My Cham is afraid of his Mist King

[broderp]

Just bought and installed a mist king in my Panthers terrarium. He's very afraid of it.

When I first got him. he spent a lot of his time on the top of the screen, he has since stopped, but as soon as the mister comers on he runs straight to the top screen.

I assume this is normal, but will he ever get over the mister? It doesn't help that there's not a lot of places he can go where he will not get misted. Or do some Chams never like a mister?

 

[Big Gulp]

How large is your cage? Where do you have the nozzle mounted?

My guy HATES the mister. I thought by now he'd get used to it, but nope. I think all chams react differently to it.

I have a 24x24x48 screen cage. I only have 1 nozzle, mounted in the front (nearest the door) left corner and have it spraying towards the back left corner.

My guy has plenty room to escape it. Plus, I have a large schefflera plant in there, so if he goes to the bottom of the cage, he can pretty much avoid the water.

 

[ChamLB]

Mine all avoid the mister but go back to what they were doing pretty quickly. Think of misting like jumping into a pool it's the sudden temperature change that shocks you for a bit but after that it get to feeling good. When mine are shedding they avoid it less.

 

[broderp]

How large is your cage? Where do you have the nozzle mounted?

My guy HATES the mister. I thought by now he'd get used to it, but nope. I think all chams react differently to it.

I have a 24x24x48 screen cage. I only have 1 nozzle, mounted in the front (nearest the door) left corner and have it spraying towards the back left corner.

My guy has plenty room to escape it. Plus, I have a large schefflera plant in there, so if he goes to the bottom of the cage, he can pretty much avoid the water.

My terrarium is this:

Because of the plants, drainage and a few other factors, one nozzle will not mist the terrarium properly without flooding. I opted to use 2 nozzles and mist for a shorter duration. 3 times a day for 15 seconds.

Here is basically how I installed them:
This shows the overall location, slightly towards the back half of the custom screen I made for it.

Here's the overall location with all the stuff in the terrarium. That's my Sherman doing the "screen walk" to avoid the new nozzles that I just tested.

Here's a slightly enhanced image that more closely shows the set up. (With the same screen walking little Cham )

I started another thread about taming a Cham, but it can also apply here. Due to the amount of plants and foliage, I need the two nozzles to cover it for proper misting. Should I "Spartan" it up a bit to get by with one nozzle?

Mine all avoid the mister but go back to what they were doing pretty quickly. Think of misting like jumping into a pool it's the sudden temperature change that shocks you for a bit but after that it get to feeling good. When mine are shedding they avoid it less.

my little guy doesn't have a lot of places to go to avoid the mister.

 

[NHenn]

@broderp This is very common especially with younger panthers as they want to get out of the water. I would see if you can't knock it down to one nozzle and double the misting duration as he should really have at a min 30 seconds. If you can aim the nozzle to not spray the basking area that would be the best as he will most likely be in that spot picking up the heat and the uvb and wouldn't want to be cooled down and soaking wet. If he isn't basking and still wants out he can at least move from that area and get out of the spraying water.

 

[starryskiezz]

My veiled chameleon HATES being misted. He deals with it better now that he's almost a year old, but he still tries to run away sometimes haha. I would just make sure there's at least a small area where he can escape being misted. I personally mist Bames (my cham) by hand twice a day for about 20 seconds (ie. once when I wake up, and once in the evening around dinner). To minimize misting so he doesn't get too stressed, this is what I do: I keep some chameleon safe plants in the vivarium that thrive in humidity. I also use paper towel in the bottom of Bames' home. Once a day I over water all these plants so water saturates the paper towel. The plants help keep the humidity up, and then I can keep my misting to a minimum. I have also noticed that to drink, Bames tends to eat the dirt in his pants or drink from the saturated paper towel. Also, I change the paper towel at least once a week (along with a good scrubbing) to make sure everything stays clean! I find this works well for me. But yeah, if you get rid of one nozzle, you could try what I do to keep the humidity up while still giving your chameleon some space to hide from misting!

Otherwise though, I agree with NHenn!

 

[JaguarShark]

I think if you can fix it so he has somewhere to sit normally while the mister is going it would help him get used to it. I totally agree with NHenn and the others about chams never 100% getting used to it.
It's just a fact that sometimes we will have to mist them when they are not in the mood for it. They don't like it but they will almost always come to generally tolerate it

 

[JacksJill]

I have a ton of plants also but just one mister nozzle. I just occasionally water the ones that don't get misted very well.
I wouldn't "spartan" it up but you will occasionally need to pinch prune leaves.

 

[broderp]

@broderp This is very common especially with younger panthers as they want to get out of the water. I would see if you can't knock it down to one nozzle and double the misting duration as he should really have at a min 30 seconds. If you can aim the nozzle to not spray the basking area that would be the best as he will most likely be in that spot picking up the heat and the uvb and wouldn't want to be cooled down and soaking wet. If he isn't basking and still wants out he can at least move from that area and get out of the spraying water.

Ok, if you say so.... Sherman will be royaly PO'd that I need to disturb his enclosure again. lol. Just so I know, what advantage does 30 seconds give him? The 15 seconds with the two nozzle's gives him drinking water (I see him drinking regularly) and appears to keep the plants happy as well. My concern is only for the plants as I can't cover them all with one nozzle. (I'm really lazy about hand watering so the plants will eventually die at my hands lol) I assume one nozzle at 30 seconds is the same as 2 at 15 seconds. but the concentration of 30 seconds of water in one spot may cause some standing water issues. I'll give it a shot though, I have no problems trying that for the better good.

BTW, Sherman doesn't ever use his basking spot. Is this a problem? He prefers the edges near the corners or literally right out in the open near the front of the enclosure.

My veiled chameleon HATES being misted. He deals with it better now that he's almost a year old, but he still tries to run away sometimes haha. I would just make sure there's at least a small area where he can escape being misted. I personally mist Bames (my cham) by hand twice a day for about 20 seconds (ie. once when I wake up, and once in the evening around dinner). To minimize misting so he doesn't get too stressed, this is what I do: I keep some chameleon safe plants in the vivarium that thrive in humidity. I also use paper towel in the bottom of Bames' home. Once a day I over water all these plants so water saturates the paper towel. The plants help keep the humidity up, and then I can keep my misting to a minimum. I have also noticed that to drink, Bames tends to eat the dirt in his pants or drink from the saturated paper towel. Also, I change the paper towel at least once a week (along with a good scrubbing) to make sure everything stays clean! I find this works well for me. But yeah, if you get rid of one nozzle, you could try what I do to keep the humidity up while still giving your chameleon some space to hide from misting!

Otherwise though, I agree with NHenn!

I'm no pro, but I don't believe it a good practice to let your Cham eat the dirt. It can plug him up bad if he eats too much. Many folks around here suggest putting rocks over any dirt in the pots to prevent this. I also don't think drinking the water from a wet paper towel the best option. Most Chams drink the water drops from the leaves. I'm not trying to be mean, just maybe help point something out that I had heard many times on this forum. I saw your other thread and introduction. I love veiled Chams. Your gams are gorgeous! Love the colors.

I think if you can fix it so he has somewhere to sit normally while the mister is going it would help him get used to it. I totally agree with NHenn and the others about chams never 100% getting used to it.
It's just a fact that sometimes we will have to mist them when they are not in the mood for it. They don't like it but they will almost always come to generally tolerate it

Yeah, I do to. I'll change the double nozzle for the single one that came with the Mist King.

I have a ton of plants also but just one mister nozzle. I just occasionally water the ones that don't get misted very well.
I wouldn't "spartan" it up but you will occasionally need to pinch prune leaves.

Ok, I an do this. I will need to do some reworking of the enclosure this weekend. With the full spectrum LED and Red LEDs I have my plants are growing like weeds. I need to secure the overgrown plants to a taller stick and maybe reorganize some sticks to allow a slightly different plant placement for better watering with a single nozzle.

 

[starryskiezz]

@broderp I appreciate the critique, but it's not harmful for chameleons unless they eat excessive amounts of dirt. I always keep an eye on him (including his bowel movements), as of course, it concerned me at first, but he's fine. Some people also believe small amounts of dirt may also benefit chameleons. Also, I change the paper towel frequently to ensure it's clean and he's not drinking anything harmful. I like paper towel best because it's easy to clean and also maintains humidity well. I really appreciate the worry though, thank you!

 

[broderp]

@NHenn I couldn't take apart the terrarium this weekend due "unforeseen circumstances" I did spend some time and Trim up a bunch of plants and move things around to get them out of the misting zone.
What I did do was this. I moved stuff around so that the biggest plants were on the right side and rearranged his feeder trough to the opposite side. I then adjusted the two nozzles to focus on basically the same area.

I'm hoping this acts the same as a single nozzle. I also left the misting time the same as I figured two misters at 15 seconds should output the same as one at 30 seconds. Right? With these changes, the left most third of the terrarium stays dry as does his basking spot and feeders.

Is my thought process OK here or to I need to break out the ladder and disturb him further in the next couple of days?

 

[NHenn]

@broderp

Thanks for the awesome diagram! I didn't see this earlier as I would have still suggested a longer misting cycle. The 15 seconds gets him water and gets the plants water which solves those issues but what it doesn't do it give him enough time for any general hygiene. When mistings are longer 2-3 minutes you might see at times where the chameleon goes into the water to clean their eyes and not drink anything. This is essential for their health and with the lower misting times you won't see this happen. So that is why I suggested 30 seconds as even that is very low and not the best for them. If you could do 60 seconds plus that would be much better.

 

[broderp]

@broderp

Thanks for the awesome diagram! I didn't see this earlier as I would have still suggested a longer misting cycle. The 15 seconds gets him water and gets the plants water which solves those issues but what it doesn't do it give him enough time for any general hygiene. When mistings are longer 2-3 minutes you might see at times where the chameleon goes into the water to clean their eyes and not drink anything. This is essential for their health and with the lower misting times you won't see this happen. So that is why I suggested 30 seconds as even that is very low and not the best for them. If you could do 60 seconds plus that would be much better.

Well that will be rough with no way to drain the terrarium. Humidity will go to 90+ and stay there (even with the fan I keep running on top) and I will have standing water for sure every day at least until I get home. I can't imagine what 2-3 minutes will look like. I'll try 60 seconds, but this is going to be a mess. lol I may need to make a sloped false floor and have some way to pump out the water into a waste bucket.

A screen cage is starting to look good right about now.....

 

[NHenn]

Well that will be rough with no way to drain the terrarium. Humidity will go to 90+ and stay there (even with the fan I keep running on top) and I will have standing water for sure every day at least until I get home. I can't imagine what 2-3 minutes will look like. I'll try 60 seconds, but this is going to be a mess. lol I may need to make a sloped false floor and have some way to pump out the water into a waste bucket.

A screen cage is starting to look good right about now.....

Yes, I think this is the number one problem with glass cages. You might be able to make a false bottom and have a little pump run to drain the tank as the other pump runs to mist it. I have that exact setup on my large dart frog setup and it works perfect.