Picky drinker

[elfbane]

My kami is a picky drinker he has a dripper and he's too grumpy to hand water any tips?

 

[kelly_girl199]

Are you sure he isnt drinking when you are not around?

 

[Andee]

Often automatic misters are the best way to make sure chameleons drink because you don't have to be in the room during the time and you can set it for rather large amounts of time.

 

[elfbane]

I'm not entirely sure his urate looks fine but his eyes look a Lil sunken in

 

[Andee]

Well pictures are not a good way to tell of sunken eyes all the time. But if he has noticeably sunken eyes all the time he could have low grade dehydration. Do you hand mist only? If he's only being hand misted then you should probably invest in a automatic mister. Most chameleons do better with them.

 

[Pitcard]

I've gotten by with a pump mister and dripper thus far. I'm sure an auto-mister would be great as well.

I find that misting 2x and placing a dripper does well over the course of a day, and in the evenings I'll hand water if they're interested.

 

[elfbane]

I have a dripper and a hand mister

 

[elfbane]

I've noticed that there are periods where his eyes get sunken in then they go back to normal

 

[alphakenc]

Use a syringe drip in his mouth if u think he is dehydrated with those sunken eyes since sunken eyes does not just appear suddenly,it takes x amount of time to happen,its better to be prepare n prevent by increase all the hydration method(misting often,shower method) then trying to fix his sunken eyes later on

 

[jajeanpierre]

I've gotten by with a pump mister and dripper thus far. I'm sure an auto-mister would be great as well.

I find that misting 2x and placing a dripper does well over the course of a day, and in the evenings I'll hand water if they're interested.

I read comments yours all the time. My first thoughts are I would like you to tell me that after your chameleon dies of old age and a necropsy shows a normal, healthy kidney at death. You won't know you are hydrating your animal well enough until after it dies and you look for damage.

Chronic low-grade dehydration is a leading cause of kidney damage. Kidney damage does not show up immediately. The kidney has a large over capacity, so a kidney can be damaged yet the animal still has enough functioning kidney to clean the blood, which is why people can live reasonably long and healthy lives with only one kidney. Or, there is enough kidney function to keep him going for a long time. Over time, kidney failure starts to show up. Sometimes as diseases most keepers don't recognize as being caused by kidney failure such as metabolic bone disease. Or gout. Or a prolapse caused by non-nutritional MBD which is caused by kidney failure.

Just because it is alive and seems to be doing well for a year or two does not mean it is getting all the hydration it needs for a long, healthy life.

 

[kelly_girl199]

You should really invest in an mistking. It's one of the best automatic mist systems on the market.

 

[Ilike4hornedchams]

I like to remind people that Chams anywhere out of their homeland are like fish outta water. They need more water, so I think, no I know it expensive and all, but it's best to go above and beyond for em, I got like auto misters and still do a hand misting plus a dripper plus on weekends I fog them to be sure they got plenty of drippage and increase humidity to keep their lungs juicy lol.

 

[Pitcard]

I read comments yours all the time. My first thoughts are I would like you to tell me that after your chameleon dies of old age and a necropsy shows a normal, healthy kidney at death. You won't know you are hydrating your animal well enough until after it dies and you look for damage.

Chronic low-grade dehydration is a leading cause of kidney damage. Kidney damage does not show up immediately. The kidney has a large over capacity, so a kidney can be damaged yet the animal still has enough functioning kidney to clean the blood, which is why people can live reasonably long and healthy lives with only one kidney. Or, there is enough kidney function to keep him going for a long time. Over time, kidney failure starts to show up. Sometimes as diseases most keepers don't recognize as being caused by kidney failure such as metabolic bone disease. Or gout. Or a prolapse caused by non-nutritional MBD which is caused by kidney failure.

Just because it is alive and seems to be doing well for a year or two does not mean it is getting all the hydration it needs for a long, healthy life.

I will get back to you when one of my chameleons die. Food for thought I suppose, thank you.

 

[elfbane]

I solved my problem he now has a large umbrella tree and the water stays on the leaves longer and in a spread out area I caught him drinking soon after I put it in and his urate still looks fine perhaps his eyes aren't sunken in is it just that the 'brow bone ' kinda sticks out ? He's my first cham and I don't handle him often it could have been the angle

 

[jajeanpierre]

I solved my problem he now has a large umbrella tree and the water stays on the leaves longer and in a spread out area I caught him drinking soon after I put it in and his urate still looks fine perhaps his eyes aren't sunken in is it just that the 'brow bone ' kinda sticks out ? He's my first cham and I don't handle him often it could have been the angle

That will certainly help. I have some chameleons that have a very prominent brow as well and pictures are often very deceiving. Some animals will pull their eyes in when you photograph them. The thing I saw in your picture was t he ring around his eye. You want the eye socket full with no indent around the eye. Just keep an eye on him.

 

[Remkon]

I hydrated my chameleon

Automatic mister is the way to go, you can spread mistings over the day and mist more than enough instead of just enough... giving plenty of opertunities to drink and clean is better than worrying if he's hydrated enough.

 

[jajeanpierre]

@Remkon I hydrated mine, too!

 

[elfbane]

His eyes looked fine today! I was just being weary