How much do they drink?

[lzoronz]

Hi!
We recently had a scare with our Panther, who's tongue got a little stuck out for about half an hour, with the phone help of our local reptile shop owner and no help what so ever from the vet who correctly identified him as a chameleon then charged us 20 bucks! We got it back in spraying it lightly with water.

After the reptile guy had a look he concluded that he was mildly dehydrate and that we had been giving him slightly too much vitamin powder.

Unfortunately, he must have injured his tongue slightly, he seems slow to catch his food and occasionally misses and has always been a rubbish drinker, to correct the problem we have taken to showering him once a day, more regular feeding and pipette feeding him 1ml of reptoboost in the morning and 1ml of water in the evening.

I have never tried hand feeding liquid to him before, does 2ml of liquid a day seem right for a 10 month old slightly dehydrated Panther and when I put it in his mouth I can either down the outside of his jaw under the lip (buccal cavity?) or in his actual mouth (trying to avoid the passage to the lungs) Which is preferred?

He seems much happier already and is much more active, looking less sorry for himself and doesn't even seem to mind the invasion that much but as a first timer I do panic a little!

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[roguekiller23231]

My female had a broken legm, and so i had to had feed and hand water her. the vet gave me a syringe, and i didnt realise how much they actully drink, she's about 8-9 months old, and a veiled yemen chameleon, and drinks about 60ml a day!

since cams will not drink from still water, unless you have misted and they have seen it moving. a dripper is a real must.

it's easier and less stressful to get them to drink. what ever you use to give your cham the water. let it see a few drips and it will move towards it. (i know mine dose) just keep dripping water on her mouth till she stop's drinking or moves away.

 

[roguekiller23231]

Dont try to force anythink down her throat, you can pry the mouth open carefully, and squirt a small amount (about 2-3ml) and then let it drink, and do it again. but this should only be done if it is really neccicary and they dont drink even when dehidrated.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

What is your misting Schedule? How many times a day and how long?

Do you use hot water during the misting?

It seems a little extreme that you would need a shower everyday. As a more permanent solution I would increase the spraying and make sure you use a dripper.

I agree with roguekiller, that a dripper is a must if you do not have a misting system .

 

[lzoronz]

Thanks, I do have a dripper system that drips onto a ficus which he pays absolutely no attention to at all, we mist him about 4-5 times a day. The only place he will drink from is standing water on a little flat plain of plastic on the side of the tank which dries out really fast, I'm trying to get the dripper onto it but its hard without getting running out of the mesh.

Like I say he shows very little interest in water at all, he's his own worst enemy!

60ml sounds like loads! that would be sixty pipettes full, I don't push it down his throat, just slightly into his mouth. a shower every day probably is a bit excessive but I am trying to be safe rather than sorry and I only let the edge of the shower get him so its more like very heavy misting and I keep his head out.

He doesn't seem to conform to the usual traits of a Panther at all, he only drinks still water, he seems to enjoy being held and if the cage door is open he will come out and sit on people of his own accord and when we took him up to the Pet shop he showed no aggression towards the other Chameleons through the glass at all... Actually put that all together and I wonder if he has some sight problems? Although he seems to be able to see food pretty readily.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Duration is also important. How long does each misting last?

It take up to 5 + minutes sometime before my guys to be stimulated to drink. It is the sensation that it is raining that will trigger Chames to drink. Some will only start to drink off of leaves after the triggering misting.

You may just have to mist until you notice them kinda chewing the air thing they do. A build up of the water on their face will cause them to open and let the water into their mouth. Just make sure there is a place for them to go if they get tired of the water. Misting up to 15 min is not that uncommon.

 

[dodolah]

as what they say in the medicine field before introducing tube feeding:
"If the mouth works, then use it."


Force feeding is incredibly stressful experience that should be use only when the benefit outweigh the risk.

try using silkworm and medium hornworms (even juicier than silkies) to help in hydrating him.
a picture of him and a full pictures of your enclosure will be a helpful addition to assess what is wrong.

 

[roguekiller23231]

whats the poo like?

is there any liquid in it or is it completely dry? should be small white bit, small gooey liqid and a big brown bit.

it could be that he's getting all the water he needs from what he eats. or maybe you dont actually see when he drinks? i know i hardly ever do.

 

[Rocky]

well this helped me I think i wasn't misting it for long enough. I generally just got everything wet and he acted like he didn't like it, but when i just did it for about 5 minutes he started to go out where i was spraying and drink out of it.

I have a dripper as well so he drank from there but i think this will help him drink more

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

well this helped me I think i wasn't misting it for long enough. I generally just got everything wet and he acted like he didn't like it, but when i just did it for about 5 minutes he started to go out where i was spraying and drink out of it.

I have a dripper as well so he drank from there but i think this will help him drink more

Thats great , Thats how it should work.

Are you using hot water? I have a mister now but, I used to boil water in a teapot and add about a quarter cold water and the rest hot to the spray bottle.

That helps not to shock the Chameleon. They do not like the cold water.

 

[Jam]

Roguekiller, does your cham really drink 60 ml of water a day? How big is he?? Hermie can't even handle 6 ml without turning into an edema balloon bc it's too much for him. Holy cow.

Jam

 

[roguekiller23231]

Roguekiller, does your cham really drink 60 ml of water a day? How big is he?? Hermie can't even handle 6 ml without turning into an edema balloon bc it's too much for him. Holy cow.

Jam

i was shocked aswell, it's my female, i dont know if it's because of her injurys or what, but the vet gave me a 40ml syringe (for her calcium), and i give her water with it. she drinks 1 and a half syringe's full, and i fill it over the guage. and she also drinks 5ml's of the calcium stuff befor that!

she's only a small thing, i dont know where she puts it all. lol but she is a little on the greedy side. eats a lot and drinks a lot. eats way more then my male, who is huge. my male dosnt drink that much either.

 

[lzoronz]

Thank you your advice has helped, I soaked the cage for ages in misting this morning and he actually took a half-arsed lick off a leaf but its a start.

I have started using warmer water as well, I was using luke warm before but I didn't take into account how much heat is lost in spraying, so now I'm making sure the mist is warm.

I wil try to get hold of some Vit-B for his tongue, is there a brand or source that anyone can recommend?

Since the tongue problem began he will only take worms perhaps because they are less crunchy? he is totally ignoring locusts, and brown and black crickets even after starving him for a couple days. Can anyone suggest the most sensible soft worm/grub to use until I think that he is strong enough to start weening back onto locusts and stuff?

His dropping do contain the three parts that they are supposed to although we did have one giant orange one a week or so that looked quite worrying but he seems to have passed that ok.