annie orange urate again

[LBonawitz]

so i stopped soaking annie hoping that she might be a shy drinker. for 3 days i left her with the automatic mister and a dripper. she urate today was orange again

if soaking her is going to make her sick am i supposed to force her mouth open every day and spray water in her.... i really don't know what to do for her. her silkies, butters and horn worms are supposed to arrive tomorrow, she has no problem with eatting, she just hates water.

 

[AJA]

Have you tired putting water in a syringe and giving it to her that way?

When my babies arrived I held the syringe in front of them with a drip hanging out there and they would take it.

Do you have a dripper for her? (sorry haven't read all your posts on her)

 

[sandrachameleon]

How fast does the dripper drip? Does it drip onto something or is there a hose end from which she can drink easily? how often does the mister go off? What do you gutload with? A good wet gutload will increase feeder hydration, improving chameleon hydration.

 

[toddmkeller]

The silks and horns you have coming should really help. I feed silks as a staple to the ones that I notice not drinking as much as others. I have three that really aren't big drinkers even with my two thirty minute mist cycles with some shorter ones thru the day, and they used to have orange urates, however when I started mainly using high water content feeders that all went away.

Good Luck!

Todd

 

[laurie]

If I have any orange show up I take a syringe and put water into the feeders before they are given to my chams. I have been known to load 3 supers full of water if need be for one cham. It really helps and the cham doesn't care. I hate to force anything on my animals, not if their is any other option.

 

[xanthoman]

cham misting

many chams that refuse to drink even when they need it, will usually drink when using the "head down misting trick" it sounds like that is what has been going on without you realizing it , i would return to misting but try changing the way you do it , do you heat your misting water ? that sometimes can have a dramatic effect on how well they deal with misting , if you mist with water that is room temp then (depending on your system and other factors like how well it atomizes) then that means that your misting water is probably around 68* [or less ,( you should measure so you know)]put that on a cham (without any warning) that has been basking at 85*+ then figure additional temp drop for evaporation , thats the equivalent of an instantaneous 25* drop, think of it this way if you were basking in the 85* + sun and fell off the dock into a 65* lake would it freak you out ? of course, and you are warm blooded. / cold blooded animals are hyper sensitive to rapid changes in temp

 

[kelso]

any idea how to keep resevoir for mistking system warm all day? when you are not home...?

 

[Dunnigan]

If I have any orange show up I take a syringe and put water into the feeders before they are given to my chams. I have been known to load 3 supers full of water if need be for one cham. It really helps and the cham doesn't care. I hate to force anything on my animals, not if their is any other option.

Good advice, I have never thought of that.

 

[Fidget321]

If I have any orange show up I take a syringe and put water into the feeders before they are given to my chams. I have been known to load 3 supers full of water if need be for one cham. It really helps and the cham doesn't care. I hate to force anything on my animals, not if their is any other option.

This is great, do you actually use a needle to inject water into the feeders?
Or just make them drink it *confused*

If you do inject them, don't they die, or is there a certain process?
If the cham munches on the feeder, won't this water just splat out?

Thanks

 

[Pure]

any idea how to keep reservoir for mistking system warm all day? when you are not home...?

You can use a fish tank or turtle tank heater but risk it overheating if the water runs out. Most people install inline fish tank heaters. Like this one.

If you go with a regular heater, keeping the water reservoir with a lid on it will help heat retention 10 fold.

 

[sandrachameleon]

This is great, do you actually use a needle to inject water into the feeders? Or just make them drink it *confused*
If you do inject them, don't they die, or is there a certain process?
If the cham munches on the feeder, won't this water just splat out?
Thanks

You can inject (with needle) some water into a roach fairly easily, and the roach will still live for a time. Some of that extra liquid will get into the chameleon eating the roach.
Doesnt work well with crickets and larva.

 

[Dunnigan]

You can get about .05 ml of liquid into an adult cricket.

 

[laurie]

This is great, do you actually use a needle to inject water into the feeders?
Or just make them drink it *confused*

If you do inject them, don't they die, or is there a certain process?
If the cham munches on the feeder, won't this water just splat out?

Thanks

All I do is inject (yes using a needle)the feeder, usually a superworm, and hand it to the cham. My chams eat them so fast I don't think any water gets out. The worms do die pretty fast so you want the cham to be waiting and ready. I try to feed them 2 or 3 worms. I have injected roaches but they are to gross to inject. Hornworms and silkworms do not inject well. I get syringes with needles at the local farm supply, or at my vets office.

 

[Fidget321]

Thanks guys.
This is definitively something worth experimenting.

Although I can already see the looks i'm going to get when entering a clinic and asking for a needle "Because I want to inject cockroaches with water "

 

[Pure]

Thanks guys.
This is definitively something worth experimenting.

Although I can already see the looks i'm going to get when entering a clinic and asking for a needle "Because I want to inject cockroaches with water "

I have boxes and boxes of needles.

How hard is it to pierce the superworms exoskeleton. I can't imagine it's easy.

 

[laurie]

I have boxes and boxes of needles.

How hard is it to pierce the superworms exoskeleton. I can't imagine it's easy.

There is a little trick I use, I bend them backwords between my fingers and put the needle between the sections. Also keeps the little beast form biting you while you inject. If that doesn't make sense I can try to explain it in more detail.