Getting my cham to drink more water

[streetillegal66]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 3 sides screen, one side glass. 12"x12"x16"
Lighting - 2 zoomed 12" hoods, one with a 50watt incandescent red heat bulb, the other with a reptisun fluorescent 5.0 UVB
Temperature - Day: 80 mid cage, 85 basking spot, 75 floor temp. Night 75 midcage, 85 basking spot, 70 floor temp
Humidity - use humidity gauge. humidity ranges from 40%-60%, Mist 2-4 times a day
Plants - 2 types of dracaenas
Location - cage is on top of a book shelf, bottom of the cage is a 36" from the floor and the top is 52" from the ground.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veilded 2 months old in my care as of 10/8/08
Handling - Have only handeled her three times as of now
Feeding - 7 1/4 crickets a day, 4 in the morning and 3 at night
Supplements -zoo meds reptivite evey other day i dust the crickets (working on changing suplementatin)
Watering - I mist about 4times a day for about a two minutes, use a dripper for about 2 hours a day
Fecal Description - light yellow, grayish brown
History - nothing yet
Current Problem - my Vielded runs away when I mist her, Her fecal compesitions is still yellow. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on getting her better hydrated. I feel as though I provide enough water but, Baised on her fecise I know she needs to drink more. Dose anyone have any tips on getting a cham to drink more water?

 

[dodolah]

feeding him small silkworm and hornworms should help with hydration. Also, you can lengthen the misting session to 5 minutes.

 

[beeze]

Do you have a dripper set up for her? Punch a few small holes in the bottom of a cup or small bowl and let it drip slowly over a vine hanging down in her cage. She should drink frm the vine. What color is the white part of her poop?

 

[streetillegal66]

I have a dripper, most of the time i see her drink, she uses her tounge to get the droplets of water before they fall from the top of her cage. Her fecies is slightly yellow thats why I asked for some advice on getting her better hydrated. She dose not like being misted one bit, I have the spray bottle on top of the heat light fixture so i am misting her with warm water.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Is your UVB light a compact fluorescent? These are extremely dangerous!
Also, no red heat lamp for a chameleon.
Your night time temperatures are too high.
A small amount of yellow in the urates is normal and does not mean that your chameleon is dehydrated.
Here is some good basic info:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[streetillegal66]

My UVB is a compact flourecent, I guess I need to change that, I will go to the pet store today to swap it out and I will get something other than the red light too.

 

[streetillegal66]

Just changed over to a tube type UVB florecent and a 40watt incandesint light for heat.

I have a zoomed little dripper, and I am having some issues with the valve, It seams that I can only either turn it on or off, sometimes I can get an inbetween but, its usualy an issue. I try to get it to drip about one drop of water every 5-10 seconds to avoid flooding the cage. also, where the valve meets the plastic container it drips and the rubber tube always falls off the valve.

I was wondering if anyone experinced the same problems? It was $10 so Im inclined to think that everyones dose this.

 

[JoshCrane1]

Just changed over to a tube type UVB florecent and a 40watt incandesint light for heat.

I have a zoomed little dripper, and I am having some issues with the valve, It seams that I can only either turn it on or off, sometimes I can get an inbetween but, its usualy an issue. I try to get it to drip about one drop of water every 5-10 seconds to avoid flooding the cage. also, where the valve meets the plastic container it drips and the rubber tube always falls off the valve.

I was wondering if anyone experinced the same problems? It was $10 so Im inclined to think that everyones dose this.

mine used to do that until i bought another valve to butt up against it, in my case i used a 2gang air valve and the one dripper gets "t" to 2 cages.

 

[streetillegal66]

mine used to do that until i bought another valve to butt up against it, in my case i used a 2gang air valve and the one dripper gets "t" to 2 cages.

Can you get that at the pet store in the aquarium section?

 

[BocaJan]

What a great idea. I stopped using mine because of how the water would run all over the top of the screen then all of a sudden dump water into the cage. I wasn't really happy with it.

 

[opihiman]

feeding him small silkworm and hornworms should help with hydration. Also, you can lengthen the misting session to 5 minutes.

This is solid information here. Hydration by both food sources and through increasing you availability to water would be the easiest ways to do this.

If you are worried about the accumilation of water you could add a plant to you viv and have the dripper fall on to you plant.

hope this helps

OPI

 

[DryWater]

Just changed over to a tube type UVB florecent and a 40watt incandesint light for heat.

I have a zoomed little dripper, and I am having some issues with the valve, It seams that I can only either turn it on or off, sometimes I can get an inbetween but, its usualy an issue. I try to get it to drip about one drop of water every 5-10 seconds to avoid flooding the cage. also, where the valve meets the plastic container it drips and the rubber tube always falls off the valve.

I was wondering if anyone experinced the same problems? It was $10 so Im inclined to think that everyones dose this.

I had the same problem with the drippers, I went and got an automatic mister that i set on the lowest duration and second fastest delay, I think it's 10 seconds on and a few hours delay, also added an ultrasonic fogger on low which creates a low rate drip from the screen in addition to leaving a little water on the leaves it goes past...

 

[sandrachameleon]

A drip every second may be more stimulating than the slow drip described.
Can make a home made dripper or improve the one you have by using aquarium air hose and valves for same. make sure drips splash onto leaves or are otherwise obvious. My hose hangs well into the cage, and they've all become accustomed to sticking their tongues on the end of the hose, so it goes right in their mouths. (this means Im now having to clean the tubing more often, but thats okay) If their mouths are there to grab the drips, it hits leaves, which does catch their attention too, especially the younger ones not yet totally comfortable with the drippers.
Aim the mist onto leaves, not onto the chameleon itself. use very warm water.
And I agree with the suggestion to include silkworms and hornworms - good advice.

 

[George Yamen]

?

Is your UVB light a compact fluorescent? These are extremely dangerous!
Also, no red heat lamp for a chameleon.
Your night time temperatures are too high.
A small amount of yellow in the urates is normal and does not mean that your chameleon is dehydrated.
Here is some good basic info:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

why is a compact fluoresent so dangerous?

 

[sandrachameleon]

why is a compact fluoresent so dangerous?

CFLs are Reported to be bad for their eyes.
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Use pure hot water...it cools off as it mists..byt the time it hits them its just warm. I run a misting system straight off the hot water tap and they usually will sit directly under it cause its warm for them.