Questions about Showering...

T

ThisNewCham

New Member
1) How old do you starts howering them at?

2) How do you shower them?

3) Antyhing to look for when showering them?


Thanks guys!
 
1) How old do you starts howering them at?

2) How do you shower them?

3) Antyhing to look for when showering them?
Hi,

You shouldn't shower them until they are at least 6 mos old.

Use warm water, put a plant in the tub, position the nozzle so it hits the wall, not the cham, and just let it bounce off the wall and SPRINKLE onto the cham. Watch him while he is in there, i never leave mine alone. Expect them to kinda go bonkers for a few m inutes, then they usually settle down and start to enjoy it. Leave them in for about 30- 60 minutes depending on whether they are dehydrated or not.

You don't need to look for anything while they are in there but just don't leave them alone. Like i said sometimes they kinda go crazy so watch them really carefully for the first few minutes to make sure they don't throw themselves off. I do have 1 that i cannot shower she literally throws herself off and gets extremely stressed out.

Debby
 
Brad Ramsey said:
I don't shower them.

-Brad
Click to expand...

I second that. I think that showering a healthy and hydrated chameleon is unnecessary and just adds stress to it. I recommend to shower, only if it becomes dehydrated, as a last resort. There is no need to shower a chameleon if its husbandry is set up correctly.
 
I will have to shower my cham (orange urates) but I don't want to use shower because if I shower him for 30min constantly we will spent a lot of water... Can I just put him on a plant and mist him about 30mins?
 
The best thing would be to give him a 30 min misting session in his cage. Showering is great if you're dealing with a dehydrated chameleon and the cage doesn't allow for long mistings but, as mentioned by others, it does add stress for the chameleon - even if the only stressful part is being moved from his cage to the shower.
 
The best way to shower I have found(and most conservative method) is to buy a 44 oz pressure hand sprayer($6.89 at Lowes) and set a plant in the shower, I think that showering your Cham for 30 mins with the water running full while only using the mist that bounces off the wall in INCREDIBLY wasteful. Give the sprayer a few good pumps... Put it on continuous spray and set it on the edge of the bath. You will have to come back in minute to pump a few more times...And refill after about 10 mins... But this does right by our Chams(less noisy and stressfull than the shower head) and does right by the environment as the Shower head goes through about 44 oz of precious in about 4 sceonds while the hand sprayer utilizes that same 44 oz over several minutes. If someone is dehydrated i will let them shower like this for 45min to 1 hour. But like was said above... It is really not necessary if they are drinking on their own in the cage and staying hydrated.

~Joe
 
Last edited:
If I mist him in his cage, the cage will be full of water. But he doesn't drink often and his urates are more orange then white but his eyes aren't sunken. So I will put him on a plant in shower and mist him.

Cheers!:eek:
 
PINki said:
If I mist him in his cage, the cage will be full of water. But he doesn't drink often and his urates are more orange then white but his eyes aren't sunken.
Click to expand...
And this is why your cham's urates are orange (and not white like they should be). You need to set your cage up so that you CAN put a lot of water through there. Whether it is by a dripper or through misting (hand or automatic pump), the cage should be getting pretty wet from time to time. Otherwise there will be no opportunity for the cham to drink.
You say your chameleon is not drinking often... Sometimes you don't always see them drinking, but whether you see them doing it or not, your cham should be drinking every day. And you need to be providing plenty of water to the cham so that they have the opportunity to drink a lot.

But the cage must also have a chance to dry out properly, and this is where I think you might be struggling. The solution is to setup a better drainage system - the solution is not to provide less water to your cham. Do a search on these forums for drainage strategies. There are many creative ways to deal with water in the cage that might suit your particular enclosure.

A shower for a cham is only a temporary solution to treat dehydrated chams, but it is NOT a solution for everyday watering.
 
my misting nozzle spray hits the top screen a little bit in my male's cage, and consequently there is droplets that hang in that spot for an hour after the nozzles shut off, my cham goes up and drink the drops right off the top of the screen.

you should try that, spray the top of the screen so the water droplets hang there and attract chamys attention. thought i would share.
 
PINki said:
If I mist him in his cage, the cage will be full of water. But he doesn't drink often and his urates are more orange then white but his eyes aren't sunken. So I will put him on a plant in shower and mist him.

Cheers!:eek:
Click to expand...


Regardless of you chams eye appearance, if his urates is orange, he is Dehydrated. :eek: By the time your chams eye are getting sunken, it is getting pretty deep into dehydration.

Having lots or puddles of water in your habitat is just something that comes with keep your Cham... I keep my cages on puppy pads to absorb the water that willd come out. others have designed their own catch basin. Most keeper will recommend that you not keep any kind of substrate or absorbant material in the cage especially if you have a burrowing type of cham. (risk of impaction)

I have been experimenting on my own to see if I can stimulate my cham quicker to minimze the amount of water that goes into my cage. so far it has been pretty dismal and the chams will drink when they want to.

One other Item that I found is called "misty mate"

https://mistymate.com/shop/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=91

It produces an ultra fine mist for you chams. the 9oz is about 20 bucks and can put mist out for about 20 min. just dont put the bottle in the micro to heat the water. Turst me pressure and heated plastic don't go together...LOL

hope that helps

OPI:D
 
prior to getting my herp mist my wife and i misted our chameleons cage tops and the drips were present for several hours. this worked well.

Showering sounded like a good idea i tried it with one chameleon and it was not usefull. he just hid. my current system mists 10 minutes 4 times per day and after one week they started to walk toward the mister when thirsty and drink as needed. misting is much smaller particles than showering and the chams like them better IMHO

Short term silkies are great for rehydration

Good luck

Sean
 
The cage is built froom wood and only main door is screened for good airflow. So I put only few newspapers on the floor so the wood doesn't get wet.


Floor of terarium (pictures)







What do you recommend me to put on floor so I can heavily mist my cage?
---------------------------------------------

sorry for my mistakes in english:rolleyes:
 
You really need a drainage system. From the pics I can't really tell what under your cage is like... Most people plumb some kind of bulkhead in the bottom to allow water to drain. Search the forum for "Drainage" and you will get a lot of good ideas. Unless your cage is outside, A drainage system is a must have considering the amount of misting that is required... all that water has to go somewhere. There are tons of ways to create an effective drainage system...just get creative.

~Joe
 
Hmm, I looked for drainage systems. Really good idea but I can't use it because my cage is on a ledge because cham needs to be above my eye level to feel safe. Only idea that comes on my mind is that I will put lots of newspaper on the bottom and then lots of paper towel on newspaper. I will put dripper in cage whose watter drops will fall into the vase of ficus (this one is without leaves, but I have 2 inside the cage). The substrate will get removed at least once a week.:rolleyes:
 
do you have room to lift the cage some, say maybe 4inches or so? if you could then i'd set it on 4x4 blocks and put in some kind of drain with a catch tray underneath. If the bottom of the cage is wood, then it's going to need to be sealed if it is not already. In my opinion it should be sealed whether you put a drain in or not, b/c newspaper and paper towels aren't going to prevent moisture from building up in the wood, possibly causing mold or even rotting.
 
Most of these comments apply to hotter temperature areas.
In the UK we dont see any hot temperatures what so ever, 20 degrees celcius is a warm day for us.

I've got a mister on the way, but for me, 2/3 mists during the day (around 1 minute at a time) is more than enough, combined with the dripper I have on 24/7.
 
adam1v said:
2/3 mists during the day (around 1 minute at a time) is more than enough, combined with the dripper I have on 24/7.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do ... although my drippers are usually empty by sometime in the night, so maybe 16 or 18/7?:rolleyes:.

My chameleons are well hydrated and (again) have never had a shower.

-Brad
 
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