misty system with motion sensor for mellery

[napoleone]

First of all, I apologize for my english. I’m building a misty system for my meller chameleon.
I was wondering if instead of building a misty system that goes on and of several times a day with the risk that the mellery don’t have the time to drink, it could be possible to think of something alternative:
Using a motion sensor like this one: http://www.squeetty.com/catalogo.asp?sid=1141242220100910024200&categoria=49
I could connect the misty system with the sensor. Every time the melleri walks near that part of the terrarium, the misty system goes on, giving the chameleon the time to drink and to hydratate himself. As soon as the melleri walks out that part of the terrarium, the misty system stops. The thing is technically easy to create and with few money.
My question is: do chameleons elaborate a mental association between places and effects ob being in that place ? Like water or hot or food ? Or do they necessarily need an impulse like a movement of the prey or the view of the water dropping or the feel that that part is hottest ?
Could the chameleon associate the fact of walking in a specific part of the terrarium = shower ?

Thank you for any answer.

 

[STRYDER]

personally i reckon it will be difficult to pull off. u might end up with the cham sitting near the sensor and the water jus continuously spraying for a long time.

Seems a bit of a technical system but it wouldnt be a bad idea for a shower for humans ROFL.

 

[napoleone]

That's a reasonable objection. What if I restrict the sensor angle so that the sensor switch off only if the chameleon is directly under it ? In this case the chameleon will have a shower unless he walks away. If he stays there he have to take the shower, if he don't want it any more he has to move somewere else.

 

[SageZA]

Or you could get a sensor that switches on when it detects motion and only stay on for 3 - 4 min ?

 

[napoleone]

Or you could get a sensor that switches on when it detects motion and only stay on for 3 - 4 min ?

Thats the point. These sensor switches on when it detects motions and can be regulate from 1 to 15 minutes. The thing is: the chameleon goes under the sensor, the sensor switches on the water for 1 to 15 minutes. If the chameleon stays there, the sensor will switch on again the water. Theoretically the chameleon can have as plenty as water has he desires, untill he decide to move away from under the water. In that moment the water stops. If he come back the water starts on again. The only question is: how is it possible to limit this frequency ? For example: a 15 minutes watering only every hour or so ? The risk, how stryder says is that the misty system could go on for hours and these is too moouch for a misty system. Any suggestion ?

 

[SageZA]

Have to bounce home will think about it.

 

[Jimturner]

search summoner12's posts for motion activated basking. sort of the same idea

 

[napoleone]

Can't find the post !

 

[Jimturner]

I found summoner12's post, it it's called Basking Lamps. pretty cool idea...

 

[napoleone]

I,ve read the summoner12's post and i think is very goog. It would be wonderful and even more useful to create something similar for the misty system. Ok, this is the kind of thing i had in mind. A corner of the cage dedicated to the misting. An angular box with a drainage system, with a branch running above it.

This could have two benefits:
1- let the chameleon to drink and hydratate whenever he wants
2- the comfort of not having all the cage set up with a drainage system and avoiding the risk of having it soaked wet.

Why do we have to wet everithing ?
If summoner saw that the chameleon somehow elaborate a mental association between walking under the spot = hot, why couldn't it be the same with the water ? The only problem is a technical problem:
I suppose the chameleon wont stay for hours under the water (or maybe yes), probably he will move to a dry part of the cage. But what if not ? We couldn't let the misty system run for hours: burn up of the pump, etc etc. The only technical problem to solve is to set a limit to the watyering. For example something like: the watering can run for 15-20 minutes then it cant start again untill another 15 minutes have passed. Do you think this could be arranged ? I've thinked about the normal timers, but is no god because you can't know when and if the misty system will turn on.

 

[EC22]

Hey napoleone,

My melleri will stay under the nozzles as long as water flows. I've never seen him walk out of the rain. Water is on for a maximum of 15 minutes a day so. When he's done drinking he just closes his eyes and waits it out/sleeps. I've given him showers before and the same thing happened (with lights on of course ).

Think about it, in nature when it starts to rain, would chameleons try to look for a dry spot? I doubt they would since the entire forest is wet.

Also, he might be able to associate that spot with misting, but I doubt he's smart enough to realize that water will go out if he walks away.

An alternative to this higher level of automation would be to monitor his position based on the time of day. That way, you can notice that at x o'clock he's at x position. I devised my misting schedule based on this. I know that as soon as the lights come on he goes to his basking spot. 1h later water flows for 15 or 20 minutes. Nozzles turn on once more at noon for 3 minutes to increase humidity and also at 4oclock for 15 minutes.

The danger with this is if your melleri doesn't have a fixed schedule since you don't wet the entire enclosure.

Hope that helps

Good luck with your project and keep us posted

 

[Eppler]

It is a very simple thing to set up but he may learn to avoid that area if he does not like getting sprayed with water.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Its a good idea in theory. But I think Eppler made a good point. If he decides to avoid that area for several days or longer and you arent aware of it. He could dehydrate and you wouldnt know until you saw his urates turning yellow. Be easier to just set up a schedule and mist the whole cage.

 

[napoleone]

I agree that probably the mellery will stay under the water, i've noticed this behavior under the shower.

he may learn to avoid that area if he does not like getting sprayed with water.

You mean he wont get thirsty or in need of a shower ? That would be strange. However in the meanwhile i've fixed this cage:

An aviary cage with an extra space on the higher part. It would be almost impossible to mist the whole cage. I need a solution that allows to mist a part of the cage giving the melleri the possibility to hidratate and drink more often possible.

 

[TrueCut]

the link for those motion sensor's you posted look like they are designed for a alarm system, before you buy one I would look into the sensors more because most of them are designed not to detect animals under 25lbs in case you have a dog you leave home you wouldn't want him setting off your alarm (I don't think your cham weights more then 25lbs >< )

 

[napoleone]

I was thinkin of something more simple. I don't know why i didn't think this before. Why not just take advantage of the habits of the mellery ? I know that my meller at least from 8:00 am to 11:00 am stays under the spot lamp heating up his body. Why not just place the dripping system just behind and near the spot lamp ? Like in this picture:

In this way it could be possible to create just a corner of the cage dedicated to the misting without having to myst all the cage surface and with a good chance that the mellery coluld drink and hydratate himself. What do you think ?

 

[summoner12]

This is my thread on how I automated my melleri's basking light.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/basking-lamps-36296/

Not sure how well it would work for mist.... mist shouldn't been treated like a water bottle.... where the cham decides to drink. I am not sure if there is enough going on in their head for them to decide to turn things on... I think it is more of a habit? I guess you could maybe train the cham to learn a habit in order to drink, but now 100%. I think it is better to just have the mist run at certain times of the day.... remember they live in the wild and in the wild rain can happen daily in the AM or in the PM depending on the weather patterns. In tropical parts of the world it rains almost daily and that is what some species of chameleons are expecting. not 'where do i go to turn on that rain?'.

I would stick to a timer. I no longer use the sensor for Henry. It is now thermally controlled using an EcoZone.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/eco-zone-vivarium-control-36446/

 

[draetish]

This is the free range set up I had for my Melleri. All the sides are open except the one on the right. I got a 10 gal trash can and put a waterfall pump in it and ran a hose to the top of the enclosure. I put a brass water valve on the end and had it at a fast drip onto the fern. Bodie would know where his water was at all times and would drink as needed. I had a large catch bin under the enclosure. I would have to empty and fill every other day. It's not the same as a misting system, he never liked to be misted directly so I just misted the plants in the enclosure. Maybe this will help.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/melleri-haven-complete-almost-43212/

 

[napoleone]

In this new misty project I wont use sensor for the mist. I will use just a timer that turns on the misty sistem one or two times a day. Because my mellery use to stand under the spot every morning at least from 8:00 to 11:00 am, if I set up the misty system just near the lamp, at 99% the mellery will be in that position. It's not a question that the mellery has to take the habit of going there if he wants to drink, he already goes there because of the heat, so he will be already there when the misty sistem turns the water on. I'm optimistic. The thing is quite simple, so I dont see reasons wy it should not wok. Obviously I have to try it and be sure it works.

I got a 10 gal trash can and put a waterfall pump in it and ran a hose to the top of the enclosure. I put a brass water valve on the end and had it at a fast drip onto the fern. Bodie would know where his water was at all times and would drink as needed. I had a large catch bin under the enclosure. I would have to empty and fill every other day. It's not the same as a misting system, he never liked to be misted directly so I just misted the plants in the enclosure. Maybe this will help.

Thats something near what i wanted to do. I've seen your wonderful semifreerange, but I can't see closely the misty system you described. Could you post fiew pictures of it ?

 

[draetish]

I wish I could, unfortunately I had to tear it down to get it out of the apartment I built it in, and threw it in the dumpster.