameleon eventually. You might be able to just scrape or clean it off if it's just on the surface in spots. If it's deeply moldy then start looking for replacement branches. Hard woods like oak and maple tend to last longer and resist mold.
To answer your question as asked yes peroxide or activated peroxide is safe to use on enclosure items but rinse and dry them prior to returning them to the enclosure. I use 40 volume or 12% peroxide for disinfecting cages between batches of babies frequently safely.

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

And BTW if we’re talking Coccidia/other pathogen that easily spreads, then it’s understandable to be a little more thorough. Or if you’re reusing materials from a reptile that died, something like that, then it makes sense.

Otherwise I am on the side that sanitizing things does more harm than good and leaves you needing to frequently clean. I throw in good substrate, CuC, plants, etc and forget about it. Done this for years with no issues.

I found my branches outside, at first I didn’t have the tank humid at nighttime then I over compensated and that’s when I found mold…I’ve since bought a fogger and use that at night with misting once am and pm but I think I need a fan to air it out. I’m just concerned that prolonged exposure to any mold would be unhealthy for my Cham, it’s been like this for 1 week. I’m confident I can get the tank to dry out in the daytime again I guess I’m wondering if the sticks with mold will be ok if I let them dry out and the mold dies, or will the spores cause URI?

All the materials are fresh and unused and no coccidia so I do have that going for me I have the abg mix from Josh’s Frogs and it seems very good, no mold on the ground but I feel like the tank does need to dry out. I do have springtails and isopods in the soil, the only thing I sanitized before putting the tank together was the bark I put in as well as the leaves - there are so many earwigs in this area I really did not want to get any infestations.

Here are some photos showing the black and white mold, as well as where the problem areas are, I’m hoping some ventilation will do good things for this setup.

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

Just a question does your enclosure ever dry out between mist cycles? My branches have been in use over a year and no mold. I'm just curious.

It did dry out every day before I realized I wasn’t hydrating my baby correctly, I then misted a LOT until my fogger came and that’s when the mold showed up and hasn’t left specifically I’m sure it was because I was misting during the daytime for 2 days. I have since stopped doing this and it’s been a week since I haven’t misted except am and pm but recently decreased the timers to 30 seconds for each misting cycle.

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

TBH I used them early on.

What I found was, they don't last in the environment we create for our chameleons. They get wet, then warm, lights are shining on them, and they have a tendency to flake. They're perfectly fine to use, but once they flake, that's where things can get dangerous for your chameleon.

Not only can the flakes get in your chameleons eye, who is pretty much guaranteed to rub their head on those branches during sheds, but eventually the wire inside also gets exposed.

For me, they simply do not last. And because they can be dangerous when they break down, I won't use them anymore.

Perfectly fine to use while they are in good shape. But for me, some of them only lasted weeks.

So while they are safe to use, I'd highly recommend swapping them out every so often. Which will be costly.

I personally recommend using wild branches. Just fine nice branches of different sizes that don't have bugs, or anything weird looking on them. Scrub them down with some dish soap, hose them off real well, and let them sun bathe until they dry. I did this and outside of pothos, and the window feeder, they're the only thing in my chameleons enclosure and he's doing great. Just put as many as you can, while not making things too tight for him to maneuver in when he is bigger.

Keep in mind this is just MY experience. I believe a lot of chameleon keepers use Flukers vines just fine. This is just what I personally experienced. And since I am lazy, and deathly afraid to cause harm to my chameleon (lol), I just choose what I feel is the safe route: wild branches that are initially cleaned.

I also cleaned my wild branches and let them sun bake!
Very good info on the fake ones…if I use them I’ll be keeping a close eye on them so thank you for that

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

Depending on how moldy your branches are they may already be structurally compromised. Some softer woods will breakdown rather quickly and break under the weight of a chameleon eventually. You might be able to just scrape or clean it off if it's just on the surface in spots. If it's deeply moldy then start looking for replacement branches. Hard woods like oak and maple tend to last longer and resist mold.
To answer your question as asked yes peroxide or activated peroxide is safe to use on enclosure items but rinse and dry them prior to returning them to the enclosure. I use 40 volume or 12% peroxide for disinfecting cages between batches of babies frequently safely.

Good to know on both accounts, thank you! I’ll be looking for hardwood branches next time, as of right now the mold is pretty superficial so I’ll be keeping an eye out if that becomes an issue. Thank you!

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

I use natural branches and just give a wash with soapy water and a thorough rinse with no issues. The only mold I’ve seen has been from wooden dowels. Fluker’s vines are great. Avoid the black Exo Terra ones as they shed tiny particles that somehow always make their way into cham eyes.

May I ask a question about how to achieve the chimney effect? Is it to get the air moving from the bottom of the enclosure to the top, or the top air to the bottom? I bought a small fan but unsure to have it pointing into the enclosure or away to suck air out…or whether to put it at the top to suck air up or fan it in.

Thanks for your input on the vines, I wasn’t aware of the flaking issue until we all talked on this thread

 

[ERKleRose]

Your first is correct! The chimney effect is dragging fresh air from the bottom to the top of the cage and out
Do you fog continuously or intermittently?
Where is the ventilation at the bottom of your cage?

 

[karenthecarpetchameleon]

Your first is correct! The chimney effect is dragging fresh air from the bottom to the top of the cage and out
Do you fog continuously or intermittently?
Where is the ventilation at the bottom of your cage?

Ok good to know! Then I’ll place the fan at the top facing outward to help the air circulate out through the top! Thank you! I have two 3” ventilation holes at the bottom of the enclosure with a wide mesh to help airflow, however I’ll add the fan circulation then if the tank needs more airflow I’ll definitely widen the holes. I’m trying to only modify the cage every couple of days as I’ve had to make several changes while Karen has been living there, trying to make sure she doesn’t get too stressed

I fog intermittently from 12-6am one hour on one hour off, I watched a video with Chameleon Academy talking about how to fog correctly and starting there.

 

[ERKleRose]

Could you post a pic of the bottom ventilation, please? Also, what are your cage dimensions? The ventilation holes might not be big enough

It could also be that the fogger might be saturating the wood too much. You could try 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off (Bill’s recommendation for panthers), or something like that and adjust from there. If you’re worried that won’t be enough, you can see if it’s just an airflow issue first before doing anything with the fogger

I’d try to do as many of the changes as you can at once instead of trying to spread them out (if that’s what you’re doing), so it’s one stressful moment instead of multiple for baby Karen (love her name! she’s so freaking cute, too!)

 

[kinyonga]

I’ve never used a fan on any of my cages….but the air always moved because of the chimney effect…even in the aquariums I had to use in the beginning.
I have also never fogged cages. This doesn’t mean fogging or fans are a bad thing. Things have changed over the years…some for the worse and some for the better. We each have to judge and adjust!

I started keeping chameleons back in the day when there were no reptile cages other than aquariums with screen lids…in the late 80’s. I created a chimney effect then by placing the basking light at one end of the long somewhat low aquarium so the warm air would rise up there …and at the other end of the aquarium, the air would flow in as the hot air rose at the other end.

The chameleons did fine in those setups. I did have to be careful not to let water stagnate in the cages though…and make a few other minor adjustments.

When I found someone to build cages for chsmeleons in the early 90’s, I used cages that were all glass with screen lids and did the same thing….basking lamps in one corner. They worked very well…but when the store made ones with the vents in the bottom front came out, I switched to them to get better airflow…but still took advantage of the chimney effect.

I was afraid to talk about the glass aquariums and cages I started out using at first because so many people who were keeping chameleons frowned on them …but when I joined ADCHAM, I started talking about them. It was good that Chris Anderson tried the glass cages and wrote about glass cages because more people read about them and began to use them too.

I hope you get the cage set up well with the chimney effect working and you have your chameleon for as long as possible!

 

[Tkrd69]

It did dry out every day before I realized I wasn’t hydrating my baby correctly, I then misted a LOT until my fogger came and that’s when the mold showed up and hasn’t left specifically I’m sure it was because I was misting during the daytime for 2 days. I have since stopped doing this and it’s been a week since I haven’t misted except am and pm but recently decreased the timers to 30 seconds for each misting cycle.

That was my next question on your enclosure type. Mine is all screen so ventilation is not a problem plus I live in Florida so humidity is also on my side. Glad your getting your questions answered. A friend of mine had a bearded dragon in a aquarium with a glass top and the sides were always wet. I made him a screened top and put a computer fan on one side to help dry it out.