About how long should i let my drip system run a day? and how far spread out should the drips be? dont wanna soak him but also dont want to not have enough water for him to drink
Mine are set to drip quickly, 1-3 drips a second, in the early morning, until about a litre has run through (less than 15 minutes). This is when they prefer to do most of their drinking. Late morning i refill slow the drip rate to about 1 drip every few seconds or so, and that lasts longer. In the mid afternoon i fill the drippers again.
How often you run your drippers will depend on the type of chameleon, its age, how hot/humid it is there, how much you mist, the type of prey you offer and what you feed that prey.
My chameleon hates being misted so I rely mostly on the dripper since he loves it, and his urates look better when I use the dripper as the main water supply. They tend to deteriorate when I rely mostly on misting via a hand pump sprayer since my cham tends to run from the water, even going so far as to retreat to the bottom of the cage searching for a dry area (?) This panicky behavior isn't displayed with the dripper.
I also drip at a similar rate to what sandra does. About 1 drip/second for around 15-30 minutes 2-3 times a day.
My new thing I'm trying is to take an ice cube tray full of ice and just flip it over on the cage. It takes a few hours to melt so there's a constant water flow. Then I'll just spray the cage in the afternoon.
to sandras comment, panther chameleon, 5 months old, usually about 60% humidity, 80 degress mid cage and a tad hotter in the upper basking area, mist him once in morning, a little mid afternoon and once about an hour and a half b4 bed, mainly crickets atm, suggestions?