Day time misting question

[PlanetRemulak]

With the cold weather, I’ve switched from a 60 W bulb to 75 W bulb to use for basking. I’ve been kind of struggling with lower humidity at the top of the cage in exchange for heat, and started to get a little worried about my chameleon getting enough water. I run a dripper in the form of ice cubes in a ceramic pot over the cage daily, and my chameleon always expresses interest in the droplets of water dripping down onto his pothos. He’ll perch right by where the water drips down, but I rarely (if ever) see him licking water off the leaves. I figured I should add a mid-day mist to help bring up humidity and offer more opportunities to drink. I’m trying to avoid the wet surfaces/hot stagnant air combo so I currently have the basking bulb set to go off at 12:30 PM (it comes on at 7:30 AM, so by this point he’s had several hours to bask). An hour later after everything has cooled off, I mist for 3 minutes. Just to be sure that all the surfaces have had the chance to dry, the basking light doesn’t come back on until 2:30 PM. It turns off for the day at 5:30 PM. Wondering I’m leaving the basking light off for too long? I don’t want to take any chances with RI’s. How do you guys time your day time misting around your light schedule?

Thanks

 

[Beman]

With the cold weather, I’ve switched from a 60 W bulb to 75 W bulb to use for basking. I’ve been kind of struggling with lower humidity at the top of the cage in exchange for heat, and started to get a little worried about my chameleon getting enough water. I run a dripper in the form of ice cubes in a ceramic pot over the cage daily, and my chameleon always expresses interest in the droplets of water dripping down onto his pothos. He’ll perch right by where the water drips down, but I rarely (if ever) see him licking water off the leaves. I figured I should add a mid-day mist to help bring up humidity and offer more opportunities to drink. I’m trying to avoid the wet surfaces/hot stagnant air combo so I currently have the basking bulb set to go off at 12:30 PM (it comes on at 7:30 AM, so by this point he’s had several hours to bask). An hour later after everything has cooled off, I mist for 3 minutes. Just to be sure that all the surfaces have had the chance to dry, the basking light doesn’t come back on until 2:30 PM. It turns off for the day at 5:30 PM. Wondering I’m leaving the basking light off for too long? I don’t want to take any chances with RI’s. How do you guys time your day time misting around your light schedule?

Thanks

should be totally fine. try it out. He may not like the heat light going off mid day. Because of this I run mine until 2:30 and then have a misting at 4pm then the final one at 5:30.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

How do you guys time your day time misting around your light schedule?

I don't, really; at least I never thought of it that way. I mist around lights-on (6:am), noon, and lights-off (6m). While the mister's timer is pretty consistent, the analog timers I use for the lights can vary ±5 minutes. Ol' GP doesn't seem to mind; when he wants to, he comes out and enjoys the mist. When he doesn't want to (and at night) he has some places in the foliage he can hide or sleep that don't get wet.

Plant light runs roughly 6am to 6pm; basking and UVB run 7am to 5pm.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/heat-lamp.183647/#post-1680786

 

[PlanetRemulak]

should be totally fine. try it out. He may not like the heat light going off mid day. Because of this I run mine until 2:30 and then have a misting at 4pm then the final one at 5:30.

You’re right - he does not appreciate the basking lamp going off mid day. I tried a 4 PM misting but ended up omitting since the drainage tray was filling up fast. Makes a lot more sense now though, given the hotter cage temps; i‘ve said this so you so much, but thank you again @Beman! Your input is always helpful.

I don't, really; at least I never thought of it that way. I mist around lights-on (6:am), noon, and lights-off (6m). While the mister's timer is pretty consistent, the analog timers I use for the lights can vary ±5 minutes. Ol' GP doesn't seem to mind; when he wants to, he comes out and enjoys the mist. When he doesn't want to (and at night) he has some places in the foliage he can hide or sleep that don't get wet.

Plant light runs roughly 6am to 6pm; basking and UVB run 7am to 5pm.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/heat-lamp.183647/#post-1680786

Thanks for your input! Does Ol’ GP’s basking light stay on when the mister goes off around noon? wondering if you use a muffin fan to take care of air stagnating? Your lighting schedule is pretty similar to mine actually - my fiancé gets up at the crack of dawn and always manages to wake Beau up with the millions of lights he flips on, so at the moment I’ve got the Sansi LED’s and UVB/daylight bulb set to go on at 5:30. They go off around 6. Seems to be working well - my cham “gets ready for bed“ around 5 PM

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Does Ol’ GP’s basking light stay on when the mister goes off around noon?

Yarp.

wondering if you use a muffin fan to take care of air stagnating?

Narp. There's a 10°F differential between top & bottom of the enclosure, which is easily enough to produce a natural stack (chimney) effect.

Your lighting schedule is pretty similar to mine actually - my fiancé gets up at the crack of dawn and always manages to wake Beau up with the millions of lights he flips on, so at the moment I’ve got the Sansi LED’s and UVB/daylight bulb set to go on at 5:30. They go off around 6. Seems to be working well - my cham “gets ready for bed“ around 5 PM

So... 12½ hrs. of light. Shouldn't be a problem for your chameleon.

Might not hurt to check the photoperiods of each of your enclosure plants (short-day, long-day, day-neutral) though, especially if they flower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoperiodism
For each species, goggle: [species] photoperiod

One might not think that measly half-hour would make a difference, and it may/probably will not, but we've seen it happen with Missus' holiday cacti. Not having the correct photoperiod(s) during the right season/part of the year can confuse & mess them all up.

 

[PlanetRemulak]

Yarp.


Narp. There's a 10°F differential between top & bottom of the enclosure, which is easily enough to produce a natural stack (chimney) effect.


So... 12½ hrs. of light. Shouldn't be a problem for your chameleon.

Might not hurt to check the photoperiods of each of your enclosure plants (short-day, long-day, day-neutral) though, especially if they flower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoperiodism
For each species, goggle: [species] photoperiod

One might not think that measly half-hour would make a difference, and it may/probably will not, but we've seen it happen with Missus' holiday cacti. Not having the correct photoperiod(s) during the right season/part of the year can confuse & mess them all up.

I hadn’t even considered that, but that actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the heads up on this! i’ve got 4 pothos, a spider plant and a money tree in there, so not a huge variety.. but might as well make everyone happy

 

[Lindasjackson]

I run a dripper sometimes but not all the time. I never see my Jackson’s drink. I do all my misting and fogging at night when temps are in the low 60s upper 50s. I think my cham probably drinks early in the morning. My humidity in the upper part of my cage is in the 40 s sometimes and gets higher as you go down in the cage but Eustis seems to be happy. If he needs higher humidity he moves further into the foliage.

 

[PlanetRemulak]

I run a dripper sometimes but not all the time. I never see my Jackson’s drink. I do all my misting and fogging at night when temps are in the low 60s upper 50s. I think my cham probably drinks early in the morning. My humidity in the upper part of my cage is in the 40 s sometimes and gets higher as you go down in the cage but Eustis seems to be happy. If he needs higher humidity he moves further into the foliage.

Thank you for your input on this! My situation is similar. I know that you and I are keeping different species of chameleons, but it’s still helpful to hear your little guy is thriving in conditions similar to mine (I totally would have gone for a Jackson’s had I been able to bring my night time temps down into the low 60’s during the warmer months).

I added the day time misting just because my daytime humidity was hitting 33% and below at the very top during the day. Like your cage, the humidity in mine gets higher the further down Beau climbs (53-60%). I think as long as we’re noticing normal behavior, like open, buggy eyes, waking up with lights on and eating when food is offered, we can probably say that 40% humidity is still working fine.

@Lindasjackson youve had Eustis for a while now, haven’t you?? You‘ve come such a long way with him! Surely he’s got to be nearing adulthood?

 

[Breeannsmom]

I mist Breeanns enclosure three times a day...5 am upon waking at 12 or 1 at midday and at 5:30 at bedtime I mist with warm water for about 3 minutes each time, this seems to keep her humidity level at 50 Per cent. Oh and since my post about her not changing color this morning I misted her enclosure with room temp. water She obviously didn't like this as I noticed she became covered with black spots! So she can and does change patterns!

 

[Lindasjackson]

Thank you for your input on this! My situation is similar. I know that you and I are keeping different species of chameleons, but it’s still helpful to hear your little guy is thriving in conditions similar to mine (I totally would have gone for a Jackson’s had I been able to bring my night time temps down into the low 60’s during the warmer months).

I added the day time misting just because my daytime humidity was hitting 33% and below at the very top during the day. Like your cage, the humidity in mine gets higher the further down Beau climbs (53-60%). I think as long as we’re noticing normal behavior, like open, buggy eyes, waking up with lights on and eating when food is offered, we can probably say that 40% humidity is still working fine.

@Lindasjackson youve had Eustis for a while now, haven’t you?? You‘ve come such a long way with him! Surely he’s got to be nearing adulthood?

Yes, I’ve had Eustis since June and he’s now about 14-15 months old and already went through his first stage of leaving me little sperm packets on branches and he slowed way down on eating and was roaming his enclosure a lot! He’s calmed down now and is back to eating. I don’t know if Jackson’s have a specific breeding time during the year but boy he was really looking and concentrating on finding a mate for about a month and then suddenly was fine again. He’s gained 10 grams since I got him and has grown at least an inch.
I think you and I got our chams and joined the forum about the same time. How’s your little one doing? I agree, as long as they’re acting normal and are active then numbers shouldn’t matter as much as long as they’re not too far out of the correct parameters.

 

[Lindasjackson]

Thank you for your input on this! My situation is similar. I know that you and I are keeping different species of chameleons, but it’s still helpful to hear your little guy is thriving in conditions similar to mine (I totally would have gone for a Jackson’s had I been able to bring my night time temps down into the low 60’s during the warmer months).

I added the day time misting just because my daytime humidity was hitting 33% and below at the very top during the day. Like your cage, the humidity in mine gets higher the further down Beau climbs (53-60%). I think as long as we’re noticing normal behavior, like open, buggy eyes, waking up with lights on and eating when food is offered, we can probably say that 40% humidity is still working fine.

@Lindasjackson youve had Eustis for a while now, haven’t you?? You‘ve come such a long way with him! Surely he’s got to be nearing adulthood?

Yes, I’ve had Eustis since June and he’s now about 14-15 months old and already went through his first stage of leaving me little sperm packets on branches and he slowed way down on eating and was roaming his enclosure a lot! He’s calmed down now and is back to eating. I don’t know if Jackson’s have a specific breeding time during the year but boy he was really looking and concentrating on finding a mate for about a month and then suddenly was fine again. He’s gained 10 grams since I got him and has grown at least an inch.
I think you and I got our chams and joined the forum about the same time. How’s your little one doing? I agree, as long as they’re acting normal and are active then numbers shouldn’t matter as much as long as they’re not too far out of the correct parameters.

 

[PlanetRemulak]

Yes, I’ve had Eustis since June and he’s now about 14-15 months old and already went through his first stage of leaving me little sperm packets on branches and he slowed way down on eating and was roaming his enclosure a lot! He’s calmed down now and is back to eating. I don’t know if Jackson’s have a specific breeding time during the year but boy he was really looking and concentrating on finding a mate for about a month and then suddenly was fine again. He’s gained 10 grams since I got him and has grown at least an inch.
I think you and I got our chams and joined the forum about the same time. How’s your little one doing? I agree, as long as they’re acting normal and are active then numbers shouldn’t matter as much as long as they’re not too far out of the correct parameters.

We did get ours around the same time! The sperm plugs are always a nice little surprise, aren’t they? I usually find them dangling off of leaves. Sounds like Eustis is growing up, especially since he was so hyper-focused on finding himself a girlfriend! Mine has definitely grown quite a bit, but I’m not sure he’s gone through that particular phase just yet. I’m sure it’s coming!

 

[Lindasjackson]

Your guy should have gone through that phase already since he’s leaving you sperm packets. If he’s already super active maybe you just didn’t notice that he was trying to find a girlfriend. Eustis has his places he likes to hang out but isn’t normally super active so when he started prowling his whole enclosure then I knew something was up especially when he stopped eating as much.

 

[PlanetRemulak]

Your guy should have gone through that phase already since he’s leaving you sperm packets. If he’s already super active maybe you just didn’t notice that he was trying to find a girlfriend. Eustis has his places he likes to hang out but isn’t normally super active so when he started prowling his whole enclosure then I knew something was up especially when he stopped eating as much.

I think you‘re right - it’s happened and I just missed it. Like Eustis, mine generally picks a favorite spot and camps out there for a large portion of the day. I guess I should have known something was up when he was trying to climb down one of the plastic pots his money tree is in