# Are branches from outside ok for chameleons?



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

I was wondering if anyone has used wood/branches from outside that have been collected and if it is safe to do? I want to make my chameleons cage larger and put loads of branches etc in there! if i brought the amount that i needed from the reptile shop or used jungle vine it would cost a fortune, plus i dont think jungle vine is big enough.. If anyone could help with this then it would be good as theres no guides about it on the net etc.. and i dont want to get branches from outside that may cause harm.

tar:grin1:


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

simple answer..yes!
long as you wash them and you do not use toxic branches you will be fine.

ivy
fruit trees
oak
maple
birch

are all pretty good..

i never buy any branches! why would you when you can get perfectly good ones from the woods? ivy is my favourite~!


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

thanks for that:grin1: it annoys me when they sell wood for like £15 that would not even be tall enough for half the viv! 

i allways thought ivy was poisinous, does it need to be dryed out or still growing? I am not to sure when it comes to trees what is what :lol2: would i just follow a guide that i can find on the internet as to what plants are poisinous?


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

most guides although slightly wrong are pretty good to follow. yes ivy is toxic but as long as you are careful it's fine...i use it in all my vivs (thats a lot of vivs) and works for me..comes in funky shapes and you get aerial roots too which are brilliant..


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

So a chameleon would not eat ivy? as mine have a tendency to munch their plants


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

emski said:


> So a chameleon would not eat ivy? as mine have a tendency to munch their plants


oh no they would eat it! sorry forgot to say...you want the branches not the leaves! strip the leaves off! lol


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

Thanks dude: victory: once again you save the day:no1:


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

happy to help (well try to!)


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

Also, on most branches, try and pick the ones that have been dead a year or 2 and this ensures that all the sap has dried out, as this can be harmful to the lizards as well....i think it is because the heat of the viv brings it out
Fruit trees and birch as Belial said are both great (didn't know about ivy, til i read this thread....cheers for that info)
I use mostly silver birch branches from the woods where my site cabin is, and i disinfected them with a reptile friendly disinfectant, then rinsed them off (hour or so each time) then dried them out and strapped them together to make a climbing frame (sort of) and wedged some others between them to get horizontals and verticals and some at angles.... around my ficus plants....filled the viv up nicely for my yemens

ps strip off loose bark and make sure none of the timber is rotten or full of insects....it'll affect other timber in the viv

hope this helps: victory:


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## skimpy (Nov 22, 2006)

If you can get to the seaside one day, or a river or anything nearby, you will find plenty of pieces already well dead with thte bark stripped.

I went on the hunt on Friday and got three lovely pieces that i was gonna treat yesterday. woke up saturday morning and the best one was in the dogs bed :lol2: at least someone liked it!!


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## martin day (May 18, 2006)

branches from fruit trees are fine too just remember to strip the bark i always boil and bake it to kill any parasite that could be on it


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

why do you people strip of the bark!!? long as you pour boiling water over it with a wee bit of bleech in it this will kill most things off. never stripped a branch! the bark is good and provides a good gripping perch...

branches from the beach soak up salt and any chemical that is in the sea. this could be anything from oil to radioactive waste (in extreme cases or if you live near dungeness!) wouldn't want to to put this in a viv! however people do..


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## skimpy (Nov 22, 2006)

BELIAL said:


> why do you people strip of the bark!!? long as you pour boiling water over it with a wee bit of bleech in it this will kill most things off. never stripped a branch! the bark is good and provides a good gripping perch...
> 
> branches from the beach soak up salt and any chemical that is in the sea. this could be anything from oil to radioactive waste (in extreme cases or if you live near dungeness!) wouldn't want to to put this in a viv! however people do..


 
I live near a river, and the salmon there do alright, so I am happy to use branches washed up there.


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

skimpy said:


> I live near a river, and the salmon there do alright, so I am happy to use branches washed up there.


 if you tried to use branches from the sea round here they may just get up and walk off!


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## skimpy (Nov 22, 2006)

BELIAL said:


> if you tried to use branches from the sea round here they may just get up and walk off!


 
:lol2:


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

Thanks for all of the advice:grin1: I was at a lake today and i did see loads of fallen branches, but dident really fancy climbing over the wire fence to get it:lol2: im going to go and have a look in the woods tomorrow, ive seen some ivy and that does look cool dident realise the stems got as big as they did!!


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> why do you people strip of the bark!!? long as you pour boiling water over it with a wee bit of bleech in it this will kill most things off. never stripped a branch! the bark is good and provides a good gripping perch...
> 
> branches from the beach soak up salt and any chemical that is in the sea. this could be anything from oil to radioactive waste (in extreme cases or if you live near dungeness!) wouldn't want to to put this in a viv! however people do..


sorry, should have said....strip any loose bark, as that is where wild creepy crawlies and bugs live....otherwise, i left the rest of the bark on....as Belial says it not only adds grip for my lot, but it looks better in the viv as well....sorry, :lol2: all okay now though!!


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

i quite like the bugs too! my lot love a bit of 'wildlife'!


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## p0xy (Mar 24, 2007)

i got mine for the beardie and corn from the beach all stripped just needed a good washing looks smart as anythin in the beardies viv...


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

ok i have got my ivy, i got it off a common near me, can i just strip it and disinfect it and put it in? or should i wait for it to dry out? sorry for all the questions but i am unsure.


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

don't strip it! no point. just take all the leaves off. put it in the bath and pour lots of boiling water on it. then leave it to dry till tomorrow...this will stop the broken bits oozing sap. did you get some funky shaped bits?


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

yea i got some really long thick bits, found a great dead tree covered in it so am going it to do it bit by bit, i got a lot today well enough to do one viv and will go back and get some more bits:grin1: I have a big container outside, will it be ok to use that as i dont think people will appriciate me putting it all in the bath lol..


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

Yep that should be fine... remember lots of boiling water! pans and kettle...


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

ok:grin1: i have some disinfectant that i got from a rep shop so i will throw a bit of that in as well.. Thanks for all your help dude: victory:


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

no worries..

a little bit of bleach also does the job but tbh the boiling water will kill off anything nasty..

don't panic if some woodlice survive! they will just get eaten..suprising how those things can live through anything!


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> no worries..
> 
> don't panic if some woodlice survive! they will just get eaten..suprising how those things can live through anything!


except chameleon stomachs....:lol2:


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

very true...they don't survive that!


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> very true...they don't survive that!


there is another thing they don't survive...and i don't mean my children!!
I have woodlice eating spiders living at the bottom of my garden...apparently, they are venomous, and otherwise known as baked bean spiders....but i don't think i'll be feeding them to my yemens
not sure they'd taste nice, but then i wouldn't fancy eating crix either and my yemens like them:lol2:


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

daddycool said:


> there is another thing they don't survive...and i don't mean my children!!
> I have woodlice eating spiders living at the bottom of my garden...apparently, they are venomous, and otherwise known as baked bean spiders....but i don't think i'll be feeding them to my yemens
> not sure they'd taste nice, but then i wouldn't fancy eating crix either and my yemens like them:lol2:


baked bean spiders!? never heard of them...ooh gonna have to go google now..


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

gotcha they are _Dysdera crocata_

i know the ones you are talking about now!


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> gotcha they are _Dysdera crocata_
> 
> i know the ones you are talking about now!


i didn't know the latin, just what they're called by more bro in-law who is a pest controller....thay look evil, and have quite big pincer things, and attack sticks if you poke them, but i don't squash them , i saw one today, looks like a pregnant female, but just put the brick gently back in place...same place they lived last year, they must like it....not my cup of tea tho....slightly off the lizards topic tho!!


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> gotcha they are _Dysdera crocata_
> 
> i know the ones you are talking about now!


forgot to say....the one i saw is prob 12mm long and the abdomen is prob about 3-4mm across....;looks horrible
with pincer things just over 1mm long, maybe almost 2mm...hard to tell


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

pincer things? you mean fangs!!? lol
yep they have a good bite for a small spider..they have to in order to pierce the shell of the woodlouse..


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> pincer things? you mean fangs!!? lol
> yep they have a good bite for a small spider..they have to in order to pierce the shell of the woodlouse..


yeah....that'd be them then!!
anyway i won't be having any branches with them on them....

back to the branches issue....would it matter for others who have a viv like my viv, which has young yemens and others who may have different types of lizard?? 
I played it safe and stripped off loose and damp bark before washing, then any bits that cam loose when disinfected, where insects had been living....since my viv was for 5-6 week yemens, whilst yours (belial) have adult yemens, which can cope with things better
I wish I'd had the bridge job i did last year....now, as we stripped some real nice thick ivy from a tree on that site, that would have been perfect for about 20 vivs....didn't want ivy then though!!:lol2: , I'll be on the look-out from now though
(ps I'm very glad with my silver birch branches though)


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

i have three hatching/rearing vivs that also have ivy branches in (small ones mind you) and they all have the bark on.. one currently housing picasso panthers..that eat the aeriel roots! bless em.

ivy is good in the sense that the bark is quite tight to the wood. other branches such as birch can have bits that come off. but people often worry about it too much..if they eat a bit then they eat a bit! simple..you are more likely to lose a cham through dehydration than anything else.


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## daddycool (Jan 22, 2007)

BELIAL said:


> i have three hatching/rearing vivs that also have ivy branches in (small ones mind you) and they all have the bark on.. one currently housing picasso panthers..that eat the aeriel roots! bless em.
> 
> ivy is good in the sense that the bark is quite tight to the wood. other branches such as birch can have bits that come off. but people often worry about it too much..if they eat a bit then they eat a bit! simple..you are more likely to lose a cham through dehydration than anything else.


i was more worried that the branches were from a woods i didn't know what had been through...or what inescts might be lurking that might harm young'uns, not so much the bark itself....i have bark on most of my branches, just got rid of the loose/damp bark in case of mildew / spiders / mites etc....
i've seen them eat the orchid bark...by mistake


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

like i said the bark on ivy is pretty tight and not much chance of having things under it. the boiling water will kill off any eggs or little creepy crawlies anyway...


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

wooohooo ive soaked my ivy in hot boiling water and have put it outside to dry out a bit and will then clean it with some disinfectant ready for the weekend to put in the viv.. its going to look sooo good: victory:


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## Venomous Poison (Jan 12, 2007)

u lot are awesome!!!

i got some branches for a bd viv the other day from the woods...ive cut any loose bits off thats i dont want on there.....then tomorrow i was gonna sand them down(sharp bits) and strip ALL of the bark off...then boil and bake....reading this thread has saved me sooooooo much time...thanks everyone!!!!


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

hehe no probs, i thought it was going to be missions.. But belial told me different lol


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## BELIAL (Nov 10, 2006)

I think people just panic when you say 'outdoors' and reptile in the same sentence...the main things you have to watch out for are fungi and parasites...most other things are fine...boiling water will kill of anything nasty....have been using 'wild' wood for the past 10 years..the only thing i pay for is cork bark...


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## poshweiller (Nov 17, 2006)

i have used branches from outside for years for my reps but i use a method i learned from a wildlife rescue expert,i freeze the branches in my large chest freezer for 48 hours then leave out for 24 hours to defrost,kills anything in there and saves all the boiling and disinfectant.works for me so just thought i`d share it:smile:


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