Dehydrated Veiled, but can't get him out of cage

[KKess]

So I have posted a thread already a few days ago in regards to not knowing if my Veiled was dehydrated or getting enough water. But I know for sure now he is dehydrated. I've only had him 2 weeks and 3 days. I've seen him drink 3-4 droplets from his dripper two separate times, and once from the water droplets from leaves. But that is all over the 2 weeks I've had him. I'm home all day and get to watch him closely. So I'm almost 99% sure this is all he has drank. His urates were white until about 3 days ago. Now they are orangish. I have a hand mister and when I water him I see him doing the motion of drinking with his mouth, like as if he wants to drink. But then he just doesn't drink. I tried to take him out once to do the shower method but was not a success. He hissed many times as soon as I tried to
Put him in the shower. I don't know what to do, because I cannot get him out of his cage. I'm also waiting on a hand dripper( basically a syringe) to arrive to see if he will drink
From that. Any advice ? I don't want to force him out and traumatized him

 

[Angelwolf]

I would just get in there, and get him out. Veiled boys are just grumpy and territorial. Once you actually get your hands around him, he will chill out. But you need to get water into him NOW. Because by the time they start to show signs that they are sick, it's often too late. So get in there and get him the water he needs. And perhaps try to get to the vet. There may be something else going on, causing him not to drink.

 

[KKess]

I would just get in there, and get him out. Veiled boys are just grumpy and territorial. Once you actually get your hands around him, he will chill out. But you need to get water into him NOW. Because by the time they start to show signs that they are sick, it's often too late. So get in there and get him the water he needs. And perhaps try to get to the vet. There may be something else going on, causing him not to drink.

So after I posted this I saw him sitting in front of his dripper watching the water drops. He drank two so far out of the 10-15 drops it produced. It's almost like his timing is off with the drops. Like he will go to flick his tongue at it, but the water will have dropped by then. It's set to about 1 drop per every 6-7 seconds. Also, in regards to you saying just take him out. I can do that, but like I said he wouldn't give me a chance to put him in the shower. Also that same time I had him out I tried to put him in front of the focet to see if he would take to that, and he would just climb and climb up my arm away from it. So even if I get him out I don't know how to make him take the water. Ya know ?

 

[Graves923]

The mist from the shower spraying on the wall with stimulate him to start drinking. My chameleon hates when I mist his cage and often hides in his usual safe spot but will normally come out after a minute or two and start lapping up water droplets.

You wont be able to make him drink but you can try to make his natural instinct kick in.

 

[KKess]

The mist from the shower spraying on the wall with stimulate him to start drinking. My chameleon hates when I mist his cage and often hides in his usual safe spot but will normally come out after a minute or two and start lapping up water droplets.

You wont be able to make him drink but you can try to make his natural instinct kick in.

Ok thank you. If I am able to pull this off, and he drinks from the shower... do you know if this is something I'll have continue to due daily, or do you think once I get his initial instincts to drink he should continue to drink ok from his cage?

 

[jajeanpierre]

So I have posted a thread already a few days ago in regards to not knowing if my Veiled was dehydrated or getting enough water. But I know for sure now he is dehydrated. I've only had him 2 weeks and 3 days. I've seen him drink 3-4 droplets from his dripper two separate times, and once from the water droplets from leaves. But that is all over the 2 weeks I've had him. I'm home all day and get to watch him closely. So I'm almost 99% sure this is all he has drank. His urates were white until about 3 days ago. Now they are orangish. I have a hand mister and when I water him I see him doing the motion of drinking with his mouth, like as if he wants to drink. But then he just doesn't drink. I tried to take him out once to do the shower method but was not a success. He hissed many times as soon as I tried to
Put him in the shower. I don't know what to do, because I cannot get him out of his cage. I'm also waiting on a hand dripper( basically a syringe) to arrive to see if he will drink
From that. Any advice ? I don't want to force him out and traumatized him

You are seeing him drink--they drink the falling mist.

This is why I believe every chameleon needs an automatic mister. Keepers don't have the patience or time to sit there and mist for five minutes. They say they do, but I don't believe it. Also, hand misters usually have too large droplets that they don't like being hit with. They want a fine fog of mist.

I never see my quads or graciliors drink except if I have let them get dehydrated by the dry air outside or they have just laid eggs.

 

[KKess]

You are seeing him drink--they drink the falling mist.

This is why I believe every chameleon needs an automatic mister. Keepers don't have the patience or time to sit there and mist for five minutes. They say they do, but I don't believe it. Also, hand misters usually have too large droplets that they don't like being hit with. They want a fine fog of mist.

I never see my quads or graciliors drink except if I have let them get dehydrated by the dry air outside or they have just laid eggs.

Well you won't believe me then either. Lol. But I do stand there for 4-5 minutes, with a timer on. Honestly, I desperately want him to drink
So bad that I do stand there and say " come on buddy drink for mommy" and mist him as long as I can. Haha. And I thought he was drinking the mist like you said, but it just doesn't seem like enough. And I am getting an automatic mister, I just got the hand one until I have enough money for the MistKing. I will HAVE to get one no matter what when I return back to work as I won't be home enough to do it myself

 

[Carlton]

IMHO you don't necessarily need to get him out of his cage to rehydrate him. If you raise the humidity level of the cage itself you won't need to shower him. Even if he doesn't like being misted directly in the cage or doesn't seem to drink enough, if you raise the cage's ability to retain humidity better he will stay hydrated longer between mistings. I have found that many chams just don't use a dripper very reliably, so I rely on cage misting and lots of foliage to make more water available for when they WANT to drink it. Also, if the air humidity in the room is too dry (and we are in our winter heating season when our houses tend to be drier anyway), the cage will dry out faster and spend more of the time much drier than you realize. Chams are not very efficient at conserving body moisture. They didn't need to be based on the environments they adapted to. They tend to lose body moisture even through respiration if the room air is dry. THIS can dehydrate your cham faster. So, even if he doesn't seem to be drinking all that much he can still stay ahead of the curve if the cage is humid more of the time.

 

[KKess]

IMHO you don't necessarily need to get him out of his cage to rehydrate him. If you raise the humidity level of the cage itself you won't need to shower him. Even if he doesn't like being misted directly in the cage or doesn't seem to drink enough, if you raise the cage's ability to retain humidity better he will stay hydrated longer between mistings. I have found that many chams just don't use a dripper very reliably, so I rely on cage misting and lots of foliage to make more water available for when they WANT to drink it. Also, if the air humidity in the room is too dry (and we are in our winter heating season when our houses tend to be drier anyway), the cage will dry out faster and spend more of the time much drier than you realize. Chams are not very efficient at conserving body moisture. They didn't need to be based on the environments they adapted to. They tend to lose body moisture even through respiration if the room air is dry. THIS can dehydrate your cham faster. So, even if he doesn't seem to be drinking all that much he can still stay ahead of the curve if the cage is humid more of the time.

Thank you ! I'm super happy right now bc the syringe came in the mail. Again my Cham is still not too fond of me. But I was patient and spent 15 min just letting him see the water dripping from the syringe. Then I misted him well( believe it or not he actually comes out of hiding when I mist him and gets right in the path of the water. Go figure). Then once I saw him doing the motion of drinking I placed the hand dripper/syringe in front of him. He drank three times from it!!! I know it's not enough but at least I know with some trust and time he might take more from me. Also in regards to the humidity, I live in Fl and we have yet to have our cold spell. So the ambient air is not too dry here. His humidity level stays no less than 50% but is at 75% majority of the time. I have noticed though that the water on the leaves dries within 15-20 min which I think is one of the reasons he doesn't drink much from them

 

[Angelwolf]

That's definitely a good start! You may also want to increase your dripper rate to 1 drop every 3-4 seconds. He will eventually get the timing right. And if he is coming out into the spray when you mist him, that's great! That is his instinct becoming stronger than his fear! He will be rehydrated in no time!

 

[KKess]

That's definitely a good start! You may also want to increase your dripper rate to 1 drop every 3-4 seconds. He will eventually get the timing right. And if he is coming out into the spray when you mist him, that's great! That is his instinct becoming stronger than his fear! He will be rehydrated in no time!

Thank you so much for everyone's help! I'm going to adjust his dripper like you said and move it to a place he tends to spend more time af

 

[JamesB88]

Well you won't believe me then either. Lol. But I do stand there for 4-5 minutes, with a timer on. Honestly, I desperately want him to drink
So bad that I do stand there and say " come on buddy drink for mommy" and mist him as long as I can. Haha. And I thought he was drinking the mist like you said, but it just doesn't seem like enough. And I am getting an automatic mister, I just got the hand one until I have enough money for the MistKing. I will HAVE to get one no matter what when I return back to work as I won't be home enough to do it myself

mistking is essential, I had a similar problem until I installed my mistking. Now my Cham will sit on the branch closest to the nozzle and hold his mouth open to intake water, he quickly hides in his safe spot after a few sevonds of this. He does drink the water droplets off leaves but I rarely see this as I'm not home for half the day. I was reading a thread on here and someone said it best by saying it's more important to have the availability of water then to actually see your Cham drink, like I stated I very very rarely see my Cham drink, and having a misting system will provide water constantly through the day. Try some feeders that are higher in water content also to help hydrate him some. Hope this helps a little. There's many knowledgeable people on this forum with much better advice than I can give but I know how it is when your worried and want answers.

 

[KKess]

mistking is essential, I had a similar problem until I installed my mistking. Now my Cham will sit on the branch closest to the nozzle and hold his mouth open to intake water, he quickly hides in his safe spot after a few sevonds of this. He does drink the water droplets off leaves but I rarely see this as I'm not home for half the day. I was reading a thread on here and someone said it best by saying it's more important to have the availability of water then to actually see your Cham drink, like I stated I very very rarely see my Cham drink, and having a misting system will provide water constantly through the day. Try some feeders that are higher in water content also to help hydrate him some. Hope this helps a little. There's many knowledgeable people on this forum with much better advice than I can give but I know how it is when your worried and want answers.

Thanks! I've heard that too. That at least know water is available to them which is why I have the dripper. But I will most certainly be getting an automatic mister soon. Let me ask this though. So Harvey ( my Cham) has a cup that I put worms in if he won't take it from my hand. And because of my misting a very small amount of water accumulates in his cup. Just now I saw him drink water from the cup. I know they say a water dish is bad Bc if bacteria. But seeing him do that made me think , " ok. He does recognize standing water".... is it such a bad idea to keep a very small dish with water if I can clean it out daily?

 

[Angelwolf]

I think the risks outweigh the benefits when it comes to dishes. I would just say that it's good to know that he will drink from there and leave it at that. Don't purposely put water in, but allow him to drink from there if he wants to.

 

[JamesB88]

Like stated above it's good to know your Cham will drink the water but it would be too much of a risk factor for me. Keep hand misting and the dripper going until you get an automated mister and I think you should be solid!

 

[Joseph 1233]

So after I posted this I saw him sitting in front of his dripper watching the water drops. He drank two so far out of the 10-15 drops it produced. It's almost like his timing is off with the drops. Like he will go to flick his tongue at it, but the water will have dropped by then. It's set to about 1 drop per every 6-7 seconds. Also, in regards to you saying just take him out. I can do that, but like I said he wouldn't give me a chance to put him in the shower. Also that same time I had him out I tried to put him in front of the focet to see if he would take to that, and he would just climb and climb up my arm away from it. So even if I get him out I don't know how to make him take the water. Ya know ?

Wondering if things are OK now and just noticed you said your dripper only makes a drop every 6 or 7 seconds I noticed my chams having trouble getting water untill I made my dripper drip faster about every 2 or 3 seconds