Is there such a thing as too much misting?

[Billie the Camillie-n]

I recently took Bilie to the vet and they told me she was a little dehydrated. So I started missing her down a lot more often, I would say everytime I see the leaves are dry I have sprayed down. Humidity stays around 50 - 80% and she's looking good, she looks awesome! But now her your rates are starting to look weird. I'll post a picture below so y'all can see, but I don't know how good the quality of the picture is. If you can't tell her feces looks fine. But the urate looks a little orange, and has a clear gooey stuff around it.

I know this is a little gross but if you have a chameleon you have to deal with this kind of stuff. FYI She's a three-month-old veiled chameleon

 

[jamest0o0]

What have you been feeding? How long do you mist? A lot of people make the mistake of doing constant short mistings. Its more important to have a few long mistings and then let it dry out in between for humidity spikes. You want the cham to have time to get a drink, hydrate eyes, and bathe. They often don't do this until a few minutes of misting have passed.

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

Yes i am a frequent short mister. Frankly i cnt afford the auto misters

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

Im feeding calcium dusted small to medium crickets

 

[Andee]

If you aren't doing an auto mister, then set a timer and hand mist for that long, otherwise she will likely just continue to be dehydrated all her life. White urates do not always mean good hydration. Though they are often a good sign, there is a reason automatic misters are preferred. She should be getting a minimum or four minutes right now, and preferably have an 8 minutes mist somewhere in the day as well, and have at least 4 mists a day. If you can get her to use a dripper I also recommend that. Dehydration, even a low amount is a huge issue and can damage their kidneys very very quickly.

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

She has a dripper....and i mist her minimmal 7-8x daily. I Just get her enclousre dripping wet

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

I mist her 7-8x daily & wait till it dries completely before next misting

 

[Andee]

Yes but short 7-8x is not as good as longer 4x, she won't be as stimulated to drink and won't be stimulated to rinse her eyes. It's how eye infections happen more regularly, it's how poor shedding happens more regularly, and it's how dehydration happens quicker.

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

I plan on getting a mister they r just a little pricey

 

[Andee]

Until then just do what I said and set a timer and mist until the end. Trust me it will help. Saving up is good, but you also need to take care of her needs now.

 

[Billie the Camillie-n]

I do my best i see her drinking often. i feel i do it to often. I guess i should upp it ....

 

[Andee]

Most well hydrated chameleons in my opinion don't drink a lot in front of people. I see it sometimes, but it's usually in the morning or something, or a couple licks here and there. But otherwise nothing and then I catch them drinking when I check back in on them around the corner. But maybe that's just my guys XD

May sure you have goo drainage etc. Often the longer mistings will cause more runoff but that will make drinking more likely or just general healthy habits. It's generally a pain in the ass trying to mist enough with out an auto mister but it's definitely important. Idk what your cash flow is like, but even saving like 5 dollars out of a check etc, is a huge a help. I do it all the time. Good luck

 

[jannb]

As everyone has commented your chameleon needs less mistings and the mistings should last at least 2 to 3 minutes. They need time to get in the mood to drink and once they start drinking they can drink for along time. They also need time to clean their eyes. Two to 3 long mistings should be plenty.

Look how long Luie drinks from me in this video and he continued o drink after we stopped recording.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

I agree with the above comments. Longer lists are better. When I first got my Cham he used to drink right away now it can take up to a 20 minute session just to get him in the mood.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

As everyone has commented your chameleon needs less mistings and the mistings should last at least 2 to 3 minutes. They need time to get in the mood to drink and once they start drinking they can drink for along time. They also need time to clean their eyes. Two to 3 long mistings should be plenty.

Look how long Luie drinks from me in this video and he continued o drink after we stopped recording.

Lol. Wait really quickly idk what you're watching in the background but somehow it makes the fact that your Cham is just drinking water so much funnier.

 

[jamest0o0]

Everything andee said was perfect! @Andee btw I'm curious of what your opinion of his urates being gooey like that means? I've seen my guys like that before, but I regularly feed worms so I wonder if that causes it. I'm always paranoid about dehydration, I do 10 minute mistings in the morning and showers once a week. Only about 1-2 other mistings a day after that though for a few minutes each.

 

[Andee]

Everything andee said was perfect! @Andee btw I'm curious of what your opinion of his urates being gooey like that means? I've seen my guys like that before, but I regularly feed worms so I wonder if that causes it. I'm always paranoid about dehydration, I do 10 minute mistings in the morning and showers once a week. Only about 1-2 other mistings a day after that though for a few minutes each.

It depends, with all the excessive misting that the OP does, even if it's short, it could just be that the water made the fresh urate start getting runny after getting in contact with it...? Did you watch your chameleon poop? Was this what it looked like as soon as it hit the ground?

 

[jannb]

Lol. Wait really quickly idk what you're watching in the background but somehow it makes the fact that your Cham is just drinking water so much funnier.

That video is from 2009 and it sounds like something on TV but I have no idea what.

 

[jamest0o0]

@Andee no usually I just find them, on the occasion they look like that, but not always.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

That video is from 2009 and it sounds like something on TV but I have no idea what.

Haha oh it's definitely from 2009 when was the last time you heard a commercial for a phone say "blank price for all Samsung and touch screen phones" haha. All phones are touch screen now. Also there was an advertisement for Bing lol. Guess I was really paying attention. Maybe I'll suggest to all my college professors to teach their class with a video of a chameleon drinking it's obviously doing wonders for the brain stimulation.