So wait... are we all fogging now?

[BryanP]

I've seen the info graphic from chameleon academy and ready/listen to the podcast about it but I've not adopted it...

I'm still doing a mist before lights on, a few minute mist late morning, and then a mist about am hour before lights off.

I saw @Gingero video the other day and she lists misting during the day!? Did I miss the memo?



Maybe I should just use a shot glass with water in it! (If you think I'm serious go check my post history where I got banned from the chameleon subreddit for questioning that logic)

 

[Beman]

I do not fog because I can achieve the humidity levels I need without it. I mist only. 1 morning session to bump humidity slightly, 1 late afternoon session to start increasing, then one right before lights off , and another at 10 pm. However I also delay my basking light kicking on in the morning after the morning misting and mine kicks off at 2 before any of the mistings start again. This way I am not adding a ton of heat when I mist. All of my misting sessions run 5-7 minutes each as well. This works for my ambient lack of household humidity and my hybrid enclosure along with the species I have.

There are many ways to achieve the same goals. It is not an all or nothing thing. But what you will see a lot of is a clear set of do this.... Because new keepers do not know how to change up their set ups and timing to accommodate the same goals for their enclosure type or environment. So they are given a one way to do it path so they do not get confused with the many changes that they can make.

 

[elizaann2]

I view fogging, misting and dripper systems as a tool. We know what humidity levels, temps etc our chameleons need. Now its our job to take that knowledge and use the items available to us (foggers, mist systems, drippers) to create what our chams need.

Example, I do use a fog machine at night from 1 am to 6 am for one hour off, one hour on between that timeframe. I mist at 10 pm and at 7 am. My lights turn on at 8 am and off at 8 pm. My basking lights turn on at 9 am and depending on the chameleon, and the room they are in, and the season we are in, their basking light may be on for an hour or for several hours.

In the hotter months of the year (July/August) I do not fog my veiled or panther because I am unable to maintain a temperature drop that would be safe to fog so I just add misting and dripper systems as well as ensure my plants in the enclosure are well watered.

Just use what you need to maintain the environment your chameleon needs. It will look different for everyone.

 

[Steve A]

I am fogging because I have difficulty reaching the desired humidity and maintaining it. 30 mins after lights are off(7pm), I am misting for 60 seconds (tonight I am trying 2mins though because I noticed my guy licking leaves/sticks). Humidity then rises, but fluctuates, falling below 80%, into the 70s, mostly. And it will kind of do this until my fogger starts running at 1am. I have my mister spray again at 1am with the fogger, but the fogger stays on until 6am, and the humidity is nice and high that entire time. 6:30 mister comes on again and then lights on at 7am.

I'm afraid that without the fogger, my panther won't be getting the humidity he needs for as long as he needs it. I am curious if the humidity should shoot up immediately after 730ish, and STAY that way all night until the morning, or if the way I have it is fine. With that being said I think I already know the answer, as i have noticed my panther licking leaves.

But, I've only had him for 2 days now so he could be dehydrated and stressed from his traveling, and going into a new enclosure. So the only change I'm gonna make for now, is to up his misting from 60 seconds per session, to 120 seconds per session and see what that leads to.

 

[Steve A]

I do not fog because I can achieve the humidity levels I need without it. I mist only. 1 morning session to bump humidity slightly, 1 late afternoon session to start increasing, then one right before lights off , and another at 10 pm. However I also delay my basking light kicking on in the morning after the morning misting and mine kicks off at 2 before any of the mistings start again. This way I am not adding a ton of heat when I mist. All of my misting sessions run 5-7 minutes each as well. This works for my ambient lack of household humidity and my hybrid enclosure along with the species I have.

There are many ways to achieve the same goals. It is not an all or nothing thing. But what you will see a lot of is a clear set of do this.... Because new keepers do not know how to change up their set ups and timing to accommodate the same goals for their enclosure type or environment. So they are given a one way to do it path so they do not get confused with the many changes that they can make.

Yeah one thing I've quickly learned is, although the goal is the same, the way we reach that goal is really different for all of us. We have different plants, not same amount of plants, keep our homes at different temps, humidty, etc. Although there are some good baselines to start out with such as the graph made by chameleon academy, you really have to adjust for what your individual chameleon, and enclosure is telling you.

 

[Steve A]

I view fogging, misting and dripper systems as a tool. We know what humidity levels, temps etc our chameleons need. Now its our job to take that knowledge and use the items available to us (foggers, mist systems, drippers) to create what our chams need.

Example, I do use a fog machine at night from 1 am to 6 am for one hour off, one hour on between that timeframe. I mist at 10 pm and at 7 am. My lights turn on at 8 am and off at 8 pm. My basking lights turn on at 9 am and depending on the chameleon, and the room they are in, and the season we are in, their basking light may be on for an hour or for several hours.

In the hotter months of the year (July/August) I do not fog my veiled or panther because I am unable to maintain a temperature drop that would be safe to fog so I just add misting and dripper systems as well as ensure my plants in the enclosure are well watered.

Just use what you need to maintain the environment your chameleon needs. It will look different for everyone.

I don't know what your situation is, but I've recently started actually lowering my air conditioning at night automatically. So during the day it's set at 73f. At 6pm (our lights go off at 7pm), the AC unit takes the entire house down to 71f. This has personally helped me with keeping temps low enough at night so that I can fog. With that said, I also didn't have a major problem with temps dropping. They were just in the high 60s. Now they're low-mid 60s.

So IDK if that's something you can try, but it's an idea if it is!

 

[elizaann2]

I appreciate it! Its not gotten hot here (Utah) until recently so I am just being really aware of their enclosure temps, knowing last year it was hard to get them down at night over the summer. I do have a room AC with my Jackson's but not with my Panther and Veiled.

 

[Beman]

I run a room AC and I do find getting my temps down at night does increase my humidity levels. Right now I can get them down to about 64-65 at night running the air conditioner. Come winter I have my vents closed so I don't add heat to the room. I can get them down to 60 easily. My misting sessions keep my humidity up above 70 easily at night. Seeing mostly 75-88%.

 

[jcarlsen]

I view fogging, misting and dripper systems as a tool. We know what humidity levels, temps etc our chameleons need. Now its our job to take that knowledge and use the items available to us (foggers, mist systems, drippers) to create what our chams need.

Example, I do use a fog machine at night from 1 am to 6 am for one hour off, one hour on between that timeframe. I mist at 10 pm and at 7 am. My lights turn on at 8 am and off at 8 pm. My basking lights turn on at 9 am and depending on the chameleon, and the room they are in, and the season we are in, their basking light may be on for an hour or for several hours.

In the hotter months of the year (July/August) I do not fog my veiled or panther because I am unable to maintain a temperature drop that would be safe to fog so I just add misting and dripper systems as well as ensure my plants in the enclosure are well watered.

Just use what you need to maintain the environment your chameleon needs. It will look different for everyone.

This is pretty much where I'm at. I plan only on fogging in the winter times when things get really dry. My last panther, Cosmo, died very suddenly and might have been developing a URI because I was fogging without getting my temps down low enough. Now, during the hot/humid summer I've got my AC unit going and drying out the room and I've got a fan blowing back and forth on my enclosure for constant air flow. I've got all live plants and just mist and Ickis' poops have looked immaculate. My first panther I hardly ever fogged and he did have bouts where he was a bit more dehydrated, but he lasted about 4.5 years even with all my rookie mistakes, so if I had to pick between a URI and dehydration, I'll choose correcting dehydration every time.

 

[Steve A]

I run a room AC and I do find getting my temps down at night does increase my humidity levels. Right now I can get them down to about 64-65 at night running the air conditioner. Come winter I have my vents closed so I don't add heat to the room. I can get them down to 60 easily. My misting sessions keep my humidity up above 70 easily at night. Seeing mostly 75-88%.

ah interesting. I was thinking I needed to be in the 80-100% really for night time humidity. I'm actually doing well then because I'm pretty much where you are, until my fogger comes on at 1am. Then it's like 85-100% the rest of the way.

 

[BryanP]

My enclosure is in the main living space, not a dedicated room, so is there a decent way to cool just the enclosure? It's a hybrid enclosure so it should make it easier.

 

[Steve A]

My enclosure is in the main living space, not a dedicated room, so is there a decent way to cool just the enclosure? It's a hybrid enclosure so it should make it easier.

That might be tough. Is it possible to move the enclosure to a room that can provide your chameleon with a bit more privacy? It may stress your chameleon to be in the main room if you have people in there all the time. So if possible, there may be multiple benefits to moving him to another room. I don't know what your situation is though so, maybe that's the best place for him in your situation. I really don't know of a way to keep just that enclosure cooler than the ambient room temps though.... I feel a fan nearby on during the day would scare him. I've heard of people using PC fans but IDK about that personally. If you search the forums you'll find people talking about it for sure.

 

[Beppo]

I am fogging because I have difficulty reaching the desired humidity and maintaining it. 30 mins after lights are off(7pm), I am misting for 60 seconds (tonight I am trying 2mins though because I noticed my guy licking leaves/sticks). Humidity then rises, but fluctuates, falling below 80%, into the 70s, mostly. And it will kind of do this until my fogger starts running at 1am. I have my mister spray again at 1am with the fogger, but the fogger stays on until 6am, and the humidity is nice and high that entire time. 6:30 mister comes on again and then lights on at 7am.

I'm afraid that without the fogger, my panther won't be getting the humidity he needs for as long as he needs it. I am curious if the humidity should shoot up immediately after 730ish, and STAY that way all night until the morning, or if the way I have it is fine. With that being said I think I already know the answer, as i have noticed my panther licking leaves.

But, I've only had him for 2 days now so he could be dehydrated and stressed from his traveling, and going into a new enclosure. So the only change I'm gonna make for now, is to up his misting from 60 seconds per session, to 120 seconds per session and see what that leads to.

I do something similar. But I have my mister go off every hour so help keep my humidity bumped up, I am able to keep it around 85 to 97 percent at night this way. But then when it rains where I live I can’t do this or need to add a dehumidifier during the days it’s definitely a lot of tweaking for me on a daily basis still

 

[Mrjamwin]

I've seen the info graphic from chameleon academy and ready/listen to the podcast about it but I've not adopted it...

I'm still doing a mist before lights on, a few minute mist late morning, and then a mist about am hour before lights off.

I saw @Gingero video the other day and she lists misting during the day!? Did I miss the memo?



Maybe I should just use a shot glass with water in it! (If you think I'm serious go check my post history where I got banned from the chameleon subreddit for questioning that logic)

It's not difficult to get banned on the Chameleon Reddit.

 

[Steve A]

I do something similar. But I have my mister go off every hour so help keep my humidity bumped up, I am able to keep it around 85 to 97 percent at night this way. But then when it rains where I live I can’t do this or need to add a dehumidifier during the days it’s definitely a lot of tweaking for me on a daily basis still

Wow that sounds like a lot of water to deal with. But if that's what you have to do that's what you have to do. I went ahead and bumped up the duration of my mister from 60 to 120 seconds.

So tonight it's gonna be:

7:30pm 120secs mister
1:00am 120secs mister
1:00am -6am fogger
6:30am 120secs mister
7:00am-7:00pm lights on

I am contemplating also having the mister go off at maybe 9:30pm to fill in that gap. But I want to see how this goes for the next couple of days. he pooped for the first time today (that I've seen) but it sat for hours before I got home. I saw him poop live on cam (lol) but I couldn't see it till I got home. the poop seemed a little dry of course, but the urate was very white...at least what was left of it. the urate was flat as if it melted on a leaf. hopefully tomorrow or the next day since I'll mostly be home, I'll get a chance to see his poop before long and adjust.

 

[Throwingstones]

It's not difficult to get banned on the Chameleon Reddit.

Lol. I keep an eye over there but never comment. It’s wild.

 

[Throwingstones]

My enclosure is in the main living space, not a dedicated room, so is there a decent way to cool just the enclosure? It's a hybrid enclosure so it should make it easier.

Mine is in the living room too. I got some infinity PC fans. Still trying to get it just right but those you can daisy chain and it doesn’t take many outlets.

 

[Beppo]

Wow that sounds like a lot of water to deal with. But if that's what you have to do that's what you have to do. I went ahead and bumped up the duration of my mister from 60 to 120 seconds.

So tonight it's gonna be:

7:30pm 120secs mister
1:00am 120secs mister
1:00am -6am fogger
6:30am 120secs mister
7:00am-7:00pm lights on

I am contemplating also having the mister go off at maybe 9:30pm to fill in that gap. But I want to see how this goes for the next couple of days. he pooped for the first time today (that I've seen) but it sat for hours before I got home. I saw him poop live on cam (lol) but I couldn't see it till I got home. the poop seemed a little dry of course, but the urate was very white...at least what was left of it. the urate was flat as if it melted on a leaf. hopefully tomorrow or the next day since I'll mostly be home, I'll get a chance to see his poop before long and adjust.

Yep we become obsessed with their poop

 

[Steve A]

It's not difficult to get banned on the Chameleon Reddit.

I stay away from there entirely. I saw people on there suggesting to use water bowls for chameleons, mist during the day, and I could just tell what it was gonna be like.

Probably the way almost all chameleon facebook pages have been. I've left all of them except like....chameleon enthusiasts. Great group. All the others that I joined are like joining a weird cult of 1 set of information and nothing else can possibly be right or suggested. It's so weird.

 

[Flick boy]

Wow that sounds like a lot of water to deal with. But if that's what you have to do that's what you have to do. I went ahead and bumped up the duration of my mister from 60 to 120 seconds.

So tonight it's gonna be:

7:30pm 120secs mister
1:00am 120secs mister
1:00am -6am fogger
6:30am 120secs mister
7:00am-7:00pm lights on

I am contemplating also having the mister go off at maybe 9:30pm to fill in that gap. But I want to see how this goes for the next couple of days. he pooped for the first time today (that I've seen) but it sat for hours before I got home. I saw him poop live on cam (lol) but I couldn't see it till I got home. the poop seemed a little dry of course, but the urate was very white...at least what was left of it. the urate was flat as if it melted on a leaf. hopefully tomorrow or the next day since I'll mostly be home, I'll get a chance to see his poop before long and adjust.

Hi how are you running the fogger like for the full duration, of 15 min per hour ? I ( I'm not running one currently as my temps are not getting low enough , znd my average humidity is between 75,88 so good , whag type of enclosure did you say you have , obtaining and maintaining a high humidity in some enclosures isn't always realistic, and also not natural, as fog naturally rolls in and out with varying density, directing humidity into the area where youf cham is sleeping is more realistic in smaller bursts as mentioned above 15 minutes per hour, also data logging this area ( or all areas) is a great way to know the best times ie the coolest, to run a fogger but also whag levels are being achieved ( and how long after a 15 min fog the levels are staying at before z refog

Wow that sounds like a lot of water to deal with. But if that's what you have to do that's what you have to do. I went ahead and bumped up the duration of my mister from 60 to 120 seconds.

So tonight it's gonna be:

7:30pm 120secs mister
1:00am 120secs mister
1:00am -6am fogger
6:30am 120secs mister
7:00am-7:00pm lights on

I am contemplating also having the mister go off at maybe 9:30pm to fill in that gap. But I want to see how this goes for the next couple of days. he pooped for the first time today (that I've seen) but it sat for hours before I got home. I saw him poop live on cam (lol) but I couldn't see it till I got home. the poop seemed a little dry of course, but the urate was very white...at least what was left of it. the urate was flat as if it melted on a leaf. hopefully tomorrow or the next day since I'll mostly be home, I'll get a chance to see his poop before long and adjust.