I seen a video of someone using a peristaltic pump on a timer, as a drip system. I tried to contact the person that uploaded the video, for more info, without success. Has anyone here used this kind of pump before?
Pro: I'm short and can't reach the top of my cage to refill the dripper every morning. The pump is pulling a 6ft water column and so long as the tube stays full, no problems to date.
Pro/Con: (Depends on perspective) it's a set drip rate, about 1-2 a second. With this pump, I can't adjust the flow. But it's a nice, steady flow that doesn't drown the cage.
Con: it was kind of expensive, even on sale. But at this point in the game, nothing's too good for my baby.
Con: this pump isn't designed to run all day, so you should only run it for a few hours. I also have a mistking that I use for two long sessions. I also have a mistking raindome which I like alot but don't currently have hooked up.
For me, yes, it was worth it. Anything I can automate makes my life easier. For my cham? He's an ingrate, so who knows. my last cham had a definite preference for drips over misting.
I like to be able to offer both misting and drips to control humidity and still make sure he has easy access to water. Gives you a lot of flexibility to lengthen or shorten misting sessions depending on the season, especially if your cham is slow to recognize misting as time to drink/eye-swish.
Thank you for your reply's. I was thinking I could have it turn on, just as the mistking shuts off. Run for an hour and stop. I'm using the zoomed "Big Dripper" now and I would gladly pay a days wage to not have to fill and make room on top of the cages anymore.
I used to use one, which worked great for a while, but the problem was the hose kept getting all tangled up and then it would stopped working. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong since it was supposedly a pretty expensive model for use in labs. I got it for cheap at a bio supply shop.
To answer your questions, there isn't really a height requirement, you can place it on a countertop and it shouldn't have any trouble pumping to the top of the cage. If you get a good one that doesn't eat up the hose, it should work great.
I use a pond fountain pump for my DIY setup, its more of a dripper/rain system, but to date no issues (~1yr). I needed a pretty big pump as mine is moving water up about 7'.