Misting Before Bed Time ?

[Matty's Cham]

Hello All,

Just looking for a little advice. I currently have a Juvenile Vieled and he's doing great ! There are a couple shifts in the week when I get home at 8 30pm before his lights go out at 9pm. I want to mist him before bed as the last time he gets sprayed by me is 1230pm. I run a dripper non-stop and have ample humidity is it okay for me to give him a blast 30mins before he goes to sleep or is this to late ? Thanks for your input everyone

 

[trickedoutbiker]

This is too late. You don't want your enclosure to be wet when your chameleon goes to sleep. Water sitting in there all night long can start to form bacteria because it has no heat or lights to help dry out the cage. Best to spray the cage 2 hours before lights out to make sure things dry out properly. Also, if a cage is wet at night and a chameleon sleeps on a wet branch, his foot is lodged against that wet branch all night. Now, it won't happen overnight, but him sleeping on a wet branch time and time again will eventually start to cause problems and give him foot rot. That is not good at all. It's kind of like when you take a 20 minute shower or bath and your toes and fingers look all crinkly like your grandparent's skin..... That's just after 20 minutes in the shower for you. Now imagine a chameleon sitting on a wet branch ALL NIGHT, for hours and hours..... apply the same concept. Sure, his skin won't look like your finger as his skin is different than you or I, but it will come to damage his skin over time.

I'd advise against it. Just make sure the dripper goes all day, or do yourself a huge favor and invest in an automatic misting system. Those are almost a must for anyone who can't be around all day to spray cages. It will save you so much trouble and problems in the long run.

 

[Matty's Cham]

This is too late. You don't want your enclosure to be wet when your chameleon goes to sleep. Water sitting in there all night long can start to form bacteria because it has no heat or lights to help dry out the cage. Best to spray the cage 2 hours before lights out to make sure things dry out properly. Also, if a cage is wet at night and a chameleon sleeps on a wet branch, his foot is lodged against that wet branch all night. Now, it won't happen overnight, but him sleeping on a wet branch time and time again will eventually start to cause problems and give him foot rot. That is not good at all. It's kind of like when you take a 20 minute shower or bath and your toes and fingers look all crinkly like your grandparent's skin..... That's just after 20 minutes in the shower for you. Now imagine a chameleon sitting on a wet branch ALL NIGHT, for hours and hours..... apply the same concept. Sure, his skin won't look like your finger as his skin is different than you or I, but it will come to damage his skin over time.

I'd advise against it. Just make sure the dripper goes all day, or do yourself a huge favor and invest in an automatic misting system. Those are almost a must for anyone who can't be around all day to spray cages. It will save you so much trouble and problems in the long run.

Thank you very much for the advice ! I certainly will abide by it. He will have a mist king next paycheck !

 

[Kboz1991]

Definitely a great investment I work from 5am to 5 pm I fill there feeder cups up before lights out with a heavy dusting because they will be in there all night and things have been great for months and months for me

 

[KapitalJ]

I fill there feeder cups up before lights out with a heavy dusting because they will be in there all night and things have been great for months and months for me

Good idea. I also leave the house at 5am for work, home around 4pm. I wanted to put food in his cup in the morning but didn't want to disturb him because his lights do not come on for another 3 hours after I leave.

If I fill his cup at night I think he will eat them all up. He's a little piggy!!

 

[Kboz1991]

Yeah I put a lot of variety and a ton of feeders in mine and what's left over I dust again the next day. I often leave a piece of apple in with then they stay in the cup better if you do

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Good idea. I also leave the house at 5am for work, home around 4pm. I wanted to put food in his cup in the morning but didn't want to disturb him because his lights do not come on for another 3 hours after I leave.

If I fill his cup at night I think he will eat them all up.

As long as you are careful and don't shake the heck out of the cage, you won't wake the chameleon if you choose to do it in the morning. I've been doing this for quite some time with no issues. They sleep like a log with total/mostly darkness. It's when you shine a flashlight in on them or turn lights on in the room... then they wake up, because they have a photoreceptive cell on their heads that detects light. I too, have a day shift job. I have to be at work at 6 a.m. so I am out the door by 5:30 a.m. , and I don't get back home until 4 p.m. on a normal day or 5 p.m. if there is overtime. The days I feed, I will just prepare dusted insects using a room away from my chameleon cage that way I don't have to turn on any lights near him. Then I just put them in the cage with my chameleon, being very careful to not shake the cage a lot as I open it. Pretty easy to open a cage in the dark if you know where your feeder cup goes. In my case, I free range my main feeder (crickets) and put a lil something in the cage, under a half-a-log piece, for them to eat so there is no nibbling on the chameleon when it is dark. My other main feeder right now is BSFL, and I just put those into a little feeder cup in the cage in a spot that will be easy for him to see when he wakes up. No need to dust those as they are already calcium-packed. I also let flies buzz around before lights on too when I have them. Easy to prepare them: dust them (which will temporarily prohibit their flying ability for the most part) and just let em into the cage. By the time the lights come on, they will have cleaned their wings off and will be buzzing around the cage, still with some calcium powder on their bodies. He sees them and warms up a bit before he snatches them. In the afternoon, when I get home, I feed him other little treats that are not main feeders, such as butterworms, wax worms, hornworms, superworms, moths, etc.

 

[gotwqqd]

I give 90 min till lights out for last misting

I also reduced the time by 15 seconds until it became dry at lights out

 

[clumsyjellyfish]

This has nothing to do with misting, but how long should I turn off the lights for from night to morning? 12 hours? Is that too long?

 

[trickedoutbiker]

10-12 hours is good.

 

[clumsyjellyfish]

Ok, thanks. Maybe I'll turn off at 8:00 p.m. and on at 7:00 a.m. before school... Is it ok if the times change? For example, 8:00-7:00 Sunday-Thursday and 9:00-9:00 Friday and Saturday? Thanks @trickedoutbiker