paper towel for a substrate is no good IMO

[Hoj]

i have been a member here for awhile now and always see people suggesting paper towel as a good choice for a substrate or bottom cover. i have always been weiry of this and today i confirmed it.
i was watching one of my guys hunt and he shot a cricket and ended up with a mouth full of paper towel as it was wet and stuck to his tounge and easily tore a pc off.
i would think that a cham ingesting this would be worse than dirt and i am quite possitve that this happens more than we think.
heck your not even supposed to flush paper towel cause it can block up your toilet let alone a chams digestive track, also you have to figure that they are putting some sort of chemicls or other fibers in paper towle as they seem to always be more absorbant than before.
just a little food for thought needless to say i am no longer going to be using paper towel either bare bottom or i have a packing paper that i may try as i dont believe it will get as weak when wet.

love to hear others thoughts

JMO hoj

 

[bigfink909]

What about news paper?

 

[Elizadolots]

Well, I don't think the comparison of a digestive track to a toilet is appropriate. There's a lot more complex chemistry going on in the digestive track. While it might be uncomfortable for a chameleon to ingest a piece of paper towel, I doubt it would be terribly dangerous. If you are using a full sheet that's so wet it tears easily, then that's a problem. Consider one of two things: either tear up the paper so it's in smaller, swallow-able size pieces or change it much more often.

 

[carol5208]

I don't use paper towels! My cage floor is bare. Sometimes I will put a large bath towel to soak up the water if I am not going to be home. I just remove and wash them. I never liked the idea of paper towels either, even more so for the expense!

 

[JackP308]

my veiled I just go bare bottom and maybe place a folded up square where he usually dumps which works easy to clean his mess fast. My girl panther I water a lot more and thinking about a fully planted cage is coming soon for her.

 

[kinyonga]

My floors are bare too.
I'm surprised that this hasn't been reported on here before...I always worried that this could happen with paper towels.

 

[dinamite]

I think that bare bottom cages are best, although in order to aviod spill and water all over the place you will need a drainage set up.

 

[Hoj]

Well, I don't think the comparison of a digestive track to a toilet is appropriate. There's a lot more complex chemistry going on in the digestive track. While it might be uncomfortable for a chameleon to ingest a piece of paper towel, I doubt it would be terribly dangerous. If you are using a full sheet that's so wet it tears easily, then that's a problem. Consider one of two things: either tear up the paper so it's in smaller, swallow-able size pieces or change it much more often.

you would be right a toilet is alot more robust and powerfull with 3" pipe hence why i say it cant be good for a chams digestive track.
im sorry but any paper towel in a proporly humidifed cage is going to get soaked the fisrt time u mist& i dont really get where your going with the idea of tearing it up.
thx tho
hoj

 

[KatCham]

I think that bare bottom cages are best, although in order to aviod spill and water all over the place you will need a drainage set up.

I agree. Bare floor easier to clean, but without drainage, keep getting a puddle in the middle. Hoping to sort out drainage so I don't need to mop up with paper towels.

 

[Hoj]

My floors are bare too.
I'm surprised that this hasn't been reported on here before...I always worried that this could happen with paper towels.

thx kinyonga i believe thats the way to go

 

[Kittyrocc]

Well I was using paper towels and it was working great... But when I switched Jose Jalapeno to his new cages he goes down and rips the paper... So I got scared and now IT'S BARE!!

 

[Eltortu]

I have use paper towels since my first chameleon -many years ago- and never had any problems. Although I cup feed them...

 

[laurie]

I totally agree with not using paper towels for several reasons, cham eating it as you said, prey hiding in the towel, last is why add yet more unnecessary crap in the form of papertowels to our eco systems? I like bare floors - I always know what is or is not there.

 

[Elizadolots]

Well, I'm in favor of no substrate, however, if someone needs to put something down, then paper towels are as innocuous as it gets. They are completely digestible. My dogs eat them all the time. Tearing them into smaller pieces means you wouldn't have to worry about the piece choking the animal (really, was that a hard concept? I said "swallow-able size pieces")

 

[Tandra Lee]

bare floors for me too,i witnessed my cham shoot and stick to the paper towel i had on the bottom back when i first got my chams,it freaked me out and him too,so needless to say the paper towel was gone immediately..

 

[ronaldo2487]

what about the exo terra forest moss?

 

[jojackson]

Ronaldo, insects will still hide in it, and if it stays wet its a bed of bacteria. Drainage is best!

 

[Elizadolots]

No substrate is absolutely the best and easiest. The reported humidity benefits of things like moss can be accomplished with live plants and other measures.

I have a reptarium (cloth mesh) cage that sits over an open bin, so my cage floor isn't even solid.