Shooting tongue at water drops? Not drinking

[bigant25]

Hello, I have a 4 month old ambilobe panther boy and im getting worried because I never / ever see my young guy drink any water. I have had him almost 4 weeks now and he must be drinking while I am gone at work right because he is still alive. His poop does not seem dehydrated or dry from what I can tell. However I never ever have seen him take a drink and I spend a lot of time observing him. I mist his live plant 3 to 4 times a day, and I have the little dripper set up above his enclosure which drips down from above and wets down a fake vine-hang/ plant pretty well. He hangs out on top of/ around this fake plant/vine-hang that the dripper hits all the time, sometimes the drops of water hit him right on the head when he is hanging out on the fake plant.

YESTERDAY I SAW HIM SHOOT HIS TONGUE OUT AT A WATER DROPLET
(this is the closest I have ever seen to him taking a drink)

HAS ANY ELSE EVER OBSERVED THEIR CHAMELEON DRINKING THIS WAY? IS IT AT ALL COMMON PLACE TO SEE THIS (shooting the tongue out at a water droplet/ im not sure if they can even take in water this way)?

Im worried hes not drinking enough so I always mist close to him so he can have easy accesss, I mean he walks on the wet leaves and as i mentioned sometimes the drops of water hit him right on the head if he passes under it, he has to feel it and know there is water there for him to drink right?? thanks in advance for any insight guys //// ARE THERE ANY TIPS ON HOW I CAN HELP HIM TO DRINK MORE??

 

[carol5208]

Yes, they can get water from shooting at droplets. It is not something I have seen done all the time or on a daily basis, but I have seen them shoot at droplets on occasion. What I do is set up the dripper right over their head and let it drip on their nose. Usually they will start drinking. It may take a minute or two but it usually works. That is how I get mine to drink.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

My boy used to do this when he was younger. As he has aged he has stopped doing it all together. I don't think he shot at the drops of water after about the 6 month mark.

 

[jbauer]

Delilah does that on occasion but Samson just laps the water up.