Misting in a wooden vivarium

[Cameronthechameleon]

How often should I be misting, I have a 4 month old ambilobe Panther chameleon in a wood/glass vivarium it is 4ftx3ft6. I have just added a MistKing mister and am unsure how often I should be misting the enclosure. Any help/advice would be gratefu

 

[Sticktongue]

Do you have ventilation and drainage? Post pics of the enclosure so we can give you the best advice.

 

[breauxaustin]

I have a custom wooden enclosure but my wood was pressure treated wood but then also coated 3 times with a polyurethane (if done air out for a week at least, very toxic), and I have a mister misting 5 times a day for a minute. My cage is very large with 3 heat lamps so evaporation occurres quickly. Every environment will be different so just set at something you believe is correct for your cage, check often, until you get if perfect. Drainage is the biggest issue, with a automatic mister you HAVE to have drainage or flooding will happen then possibly mold, rotting, bacteria, ext can form. Just expirament with the frequency of the mist and duration, making sure you monitor the humidity, temp, and additude of your chameleon until everything is just perfect
Also, with my mister I put a aquarium heater in my water resivour to keep the water at a nice "luke" warm temperature so the mist doesn't decrease the temperature of the cage drastically. My chameleons also seems to enjoy the warmer mists much more.

 

[Cameronthechameleon]

Thanks very much for the reply, I don't currently have drainage for my vivarium, I will take pictures tomorrow and post them as his lights are off at the moment and don't want to disturb him!

 

[Carlton]

Thanks very much for the reply, I don't currently have drainage for my vivarium, I will take pictures tomorrow and post them as his lights are off at the moment and don't want to disturb him!

Assuming the wood frame/sides are sealed, the floor will need some sort of drainage or you'll end up with a soggy mess and rot. What's the cage floor made from? The simplest way to drain a cage is to drill a drain hole and put a bucket underneath. If your insects are loose you'll want a screen over the hole. You may have to tip the cage slightly so the water will run to your drain hole.

 

[Cameronthechameleon]

These are pictures of my vivarium, it has a wooden bottom

 

[kimbodini1]

If you know how to tile I would tile and grout the bottom or put down a sheet of laminate. I had an all wooden frame on an Iguana cage once with stick on laminate, the kind you can buy in 1x1 squares. Yeah that didn't work lol, water seeped in between the cracks and the floor bubbled and swollen over time. Like others have said you will need a drain of some sort.