Hydration

[Pdelago]

I've had my chameleon for over a month now and I say he is 4 months old at this point. He has had very noticeable growth in the last month; he eats well. The only time I ever saw him drink was when I first bought him and it was in the car ride home; I had him sitting on a little fountain with standing water in the bottom just to make him feel a little easier on the way home.

I mist the leaves in the shelter a couple times a day and the humidity hovers around 40 to 50 throughout the day.

I already know how everybody feels about water fountains but I do have one in the shelter that I fill and clean weekly; I feel like this helps with the humidity and is also another source of water. I buy the purified water from the store and don't use tap water.

He doesn't show any signs of dehydrations; eyes and skin look full and smooth.

I'm going to build a water dripping system but I'm just curious how I should set it up.... What kind of drip rate? I'd like for it to run almost all day so I can stock the bugs up and leave the dripper on for a couple days when I take off for a fishing trip.

Any suggestions?

-Paul

 

[jpowell86]

I've had my chameleon for over a month now and I say he is 4 months old at this point. He has had very noticeable growth in the last month; he eats well. The only time I ever saw him drink was when I first bought him and it was in the car ride home; I had him sitting on a little fountain with standing water in the bottom just to make him feel a little easier on the way home.

I mist the leaves in the shelter a couple times a day and the humidity hovers around 40 to 50 throughout the day.

I already know how everybody feels about water fountains but I do have one in the shelter that I fill and clean weekly; I feel like this helps with the humidity and is also another source of water. I buy the purified water from the store and don't use tap water.

He doesn't show any signs of dehydrations; eyes and skin look full and smooth.

I'm going to build a water dripping system but I'm just curious how I should set it up.... What kind of drip rate? I'd like for it to run almost all day so I can stock the bugs up and leave the dripper on for a couple days when I take off for a fishing trip.

Any suggestions?

-Paul

Water fountains aren't necessarily a bad thing. A water fountain coupled with a lazy owner is the bad combination. As long as you keep it clean from bacteria buildup and fresh water..no worries.

What species are you keeping? In all reality, you would get better numbers with your humidity if you added more live plants. The fountain really want do much for you on that front. Also, I personally can't stand water drippers. I own a very large number of chameleons and I can tell you that drippers are just inefficient. IMO.

You would be much better off getting a misting system. Or if you are a DIYer...build a misting system. This is by far a superior way of maintaining hydration and helping with humidity.

 

[MedicMan1]

That humidity is a bit low. Got any live plants? Pictures of your setup and cham will help!

I rigged up an awesome dripper system using a 1 gallon pump spray bottle and some 1/4" tubing. It drips for hours. I will have a video up friday to show it.

 

[Pdelago]

I own a veiled chameleon.

I will take some better pictures the next chance I get and upload them. I work week on week off so I have my girlfriend check up on I'm regularly and she's been a reptile lover for years.

I tried putting live plants in there but they didn't really take off. I was nervous about putting them in soil as I wasn't really sure if he would accidently eat some of it? How would you recommend keeping live plants?

I have lots of fake vines, foliage to hide in, a water fountain, real driftwood that I conditioned and cleaned. I put a bowl on the bottom with a vine and driftwood right next to it; he crawls down there and lays waste to whatever I put in there then goes back up to the foliage to bask in the light.

 

[jpowell86]

The soil is really not that big of an issue. You can just top dress the soil with large stones. That will take care of that. A ficus benjamina or schefflera arboricola would be great for your chameleon. They are easy finds at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Put the whole pot in and cover the soil with stones. This will really help stabilize humidity.

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

I feel bad not being able to tag the member who reminded me that pothos are a plant that can grow just sitting in water, no soil. I have been trying to figure out a way to keep my live plants from suffering from over watering... pothos grow well indoors, and have a nice leafy vine that grows fast. If you do have soil, you can put rocks on top to hide the soil (larger enough that they couldn't be eaten, of course).

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

Yah... what @jpowell86 said

 

[Pdelago]

I put some photos vines in just water and they were just dying in there so I pulled them out. I suppose maybe if I pulled the out of the pot and cleaned all the dirt off then planted? I just trimmed them up and put them in there.

I'm looking into a DIY misting system.

 

[Pdelago]

That humidity is a bit low. Got any live plants? Pictures of your setup and cham will help!

I rigged up an awesome dripper system using a 1 gallon pump spray bottle and some 1/4" tubing. It drips for hours. I will have a video up friday to show it.

Hey just a picture of my cham and tank setup. The waterfountain is out of commission now because it rounds down the sides instead of the front flooding his cage.... Its now an expensive flower pot :| haha. I'm going to make a dripper system until I figure out how I want to setup a MistKing.