How to get scared Cham to drink

[taz_s_824]

I have a 6 month old veiled in a 2ftx2ftx4ft cage with 2 pothos and one large umbrella plant. He is very skittish and hisses a lot. Whenever I mist him, he runs away. I've never seen him drink off the dropper or lick water off of the leaves, but since I got him 3 months ago, he's been eating a lot of leaves. I understand this is due to hydration and once in a while i see that he has yellow urates. I'm concerned he's not drinking enough water. How do I encourage a scared chameleon who hates being misted to drink more instead of resorting to eating leaves? I try to keep his plants clean because he does tend to urate and poop on them.

 

[Remkon]

Easiest way is to get a mister on a timer and have it go off for around 3 minutes 4x a day.
You don't have to be in the room, so he doesn't have to worry about you when he should be drinking.

A lot of chameleons don't seem to drink in front of people anyway so he may just be licking drips of leaves when you are not there.

The urate should be white or at least partially white. Urates will also turn yellow when the chameleon defecates less often but typically the freshest part will stay white.
Read the poop101 topic for more info.

If he is really dehydeated (pics help) you may want to try to give him a shower. Put him on a large plant, and aim the shower to the wall so the water bounces back onto the plant, leave him there (supervised) for 30-45mins. Shower should be luke warm.

 

[Jax_Cham_MAN]

if showers don't work you can go to little bowls of water

 

[Jax_Cham_MAN]

to train them to drink water out of little bowls you bring the bowl to mouths very carefully
1 than try to get them to open there mouths when you put the water to the mouths
2 if he opens it your chameleon will likely recognize it as a source
3 than put the little bowl of water somewhere stable in the cage
4 your chameleon may not do one of this steps if so try try again
it pays off my chameleons love the little water bowl

 

[Remkon]

I don't think drinking from a bowl is a good idea if you are going to leave the bowl in the enclosure... chances are your chameleon will poop in the water and later drink it, also food will easily drown in it and it will be a breeding ground for bacteria.

Taking advantage of the natural behavior of your chameleon (drinking raindrops) is the most hygienic and safest way to go.

 

[Jax_Cham_MAN]

your right it is a bad place for bacteria that's why you have to clean every few days

 

[mvad]

Each Cham is different and require longer or shorter misting times to drink. 90% of the time I don't see my chameleon drink. Other times I see him shooting at water drops after the mister stops. Depends on his mood.

 

[taz_s_824]

Thank you everyone for all of the helpful feedback. I am breathing a sigh of relief knowing my options for my veiled.

I recently grew more concerned because I recorded a 10 min video of him drinking. The concern is that he was not licking the leaves but eating them. He had tried to eat the fake leaves too when there was no water. I am worried he may have the misconception that water comes from eating leaves only. Do chameleons get hydration from leaves with no water droplets on them?

I noticed recently his urates were a slight yellow, so I decided to give him a shower today. He drank a lot within the first 15 minutes. I plan on doing this 2-3 times a week. Will this help him learn to find alternate sources of water such as, drinking from dripper, drinking from water droplets on cage, etc?