Misting question

[sedecatur]

OK im still getting setup for my first cham. Im leaning towards a Veiled. But my question is about the Mist King misting system. Ive read time and time again to mist the enclosure with warm water, My system will for the most part be automated, should i use an aquarium heater in the holding tank to heat the water or just use ambient temp for water warming? If using the heater would be the preferance at what temp should the water be at? Thanks

 

[pssh]

I use warm water as my chameleons prefer it to roomtemp water. I believe 110 degrees is good, but I may be wrong.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Hotter the better, water temperature dissipates rapidly the moment it is turned into mist. It takes a fraction of the time to cool tiny droplets as opposed to liquid water.

The answer to your question is dependent on variables though.

Where in the cage are the misters placed? right next to a light? The middle?

What is the ambient temperature in the cage where the water comes out? This will affect how quickly the water cools and what temperature it cools to.

How high is the pressure on the mist caps? Higher pressure= finer mist= quicker cooldown.

Honestly, the best way to figure this out is just heat the water to whatever steady temperature, run the misters, put a thermometer in it. If it is too hot (which I doubt it will be unless you hold the thermometer right against the nozzle) then turn it down

 

[adam]

ive heard that its good to use hot water from quite a few members, but after also reading that chams can burn themselves on heat lamps and whatnot without evening realizing it, how can they tell if the water is warm or cold when they can't feel the extreme temps of a heat lamp? im not trying to prove anyone wrong, i was just curious.....

 

[pssh]

Chameleons can feel heat, but babies can't do it as well. Babies sometimes get burnt because of this. In the wild they don't get burned by the sun being too close, so it's understandable that they don't understand they can get burnt. Hot water cools very quickly while being sprayed, so it isn't even hot by the time it touches your Cham. It is just warm.

 

[Psi]

should i use an aquarium heater in the holding tank to heat the water

This is a no.
If you use the aquarium heater you're going to produce algae.

None of my chams have any issue drinking water out of my mistking that's room temperature.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Algae doesn't grow in distilled or DI water as long as it is kept covered ... which is what you should be spraying on your cham anyways. Tap water certainly will grow algae, but if you are spraying your cham with tap water then you are spraying it with fluoride and chlorine and countless pharmaceutical residuals..

Using a heater is perfectly acceptable, I would wrap flexwatt around the water's enclosure and run it on a timer so it turns on prior to the misting and turns off afterwards. Just gotta get the timing down so it is the proper temp when it discharges.

In regards to the "why don't I just spray them with cold water" question, part of owning a reptile is keeping it warm. Cold water reduces body temperature. It isn't a question of whether they can "tell" that it is warm or cold. It is a question of thermoregulation.