Scale insects

[Acidsin]

I recently noticed my umbrella scheffler had this wierd sticky substance in one of my makes enclosures and have read that its scale insects. I have removed my chameleon from the enclosure but cant find any information if they are harmful to animals or humans. I will be destroying all the plants and starting a new bioactive enclosure for him. Has anyone had this issue? Or have any information on these pests.

 

[kinyonga]

Some scale insects release themselves from the stems at one time during the year and you can sort of wash them away....but I don't know which species you have...so this might help...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_insect

 

[Jakehd]

I recently noticed my umbrella scheffler had this wierd sticky substance in one of my makes enclosures and have read that its scale insects. I have removed my chameleon from the enclosure but cant find any information if they are harmful to animals or humans. I will be destroying all the plants and starting a new bioactive enclosure for him. Has anyone had this issue? Or have any information on these pests.

hello, I have the same issue. How did yo make out?

 

[ERKleRose]

Make sure to wash off all the new plants you’re getting for the new bioactive enclosure with Physan or diluted bleach or something similar to make sure all pests and eggs and pesticides, etc. are completely killed and washed off

 

[Tige21v]

Make sure to wash off all the new plants you’re getting for the new bioactive enclosure with Physan or diluted bleach or something similar to make sure all pests and eggs and pesticides, etc. are completely killed and washed off

IIRC, both mealy bugs and scale require multiple treatments 10-14 days apart.
Although I may be wrong about the scale

 

[Jakehd]

I am worried about the scales getting on/ or harming my Cham, I’m not too worried about the plant.

 

[jamest0o0]

They won't hurt your chameleon

 

[Jakehd]

They won't hurt your chameleon

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!!! Greatly appreciated

 

[TayloredExotics]

If you want to get rid of them, lacewing larvae will eat the larval stage of scale, and be a nice treat for your cham after they pupate. You'd have to pick off the adults by hand though, and probably would need to add lacewing larvae twice (a week or two apart) to get rid of all the larvae and subsequent eggs hatching. I also had scale on my giant schleffera (the flat, waxy, oval adult kind), but its gone now

 

[Thatwizard420]

I had a mealybug infestation in my Cresties Vivarium.
I tried everything and they kept coming back.

I had to move them out to a temporary cage, I took all plants out and tossed them.
I let the soil dry out waited about a month, then Put fake plants. My cresties are back, but I'm still going to leave it with fake plants for at least 3 more months. Some scale lay eggs in the soil.
Eggs don't hatch if the conditions ain't right, and may live up to 3 months.

 

[snitz427]

Scale wont hurt your cham, but will eventually damage the plant. If its hard, brown scale, they are a pita bit less damaging than mealybugs (white, cottony scale). Any plant pest will eventually damage the plant, so they should be attemtped to be controlled. The sticky stuff is “honeydew” from where they were sucking on the plant, and it can attract ants.

My advice would be - don’t freak out. Take the plants out for your next cleaning day and spray them liberally (including underside of leaves and stem) with a mixture of dawn dish soap and maybe 2-3 tablespoons of 70% rubbing alcohol. I just eyeball it, but you should have a very sudsy spray that smells like alcohol. Spray the plant and let it sit for 5 mins, then rinse it witha good pressure of water very well. You should repeat this every 2 weeks until the problem is resolved or dramatically reduced. Then you can use a qtip with rubbing alcohol to spot treat any scale you see later.