Can lead a Chameleon to water but...

[Ceycham]

My chameleon stays dehydrated. Nothin I do seems to fix it. Ok Hornworms seems to fix it. But that leads to other problems we'll come back to. I've installed a Mist King. I started the schedule for 3 minutes misting 4 times a day. When we first installed that seems to clear up the urates. Not so much any more. So I've upped two of the mistings to 4 minutes. Really this should be enough, no? I've seen him drink and wonder if he's just not a thirsty guy? But his urates speak volumes. I can relate a little because I'm the same. I don't drink enough water, I'm just not feeling thirsty as often as some and I stay on the edge of dehydration most of the time. I'm hoping Norman's just not a thirsty guy and also not doing himself deep harm. His urates are very golden. I worry that is more than just the edge of dehydration. So I resort to hornworms sometimes, and those clear his urates right up. But he fills up on hornworms and leaves room for little variety in his meals, and hornworms grow too fast to keep a lot on hand very long. I usually buy a cup of 25, and half of those generally run out of food or grow big enough to pupate by the time I get to them. I don't want to sacrifice his nutrition for his hydration needs. Is there another way?

 

[bloftis1]

Have you tried with a syringe, some people do that. I'm not too sure, someone on the forums that is more experienced than me can definitely help you!

 

[Ceycham]

Have you tried with a syringe, some people do that. I'm not too sure, someone on the forums that is more experienced than me can definitely help you!

Thank you. I have tried to syringe feed him water prior to installing the mist king. It is no easy task! I can usualy get one squirtin before he ctches on and refuses to open his mouth. Even so, I'm looking more for a long term solution, as in making him WANT to drink. Or maybe some reassurance that he is not killing himself and will drink when he is thirsty and that is enough.

 

[Ceycham]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled male, approx 14 monthsold, in my care 1 yr
• Handling - rarely
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? gut loaded crickets, hornworms when on hand, BBF, BSF, wax worms
• Supplements - calcium without D every feeding except sunday, multivit every other sunday. Calcium with vit d every other sunday.
• Watering - Mist king, 4 minutes 2 times daily, 3 mintutes 2 more times daily
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Good solid moist droppings when fresh, dark brown, dry up to shriveled if seen later.
• History - Has always been a difficult to hydrate boy. Seems to inprove with something new, then back to his old ways.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage screen 4 ft high x 30" wide by 20" deep
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? reptisun 5.0 7a to 9p plus heat bulb.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created. Basking stays about 86 down to 70ish at floor
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? I really stopped checking. All the misting and live plants should do the job. The meter for humidity was being a nuisance.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Pothos
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Top of cage at about 6ft. yes to high traffic no to fans or air vents
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Iowa

We have in the past (before the mist king) tried putting him in the shower for 20-30 mintues at a time. He does not seem to want to drink there either, and prefers to try to get out, or stay out of the drips of water. when he does drink its a drop at a time, and few times. I've sseen some chams gulp at a puddle of water off a leaf or sit under a dripper, just opening mouth and getting a good drink. Not my boy. One to three measely drops shot with his tongue and he's done. How can one get hydrated like that?

 

[jamest0o0]

Try a long misting in the morning when lights just go on, or right before when it's still cool and not as bright. Chams tend to drink most at this time IME. Then another misting around an hour before lights out to keep the humidity high at night. So maybe instead of the spaced out ~14 minutes of misting that you're doing, do like ~12 in the morning all at once and then ~2 before lights out.

I switched to doing all of my chameleons like this and it seems they get more out of the one long session than spread throughout the day.

 

[JacksJill]

You can do long hand mistings. My oldest female eats like a champ but tends to have a tinge of color to her urates even with the early am/late pm auto mistings. To help her out I do long hand mistings 2-4 times a week where I see her drink and clean her eyes. I usually do this after the auto mister has run in the am to get more bang for my buck as she's already primed to drink. I'm also going to add overnight cool mist humidifier so she loses less hydration while sleeping.

 

[Ceycham]

Try a long misting in the morning when lights just go on, or right before when it's still cool and not as bright. Chams tend to drink most at this time IME. Then another misting around an hour before lights out to keep the humidity high at night. So maybe instead of the spaced out ~14 minutes of misting that you're doing, do like ~12 in the morning all at once and then ~2 before lights out.

I switched to doing all of my chameleons like this and it seems they get more out of the one long session than spread throughout the day.

Thank you. I'm going to try this. Wish us luck!

 

[jamest0o0]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

 

[Graves923]

How often does he defecate? If he doesnt go every day the urates may have a yellowish tint to them when he does go.

 

[Ceycham]

How often does he defecate? If he doesnt go every day the urates may have a yellowish tint to them when he does go.

I'm not sure if he goes daily, but if I had to guess I'd say from the number of his poops he goes very regularly.

 

[JacksJill]

The irregular poopers tend to have little orange inclusions in their urates versus the orange or orange ended urates the less hydrated have.

 

[jamest0o0]

To be honest I mist almost an hour a day with some days 2 hours for my Parsons and he still sometimes has slightly yellow urates.

 

[Ceycham]

I'm talking deeply orange urates. No white. all orange. Unfortunately.

 

[jamest0o0]

Could you post a picture next time? May be something going on with him if that is the case and plenty of humidity/water is being supplied.

 

[Ceycham]

Could you post a picture next time? May be something going on with him if that is the case and plenty of humidity/water is being supplied.

His picture is posted in the opening question. Le t me know if you think he looks bad. He has shed recently and still has some remnants, but other than that he looks ok to me.

Oh, it occurs to me perhpas you wanted a photo of the urates, so I've attached one here.

 

[jamest0o0]

Are those fresh or old? The one looks much more orange than the other, but could be due to the camera. I agree though, they do look orange than I'd want to see. Have you tried the long mist sessions?

 

[Ceycham]

Are those fresh or old? The one looks much more orange than the other, but could be due to the camera. I agree though, they do look orange than I'd want to see. Have you tried the long mist sessions?

Not fresh. This morning should have been a long session but I was not here for it. It was on a timer. Tomorrow I will watch him and check for fresh urates.

 

[Ceycham]

So this morning Norman had 2 8 minute ssessions a couple minutes apart. The first 8 had too many distractions but I noticed him shoot at one droplet. So I reset it for another 8 and tried to observe less noticeably, and I saw him shoot at two more drops. So he's interested, and I think I can handle the drainage for that much water, but keeping that up is going to go through tons of distilled water. Are you all using distilled in your reservoirs as I am to keep the minerals from gunking everything up?

 

[jamest0o0]

I use RO water, but yeah most people use RO or distilled

 

[Ceycham]

Wanted to thank everyone who responded. although there are a few deep golden urates on his cage bottom, I am also now seeing some paler toward white ones. I think we are heading in the right direction.