Feeding water

[Highway61]

I read the Water & Humitity care section but I didn't see anything about manually using an eye dropper type utensil to feed water to cham's mouth. I have a bio enclosure and mist it a few times a day so my cham can drink off the leaves of plants like they normally would do in the wild but I've never actually *seen* it. When I drop water to his mouth he readily takes it. Is this good or bad?

 

[snitz427]

Im trying to teach mine to do that... only to make it easier if he needs medicine or gets dehydrated. Not every day.

It doesnt sound like a bad thing to me so long as its not his only access to drinking water.

 

[alphakenc]

If the cham needs some hydration in a hurry like slightly sunken eyes , I would recommend it.here is another old thread I can share with Yall
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...eping-his-left-eye-closed-please-help.154986/
You can find the parts at the end that Im talking about the feeding water with the syringe .

 

[Highway61]

Thanks for the replies. He doesn't even look dehydrated (to me) but he takes to the syringe like a baby does a bottle!

 

[alphakenc]

Yup like the baby does a bottle....MEMORY FLASH BACK....

 

[Highway61]

With an another hour of daylight to go, my little guy is already hunkered down for the night

 

[alphakenc]

Sleep tight there..find ur spot n sweet dream.

 

[Carlton]

I read the Water & Humitity care section but I didn't see anything about manually using an eye dropper type utensil to feed water to cham's mouth. I have a bio enclosure and mist it a few times a day so my cham can drink off the leaves of plants like they normally would do in the wild but I've never actually *seen* it. When I drop water to his mouth he readily takes it. Is this good or bad?

Totally fine. I usually tried to teach my chams to take water from a hand held syringe. Most, but not all of them did. It wasn't that difficult and I was able to mix a med into the syringe water once in a while if necessary. I'd spray down the cage foliage as usual. Most of the time the cham would react to the spray and begin reflex swallowing or even licking water off the leaves. Once it was "in drinking mode" I'd quietly put a syringe filled with warm water in the foliage above its head and drip it right on its face so the water ran down into the corners of its mouth and along the lip line. They didn't always respond the first few times I did it, but eventually they would be less distracted by the presence of my hand/syringe. Then I'd put the tip of the syringe close to their snout and offer water for as long as they wanted to drink. They would learn that the hand-held syringe was a great source for a nice long drink. I could monitor how much they drank every day and it was nice to spend some time one-on-one with them. It was a really great thing for big chams like melleri that can drink very leisurely for 20 minutes without stopping. Be patient...most chams drink fairly slowly unless they are desperately thirsty.

I also had a wc verrucosus who learned to lick water out of my cupped hand. Happened sort of by accident at first. He was licking water off a large silk leaf that tended to form a pool during cage misting. I noticed him licking the water off it and held the leaf horizontally from underneath to make it a bit easier for the water to pool on it. He licked the leaf then continued to lick my hand holding the leaf. Eventually I could cup my hand, fill it with water and offer it to him. He'd hold on to my fingers and lick it dry. I actually fooled myself into believing he was trying to be friendly....nah...my skeptical side usually set me straight eventually.

 

[Kiraral]

Make sure you use plastic and not glass for the pipette. I saw a post elsewhere where a cham bit and broke a glass one! Not a bad idea at all to get them used to it just in case they need meds