Agape1love4ever
New Member
Is it okay to leave the humidifier on all night for my Jackson chameleon
Humidifier
- Thread starter Agape1love4ever
- Start date
JapSolum
Member
is it in the cage or just in the same room? if you have a hygrometer that shows the highs and lows of the day, I'd suggest starting for a couple hours and seeing what the low is, and adjust from there until you find the sweet spot. but if the lights aren't on there's a lot less chance of bacteria growing from it
Agape1love4ever
New Member
Thank you very much. The humidifier I ran a hose that goes into the cage
Agape1love4ever
New Member
So then should I only run it at night?
JapSolum
Member
if it's running directly into the cage that would be my suggestion. it can breed bacteria pretty quick. I will say I'm not an expert with jacksons, but I'd say the bulk of your daytime humidity should come from misting and live plants. if you have a humidifier in the room raising the overall humidity of the room itself I dont think you'd have as much to worry about.
Goose502
Chameleon Enthusiast
When you say your running tubing into the cage are you referring to one of the fog machine humidifiers? If you see a cloud or fog, it’s not a humidifier, you are nebulizing, and this is not good for extended periods. On and off for a few minutes here and there is ok, but it will lead to respiratory infections as the mist is actually larger particles of water. Humidity is invisible.
Agape1love4ever
New Member
So it is a humidifier that sends a bit of fog into the cage yet I have seen certain people that have Jackson's do the same thing and they said they have had success at raising their chameleons
JapSolum
Member
yeah like @Goose502 said, they're ok in short bursts here and there, especially when the lights are off. but I wouldn't run it too much. and when the lights are on it will breed bacteria fast and can lead to RIs. I would get as much live plants as possible as they maintain humidity very well, and if you keep up with mistings, you should be able to keep humidity up without relying on fogger as much. I used a fogger more in the beginning, had some walls closed off to keep it in and he got an ri. after that i got live plants, mist 2-3 times a day and have been able to open all sides of the cage and still keep my humidity at a perfect level, while at the same time providing more ventilation. but mine is a veiled and i know care for jacksons is a little different.
Agape1love4ever
New Member
What king of plants do you think?and what kind of light fixture would I need?
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
It's not the size of the droplets that causes the problems, it is lack of air exchange and presence of bacteria and fungi. If you pour moisture into a closed system (regardless of droplet size), warm it up with lights, add the bacterial and/or fungal organisms from the plants, soil, and fecal matter to the mix you can end up with a swamp and a sick cham. If your cage allows air exchange with the room and it's kept relatively clean, the hazard is much lower. Unless you live in the tropics, chances are the room is drier than the cage setup. Moist air will tend to transfer to the outside air as it attempts to equalize between.
To answer your question OP, no it's probably not a good idea or even necessary to run a humidifier in a cham's cage all night. The air isn't circulating as much at night because the lights are off....when on, the heat creates an updraft that pulls air up and out off the cage top. Air exchange. The cage needs to be "leaky". How often and how long you will need to run a humidifier every day will depend a lot on your local climate; the normal humidity level and the temp range in the ROOM where the cage sits. In a dry climate you'll need to humidify the cage more often and for a bit longer each cycle. In a moderately humid climate not so much. Oh, don't forget that the cycles we set in summer may not work in winter depending on how you heat and cool the room, so watch your hygrometers as the seasons pass. We forget that tropical habitats don't tend to vary as much as our continental climate does.
What all this means is you can do it if you MONITOR the humidity levels with a good quality gauge, keep the cage clean, allow the cage furnishings to go through drier and wetter cycles throughout the 24 hour daily cycle.
As a rather extreme example, I kept montane cham species at 9000 ft elevation in the bone dry Rockies. The typical house humidity level hovered around 20% on a wet day. In my cham room I ran 2 ultrasonic room humidifiers on timers multiple times a day, once at night. This was just to supplement the automated misting system that also cycled every 3-4 hours on a timer, and I STILL hand sprayed the chams directly so they could drink. Every single day. Not one of them had respiratory problems despite all that moisture being pumped into that room. There was enough moisture getting sucked up by that dry air and being pushed by the pressure of the humidifiers and the misting system to keep everything circulated.
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