I have two types of cages, thus two solutions.



For the solid bottomed cages, I keep a towel on the bottom of the cages. Ontop of the towel I have a large (3/4 the size of the floor space, and about 2 inches deep) plastic container on the bottom of the cage. Water falls from the dripper, onto leaves and branches, and eventually into this plastic container. The towel soaks up what little moisture may fall outside the plastic container. I empty the plastic container daily, and steam-clean them weekly. I wash/replace the towels weekly.



In the case of female inhabitants, there is a larger plastic bin in each of the cages, which is full of a sand mixture. When the lid is off to permit nesting, most of the water falls into the nesting bin. Which is fine, as this keeps the sand moist. But if there is quite a bit of water (for instance she is taking longer to lay than anticipated, so the nesting bin is catching water for more days) I simply put a smaller plastic catch bin on top of the sand. It catches most but not all, which is perfect. There is very little that escapes to the bottom, as the sandbox is almost the same size as the bottom, with cloth tucked around the edges to ensure she doesnt squeeze into a tight place and hurt herself.



For the cages with coated-wire bottoms, there is a similar arrangement. The water makes its way to the bottom, and drips through. Underneath is another catch tray, this time slightly larger overall than the cage bottom. Which is emptied and cleaned on the same daily /weekly schedule. It's a bit easier with no towels to change.



I dont use many live plants. But those that I have are suspended half-way up the height of the cage. The bottoms are angled such that the water naturally gravitates to drip directly over the catch bins.
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SandraChameleon@gmail.com

BC Canada

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• Dealing with Water Runoff - mphelps, Sat Apr 7 18:08:58 2007
• RE: Dealing with Water Runoff - sandrachameleon, Sun Apr 8 12:14:08 2007