Probably a very stupid question, but ...

[Supersuzie]

here goes anyway!!

How does a chameleon actually drink? Does it's tongue come out like it's eating or does it sort of lap or lick water?

The reason I ask is that we bought our chameleon last week, we believe he is about 4 months old. The pet shop told us he would drink from a water bowl, and although he has one, we've never seen him show any interest in it. We have been spraying his tank 2 or 3 times a day, but he doesn't seem to like this. We've not seen him drink, unless opening his mouth very occassionally when spraying counts as drinking.

I have read on the forum that some of you shower your chameleons, we were wondering how old they should be for this and how to actually go about it.

He is eating well, and apart from initially going a few days without having a poo, seems now OK. He has started sitting with his mouth open today, which I read was a sign of dehydration. Also this evening whilst we were spraying his tank, his whole body was covered with black spots, which all faded within 5 minutes, does that mean he was angry/upset?

Can anyone give us some advice please as we are quite worried about him?

Thanks,

Sue

 

[dj special k]

Hey there... You shouldn't put a water bowl for them because they don't recognize still water... plus, that promotes bacterial growth in there. What you should do is heavy misting with warm water. Your cham will eventually start lapping or licking the leaves or branches or cage screen. You should read the sticky thread in this forum. Go to the General Discussions page of this forum and read the General Care of True Chameleons. Good luck with yer cham.

 

[kinyonga]

Generally chameleons won't drink from a bowl, but I have had a few that will. Some species are more likely to do it than others.

They usually lick the drops of water from a surface....but I have seen a couple that will actually shoot their tongue out at a stream of water or at drops rolling down a surface.

Generally they don't like being sprayed with water when you first start to spray them. If the water is warm it helps.


I don't shower my chameleons so I'll leave that part for someone else to answer.

You said..."He has started sitting with his mouth open today, which I read was a sign of dehydration"....I have never know sitting with its mouth open to be a sign of dehydration buty a chameleon will sit with its mouth open for several reasons not limited to the following...if it has a respiratory infection (usually accompanied by mucus and popping or wheezing sounds), or if its sitting in the basking spot and it getting too hot, or if it has just been drinking a lot of water or if it has been oversupplemented and has organ damage.

You said..."Also this evening whilst we were spraying his tank, his whole body was covered with black spots, which all faded within 5 minutes, does that mean he was angry/upset?"...likely...what species is it?

Since pet stores don't always give people proper advice, here are some questions for you...
Do you have a substrate in his cage?
What UVB lights do you use or does your chameleon get exposure to direct sunlight? The UVB from any source should not pass through glass or plastic.
Are the lights compacts or tubelights or?
What supplements do you use and how often? (Please be specific.)
Do you feed the insects a nutritious diet/gutload them? With what? (Be specific please.)
What is the temperature in the basking area?

Here are some sites that you might be interested in reading too...
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/uvinviv.htm

 

[davider]

Chameleons don't drink from sitting water in a bowl, actually a bowl is a no no for chameleons b/c of the bacteria it can cause.

Put a dripper on the top of your terrarium and make sure to be misting the enclosure

The chameleons like my male panther lick the leaves which the water drops drip from they get attracted to anything that moves.
Goodluck

David

 

[bucky]

Hey there... You shouldn't put a water bowl for them because they don't recognize still water... plus, that promotes bacterial growth in there. What you should do is heavy misting with warm water. Your cham will eventually start lapping or licking the leaves or branches or cage screen. You should read the sticky thread in this forum. Go to the General Discussions page of this forum and read the General Care of True Chameleons. Good luck with yer cham.

I use a hand mister,how do you mist with warm water?!

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Personally i prefer my auto mister which runs off the tap of my laundry tub. The tubing and nozzles are Toro from home depot but they only carry them during the summer. If you want them during other seasons you will have to order them off the net. I dont use drippers anymore. They get 40-60 minutes of misting a day. I only use hot water since the mist is very fine and it just feels warm when it hits them.

 

[pedro92]

My cham has shot its tongue at water like she is eating a cricket and she has opened mouth under the drip and let it drip in and heres a video of one doing it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM9mu-gLy1o

 

[Supersuzie]

Thanks guys!

Hi,

Firstly, thanks to you all for your advice, and apologies for the delay in replying, not sure why but although the forum said I had replies it wouldn't let me view them! I'm afraid we are very new at keeping chams. Many thanks also for the link to the video, very interesting.

We called him Carlos, he is a veiled/yemen chameleon. At the moment he has some 'bio' sand as substrate which is supposed to be safe if they accidentally swallow it, but we're thinking of replacing it over the weekend with 'carpet', we're also hoping to get some live plants, but are still confused about this one as we read some are poisonous to chams, so might wait till we're a bit more knowledgable on this one rather than get the wrong one.

Carlos does seem to be doing well, has an enormous appetite, he's eating crickets and wax worms at the moment. We've ordered some silk worms, but they haven't come yet. We're gutloading the crickets with various things, cress, pepper, carrot, prepared 'cricket food' and we did try tropical fish flakes but then read that wasn't such a good thing on a regular basis. We also dust them with what is described as 99% pure calcium carbonate which was recommended by the pet shop.

His tank is glass with a mesh roof and is heated with a heat mat and one of those bulbs that gives off UVA, UVB and D3 (I think, I'm not too good with technicalities!). It cost almost as much as Carlos anyway!

We lowered the temperature of his tank slightly and turned the heat mat off overnight, surprisingly the temperature was the same this morning as it had been with it on!

Still not seen him drink, but not as worried 'cos he seems to be otherwise thriving. Are we right or do we have a false sense of security !?!

All replies and advice appreciated.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Opening the mouth during misting is drinking.....so you have seen him drink.
I'm not too worried about him drinking. Nor am I worried about him being in a glass enclosure at this time...although I will say, I would get a small screen cage (18x12x20) for him.
The heat mat is a concern and, in my opinion, needs to be removed.
A basking light is what he needs for daytime heat and at this age his "spot" should not go higher than 85 degrees.
With a screen enclosure you'll have much better success getting the night time cool down that he really needs and it's easy to put a plastic cup on top with a tiny pinhole in the bottom that will drip water onto a plant or branch.
You can place a container under the drip to collect the water, but make sure you stretch some netting over it so he and the crickets cannot fall into it and drown.
No substrate is recommended. The screen enclosure will have a pvc bottom that is easy to clean and should be left as is.

-Brad