Misting?

[Klinger #4077]

So I'm going to be getting a chameleon here in a couple weeks and was wondering about whether or not I should buy a misting system. I've seen and read reviews about Exo Terra's monsoon and Zoomed's reptirain and they both seem to have their fair share of problems. Tons of reviews say the monsoons timer is faulty and will flood the terrarium and try say the reptirain is just flat out bad and doesn't work. Should I just most the cage myself? I'm a student and leave around 8ish (AM) and get around by 2 PM but I am not sure if a misting in the morning and a misting when I get back will be enough.

 

[Lazereth]

Mistking will be one of the best investments you ever make.

 

[shomegirl]

I had a Monsoon and took it back before I even used it. Purchased a Mistking instead, along with a raindome. I would highly recommend spending the money on the MistKing.

 

[jajeanpierre]

The longer I keep chameleons the more I think a good misting system is a requirement not an option. I believe the two systems you mentioned will break if they run dry. You WILL run out of water at some point. They may be initially cheaper but in the long run a MistKing is much cheaper. I believe the smallest MistKing system has a pump that can run out of water without breaking. Buy the tube cutter! You won't understand the importance of the tubecutter until you have tried to correctly cut the hose without it.

I've just had a very experienced chameleon keeper stay at my house for a couple of days when he came to my city to buy some newly imported wild caught Mellers. He pointed out that they need mist to clean their eyes, something I hadn't appreciated until I was faced with a couple of big Mellers with their eyes clamped shut from the pain of debris that would have gotten into their eyes at some point during the import process. I wonder if most of the eye problems people report her on the forum are just because people don't have misters and/or don't make it inviting for their chameleon to sit with their face in the mist, in other words with warm water. Today I am off to buy some aquarium heaters for my mister reservoirs.

 

[Klinger #4077]

Thanks so much! I'll look into getting the mistking (and tube cutter)!

 

[Blang]

The longer I keep chameleons the more I think a good misting system is a requirement not an option. I believe the two systems you mentioned will break if they run dry. You WILL run out of water at some point. They may be initially cheaper but in the long run a MistKing is much cheaper. I believe the smallest MistKing system has a pump that can run out of water without breaking. Buy the tube cutter! You won't understand the importance of the tubecutter until you have tried to correctly cut the hose without it.

I've just had a very experienced chameleon keeper stay at my house for a couple of days when he came to my city to buy some newly imported wild caught Mellers. He pointed out that they need mist to clean their eyes, something I hadn't appreciated until I was faced with a couple of big Mellers with their eyes clamped shut from the pain of debris that would have gotten into their eyes at some point during the import process. I wonder if most of the eye problems people report her on the forum are just because people don't have misters and/or don't make it inviting for their chameleon to sit with their face in the mist, in other words with warm water. Today I am off to buy some aquarium heaters for my mister reservoirs.

are you going to use submersible heaters? I was thinking submersible on a timer that heat the water but shut off before the pump runs that when the water level goes down the glass on the heater will be cool & not crack! What are your thoughts!

 

[jajeanpierre]

are you going to use submersible heaters? I was thinking submersible on a timer that heat the water but shut off before the pump runs that when the water level goes down the glass on the heater will be cool & not crack! What are your thoughts!

Yes, submersible. I haven't even seen one. My reservoir has an inch of water left when it runs dry. Thanks for bringing that up.

 

[Blang]

Yes, submersible. I haven't even seen one. My reservoir has an inch of water left when it runs dry. Thanks for bringing that up.

You can buy them at a local pet shop! If you can find a German made one by the brand name = Ebo Jaeger they've been around for a long time are are a good quality heater! Another brand is aqueon!

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Today I am off to buy some aquarium heaters for my mister reservoirs.

Keep in mind that you will need a very powerful aquarium heater to actually make a difference to your chameleon. I was thinking about getting an aquarium heater for a misting reservoir as well, and here is why I decided against it:

For one, added heat means there is that extra chance that there will be bacteria or some type of growth in your water reservoir. If you are one of those people who clean your water reservoir like a mad man, then this won't be an issue for you. But if one was to use an aquarium heater in a water reservoir and NOT clean it every few days, that will pose a problem. Some extensive research on these forums and Google will show you that many people have tried to use aquarium heaters to heat up misting reservoir water - and almost every single story I've ever read, they had to deal with slime growth of some sort. I even read one story once where one person had their 5-gallon reservoir almost airtight with an aquarium heater in it. It was also tucked away in a nice cool closet, in the dark, so that way no bacteria would grow..... It still grew in the reservoir. With warmer water, it's almost inevitable. So keep that in mind. And you're gonna be spraying that into the chameleon cage......

Another thing that led me against it was, it's honestly unnecessary. Think about it.... when it rains in the wild, in the jungle or wherever you may be, do you think the rain falls from the sky at a hot temperature to appease all the animals in the area? WRONGO!!!! It falls nice and chill, like it does anywhere, and typically will only heat up once it has landed on the warmer plants and trees on the ground. It doesn't heat up way up in the atmosphere because it's really cold up there. This being said, your chameleon will get used to room temperature water if you give them time. They don't get a warm water treatment in the wild and they've been living in the wild for thousands of years.

Lastly.... When using a pressure mister, or an automatic mister, it will cool the water as it sprays. This is a natural occurrence and happens when the water becomes a fine mist; it loses temperature. Now, with that being said, most aquarium heaters work in one of two ways. The first and most common way, is that it will heat the temperature of the water to 10-15 degrees above the room temperature of where the aquarium (or water reservoir in this case) is sitting. Now, given that your ambient room temperature is like most people and at like 66-76, that means your highest water temperature achieved will be 81-90 degrees (assuming you are using a model that heats the water to 15 degrees above room temp -- most models that work this way will only heat to 10 degrees above room temp). Okay... so now you have 90 degree water at your highest.

Let's move onto the next type of submersible aquarium heater. This kind of aquarium heater will heat the water to a set range, most commonly between 65 at the minimum and 93 at the highest. Okay..... so now you have 93 degree water at your highest.

Time to spray the cage..... Remember what happens when you turn water into mist? It loses temperature.....about 10-15 degrees. So now, your 90-93 degree water drops down to 80 or below. You're basically right back at room temperature. In order to get a nice mist that is super decently warm for your chameleon, you are going to have to heat your water really really hot - like 120-130 degrees hot. (that way when it turns to mist, you are still at 100-120 after the temp drop - not too hot to burn a chameleon at all, but would definitely be warm enough for them to love it).

Finding an aquarium heater to do that may prove to be a difficult task, though I'm certainly not saying there isn't one out there. So I mean, if you want to heat the water a tad just to have it drop about the same amount after it's sprayed, that's all up to the keeper. Kinda seemed pointless once I analyzed it from those angles myself unless you was to somehow find a super super hot heater, in which case, then you'd have to worry about your water reservoir maybe melting...... Just my preference I guess, and everyone has their own.

If I ever feel as though I want to spray my chameleon's eyes so he can rinse them out, I just put some RO water in the microwave in a few different glass cups and heat it all up really hot, pour it all into my handheld pump pressure sprayer, and spray my cham for about 5 minutes with it. He loves it. I do that a couple times a month.

Nobody heats their rain in the wild... so look your chameleon in the eyes and tell em to "TOUGHEN UP, BUTTERCUP!"

 

[Chamel619]

+1 for mistking.

 

[Chamel619]

The longer I keep chameleons the more I think a good misting system is a requirement not an option. I believe the two systems you mentioned will break if they run dry. You WILL run out of water at some point. They may be initially cheaper but in the long run a MistKing is much cheaper. I believe the smallest MistKing system has a pump that can run out of water without breaking. Buy the tube cutter! You won't understand the importance of the tubecutter until you have tried to correctly cut the hose without it.

I've just had a very experienced chameleon keeper stay at my house for a couple of days when he came to my city to buy some newly imported wild caught Mellers. He pointed out that they need mist to clean their eyes, something I hadn't appreciated until I was faced with a couple of big Mellers with their eyes clamped shut from the pain of debris that would have gotten into their eyes at some point during the import process. I wonder if most of the eye problems people report her on the forum are just because people don't have misters and/or don't make it inviting for their chameleon to sit with their face in the mist, in other words with warm water. Today I am off to buy some aquarium heaters for my mister reservoirs.

If you want to heat your misting water, An aquarium heater wont get the job done. I have used a disassembled, heated blanket. I wrapped the wire around the supply line all the way up to the misting head. Works great, but the cost was about 25 bucks a month in energy.

Edit: google "heat trace" for more info.

 

[shomegirl]

I don't use a heater with mine either. Thought about it, then against it because of potential bacteria build up. My water is held in a blue 5 gallon bucket with a lid at room temperature. My 5 month old panther loves sitting underneath it with it mists/rains.

 

[Blang]

I don't use a heater with mine either. Thought about it, then against it because of potential bacteria build up. My water is held in a blue 5 gallon bucket with a lid at room temperature. My 5 month old panther loves sitting underneath it with it mists/rains.

If you use ro water or distilled water the water is sterile! Any bacteria can't grow in it! No nutrients in it!

 

[trickedoutbiker]

If you use ro water or distilled water the water is sterile! Any bacteria can't grow in it! No nutrients in it!

That's where you are wrong. 99.9% of people who use misting systems, use RO or distilled water. And those same people are getting slime in their reservoirs. There may be nothing in the WATER, but there is certainly bacteria and such floating around in the AIR. That same air will get trapped in your reservoir when you put the lid on, even if the lid is airtight, because the outside air will be sealed inside the bucket when you put the lid on. This traps that air and anything it contains inside of your water bucket. The only way around this would be to somehow vacuum-seal your water bucket and suck all of the air out of it after the lid is put on. Good luck doing that.

 

[Blang]

That's where you are wrong. 99.9% of people who use misting systems, use RO or distilled water. And those same people are getting slime in their reservoirs. There may be nothing in the WATER, but there is certainly bacteria and such floating around in the AIR. That same air will get trapped in your reservoir when you put the lid on, even if the lid is airtight, because the outside air will be sealed inside the bucket when you put the lid on. This traps that air and anything it contains inside of your water bucket. The only way around this would be to somehow vacuum-seal your water bucket and suck all of the air out of it after the lid is put on. Good luck doing that.

I'm not going to argue with you!

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I'm not going to argue with you!

Not trying to argue. I just know I've read MANY stories where people used aquarium heaters, in a 5 gallon bucket reservoir with their MistKing, which contained RO or distilled water like 99.9% of smart people use with their mist systems, and they still got slime and bacteria over time. Now, either lots and lots of people are full of sh*t and have the same stories, or they are all telling what happened to them, truthfully. The only other explanation is, the slime that occurs in people's reservoirs just magically appears inside of there like David Copperfield, distance warping from a time rift located somewhere in Deep Space 9.

 

[shomegirl]

Either way. My Cham doesn't mind the mist temp he gets hit with. Everyone has different opinions on things and what it boils down to is what works for them.. I guess.

 

[gotwqqd]

Put some drops of bleach in the bucket of water

 

[JLP474]

Anyone collect rain water for use? I'm also reading(and a good reminder for all) your water reservoir should never exceed your drain pan...should something fail and the pump continues to run, won't end up coming home to a mess. Picked up a 2 gallon bucket w/lid at Home depot...5gal takes up a lot of space for a single cage.

 

[Klinger #4077]

Thank you for all the replies! However I'm wondering on average how many mistings my terrarium should get? I have a screen terrarium and am kinda worried about keeping humidity in