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!"
