Towels at the Bottom?

[Basilisk09]

I just got my Panthers today and I am sooooo excited!!! I put in a ton of effort to get everything set up today but I have 2 questions.

First, I hear you are supposed to put paper towels at the bottom of the cages, but I figured I could use cheap bath towels. They are keeping the humidity up a bit, and figure I could throw them in the washer every week or two. Is this ok? Or will it be unhealthy for them and me since it may grow bacteria?

Second, its kinda tough to keep the humidity up right now until I set up my humidifier. Its reading about 55 after I soak them down with a spray bottle, but after about 2 hours it drops to about 41% humidity. I'm worried it will drop more while I'm sleeping. Anything to worry about till I get my humidifier up and running?

Again, some of these questions are a bit rushed cause its the first day, but I'm OCD about my pets so I want to make absolutely sure.

 

[Justin Ward]

i wouldnt go with the towel bc you need the cage to dry out between mistings...i feel like the towel would hold a lot of water and take longer to dry out, but thats just my opinion...as for the humidity, that will be fine...if you really want to, you can cover up to 3 sides of the cage with a shower curtain or plastic trash bag...3 sides coveed will still offer proper ventilation while keeping in more humidity...hope this helps and congrats on the new addition, we will all be looking forward to seeing pictures soon, so dont let us down haha

 

[Silkyslim]

Yeah I started with paper towels too and it just got too messy. The towels would get damp and start gettin all stank. You really are better off with nothing at the bottom, we are not kidding with you.

I had a humidity problem during the winter, I covered 3 sides of my cage with plastic window insulation.......plastic and it worked well enough, also live plants help a lot.

Would you want your water vapors coming from a rank ass towel that you pooped on for a few days? Not I.

 

[Basilisk09]

I suppose. Thanks for the input so far, I think I'll try to go a week unless people are like "NOOOO!!!" and see what happens. If they get messy and rank I'll for sure switch em up. Its just cardboard otherwise and it has already built up a bit, so I'm worried as it gets humid it's gunna really get bad.
Thx for the help on keeping the humidity up. Ill try out the plastic if the humidity really begins to drop.
Im in an apt in AZ so its a crazy place to keep chameleons up to par at 75 degrees n 50% humidity. Everywhere I look they say "keep em around 75. If its too cold, get a heating pad". But I have no idea what the hell to do when its too hot lol.

 

[Drew V]

i used towels on my bottom before i had a drainage system. They didn't get "rank" but they weren't always sopping wet either, i changed them out every 4-5 days smelled fine. If your worried about humidity get a ultrasonic humidifier from Walgreens or something and put it next to or on top of the cage. And live plants and heavy foliage really do help alot.

 

[EmilioPichardo]

i wouldn't reccomend you a towel maybe you can get some bark if you want... and the ultrasonic humidifiers are good i have 1 and some pics we love pics here

 

[carol5208]

If you are going to use towels, then you need to change them as they get wet. You don't have to wash them every time but I would ring out to dry and change them with fresh, dry ones. I cannot imagine waiting 4-5 days like the other member posted. It can be a pain and you will be doing alot of laundry but do not let the wet towels sit in there constantly even if they do keep up the humidity. that does not seem like a healthy environment for your chameleon.

 

[tyler]

I would recommend having a drainage system in place so there is no standing water in your cage ever. I posted this in another thread, but if you have an extra couple bucks lying around it's the perfect solution.
Replace the pvc panel at the bottom of your cage with light diffuser, and cover the light diffuser in aluminum screening so your feeders can't escape. Then you can buy a drainage pan from TikiTiki and modify it so the water is drained into a bucket. This way you don't have to worry about constantly buying paper towels or washing bath towels, all you need to do is empty the bucket or container your water is being drained to.
If your having issues with humidity you can goto home depot or lowes in the same section where you find the light diffuser they sell florescent light cover thats basically a plastic, or plexiglass opaque material. It comes in 2x2x4 sizes and if you have a cage that size, you can just put them inside of the cage and they fit perfectly. Essentially you can get 3 pieces, 1 for the back, and 2 for each side. If you have a smaller cage you can cut them to size, they're pretty durable, water resistant and they will allow you to maintain humidity like no ones business.

 

[Damus]

Get a shamwow

 

[Ekproject]

For me. I used to use towels. Got messy for me.

 

[sandrachameleon]

First, I hear you are supposed to put paper towels at the bottom of the cages, but I figured I could use cheap bath towels. They are keeping the humidity up a bit, and figure I could throw them in the washer every week or two. Is this ok? Or will it be unhealthy for them and me since it may grow bacteria?

I have cheap bath towels on the bottom of my cages to catch errant drips. So long as the towels are only slightly damp (and thus dry out quickly) I leave them in there for up to a week before laundering.
If a towel get wet though, remove it and replace with a dry one.

 

[Justin Ward]

i wouldn't reccomend you a towel maybe you can get some bark if you want... and the ultrasonic humidifiers are good i have 1 and some pics we love pics here

i dont know what he is smokin, but bark is a no-no...your cham can eat it and cause digestive problems...no offense Emilio

 

[Citizen Snips]

Here's my method.

Acquire one lunch tray from school and put it at the bottom. It collects enough water to not overflow (small enclosures) and it's easy to clean. I just get a sponge and wipe the bottom. Then, squeeze out the excess water into another bucket. Repeat until the tray is dry. I wish my cage had a door at the bottom so I could just take it out, but oh well. I bought a Crane drop humidifier off Amazon for 25 bucks shipped and it's like 59 at some stores. My humidity is the same as yours until next week

 

[Hoj]

i use a all natural outdoor carpet from home depot it dries quickly and resists mold and fungus i have pc cut for each cage i just swap them out then clean the other one..
even if you dont have drainage you can put a pc of grided light difuser in there and it will help the carpet dry out beween misting

hoj

 

[EmilioPichardo]

i dont know what he is smokin, but bark is a no-no...your cham can eat it and cause digestive problems...no offense Emilio

lol sorry i never tried bark but ive seen some vids in youtube where ppl have it well sry bout mentioning bark forget bout that

 

[growing zoo]

I used paper towel to start with but I went through so much, I now use a bath towel which dries in-between sprays, does not smell, is a soft landing if my Cham should fall and keeps humidity up while drying. Works well for me and my Cham

 

[Basilisk09]

Thx everybody for the input. I guess I'll just remove the towels and instead use them to clean up any stagnant water (if there even will be). I would do a drainage system but my current situation will not allow :/ just out of extreme inconvenience.

 

[Basilisk09]

Thx everybody for your input. I think I'll remove the towels and just watch for stagnant water at the bottom and wipe it up if there is any. I would do a drainage system if it weren't extremely inconvenient at my current place and time :/ possibly later.

 

[rocket89]

What about shamwow?