Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone ever use pesticides on their cage plants? Obviosly they are harmfull, but I was thinking about using a pest/fungicide on my chams ficus because it has mites and fungus(not alot, but enough that I notice). I plan to remove the plant, treat it, let it sit for a few days and rinse it well, then put it back in my chams enclosure.Do plant ailments affect chams?

Although 99% of the all the house plants that are readily available at your local hardware stores or nurseries are indeed sprayed to some extent with a form of pesticide, chemical fertilizer or anti fungal solution or a combo of all three, I would not recommend doing such a thing if you honestly do not have to. For the price of a ficus I would purchase a new tree and sterilize appropriately and start over.

One must wonder, WHY did fungus begin to grow, how wide of an area is contaminated, has this spread to other plants in the enclosure or through the soil? Not even mentioning MITES ! I would strongly recommend deconstructing the set up (depending on how easy this is for you to accomplish) and sterilizing EVERYTHING including vines, plants, walls and screens. Be sure there are no mites on your cham or have spread to any other enclosure. It would be some time for it to be safe to rid any fungus or mites from the plant and return it back. In that amount of time you could purchase a new tree, mist and wipe both sides of the leaves with an antibacterial soap or disinfectant (nolvasan or something similar) and repot with sterile soil. It would benefit your cham the most to IMMEADITELY remove the infestation of mites and fungus. Good luck to you

First be sure you know what you actually have. People often mistake a virus for a fungus, insect for virus, bacteria for either, etc. I had a client once in a panic over this "bug" on her plant (she brought in a sample) and wanted the best pesticide. It was not an insect, but a blight and all the pesticide in the world would not have helped - and probably would have killed her plant. Biocides are a lot more harmful in the hands of the average consumer than those licensed and/or knowledgeable.

These are likely not harmful to your cham and treating them, but I'd be more concerned about a fungus than mites b/c the spores can become airborne and irritate the nasal and respiratory system, just like in humans, but less likely. They can also reproduce quickly.

IF you have spider mites you can simply take the plant outside (or into shower) and give it a good forceful; spray under the leaves and in the stem/leaf crotches.

IF you have a fungus... ANY fungus will get WORSE by adding moisture. Every droplet of water that hits the fruiting bodies will shoot the spores everywhere.

Can you say why you think they are mites and fungus? Mites thrive in a dry arid environment (therefore rarely a problem in cham setups) and fungus in a wet and overly moist. You can use a baking soda and water solution to treat the fungus, but first let's see what, in fact, you have.

Can you post decent pics of plant, setup, damage from mites/fungus?

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

The only fungus is a few little mushrooms in the soil. The "mites" sort of look like little gnats, and I only noticed a few of them. I don't really want to just buy a new plant because it will probably just happen again. I'd rather figure out why, and fix it. I'll try to get some pics up. Thanks guys.

like you have fungus gnats (mites don't fly) and overly wet soil. Fungus gnats breed in the soil and their larvae feed on rotting/decomposing organic matter (soil, roots, etc.)Fungus is always found in damp/wet places. The gnats will not hurt your cham, but they are annoying as he*L - sort of like fruit flies are :-/

Did you repot the plant after you got it? If not, I would recommend you do that with fresh untreated sterile soil. when you take the plant out of its pot rinse off as much of the old soil as possible. Either wash the old pot REALLY well with a solution of 10% bleach (10 parts water to 1 part bleach) then rinse well and let air dry or just get a new pot WITH drainage holes. Once repotted you want to keep the soil moist, not wet. If your dripper is going right in the pot you may want to make some adjustments.

Have you repotted plants before? Just don't want to write out a bunch of stuff if you know what you are doing.

Be sure your plants are not sitting in water (a saucer that has standing water). You can either raise it up on bricks or a small stool, or if you don't have that sort of space you can put large river stones in the saucer and set the pot on it.

Pics of your setup would help to make some suggestions. Btw, it is always good to have a second plant on hand for when these sorts of problems arise so you can swap a healthy one while the other is at the plant hospital - lol!
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet