Natural branches

NakedDogMom

New Member
So I think I read somewhere that it might be okay to use branches that have dried out over winter WITHOUT baking or scrubbing them.

Is that true? It went below freezing here for quite a few days and that was when I collected (both for the cham and the dragons).

I haven't put them in the enclosures yet as I wanted to ask you guys first.
 
The baking/scrubbing cleans the branches and ensures that there is not fungus/bacteria growing on the wood that could harm your cham.

I'm sure that the freezing cold weather of the winter kills off most of the bacteria/fungus too.

But even so, why would you want to take the risk? Why not just clean the branches anyway?
 
no the freezing to the branches does the same thing as it does to meat in the freezer. it doesn not stop growth of stuff all together, it only slows it. thats why a tree only loses leaves during hte winter and not the branches too. i would bake them at the least.

i was also wondering what would be the best tree branches to collect? i wanted to replace the bamboo in my chams cage with some dif branches and was just wondering.
 
i baked my pieces i got for about 20 mins i forgot about one piece and almost burned the house down ahah it was on fire lol had to through that piece out , but i live in ontario canada and i just go looking the odd time for grape vine that has been leeching off a tree and the grape vines bark turnes the same as the tree its trying to kill so it goes all smooth and i have some pieces that are well over 3 or 4 inches in diameter and 7 or 8 feet of it and i have tonnes more where that came from all different sizes to
 
Thanks guys......branches were scrubbed and baked this evening!

Now just need to split them between 5 cages (two BDs, two BPs, and our little cham!)
 
So I think I read somewhere that it might be okay to use branches that have dried out over winter WITHOUT baking or scrubbing them..

think of all those insects that live in trees and branches and overwinter - some might have mites. Baking at 250 for at least 1/2 hour is the standard. And/or soak in 10:1 bleach solution (water:bleach) for several hours, rinse clean (lots of rinsing) and then let them air dry completely (preferably in the sun).
 
Wild grape vines, Vitis labrusca, can be found all across the United states. These vines are not toxic and are a beautiful alternative to artificial folliage. The vines are rigid enough to support any mature chameleon and can be harvested in many different sizes. I find that the wild grape vines give my vivarium a natural look. Although they are not toxic, i would not object to baking them. Lichens are generally safe, however, many zygomycota and ascomycota are small and paracitic. I will post some pictures of my chameleon's enclosure on the habitat thread, you can see these vines for yourself. Good luck. :)
 
One item not mentioned is that it’s very important to scrub the branches to remove loose debris, bark, etc. – chams will squeegee their wet eyes up against branches to clean them and you really want to avoid anything coming off the branch and getting lodged into their eyes.

-roo
 
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