Sphagnum moss? Yay or nay?

[kwilkens14]

I live in Colorado, and it's pretty much a desert as far as humidity goes. I'm already looking into auto misters for once school starts, but as of now I'm just hand misting every hour and change. At an average I lose about 10% humidity every 15 minutes. So I was looking at stuff to help retain some humidity. I know substrate is a big no no, but what about sphagnum moss on the bottom of the enclosure?

 

[carol5208]

well a couple of things here....it will be a place for feeders to hide. If you free range your feeders or you cup feed and once escapes, you take the risk of the feeder going down to the moss and your cham shooting its tonuge and maybe getting some of the moss too. I am not sure how loose the moss is? Also if your dripper and mister is going to keep it soggy that may create a hazard to your chameleon. keep in mind that out in the wild of course there is ground cover, but not in a contained area that we force our chameleons to live in.

 

[kwilkens14]

Ah! I meant to include that. I'm definitely monitoring his food intake since he's only 3 months old. So I'm adding one feeder at a time in a cup to make sure he's eating his recommended 10-15 a day. I've got newspaper underneath right now that I'm changing every other day. As far as the dripper goes I have it dripping into a cup that Has too small of a hole in the top for the cham to get in! But thank you. I just wanted some insight before I went out and got some and made a mistake!

 

[carol5208]

I mean it is really up to you, but my biggest concern would be if you had a misting system and it was constantly wet and soggy and that may breed conditions for a Respiratory Infection.

 

[Carlton]

Ah! I meant to include that. I'm definitely monitoring his food intake since he's only 3 months old. So I'm adding one feeder at a time in a cup to make sure he's eating his recommended 10-15 a day. I've got newspaper underneath right now that I'm changing every other day. As far as the dripper goes I have it dripping into a cup that Has too small of a hole in the top for the cham to get in! But thank you. I just wanted some insight before I went out and got some and made a mistake!

A couple other ideas...if you decide moss is the only way to temporarily raise your humidity until you get the mister, you could confine it to a windowscreen mesh "bag" or critter keeper vented boxes to keep the feeders from getting into it and also keep it off your cham's tongue. I have used Care Fresh recycled paper pulp cage bedding as a substrate, but I also wetted it down and compressed it so feeders didn't burrow into it and the surface wasn't loose. You will have to watch it closely for molds.

I've had chams in CO and found various ways to raise humidity. Draping plastic sheeting on back or sides of the cage helped the most. That and an auto mister and using an ultrasonic humidifier controlled with a lamp timer.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I live in Colorado, and it's pretty much a desert as far as humidity goes. I'm already looking into auto misters for once school starts, but as of now I'm just hand misting every hour and change. At an average I lose about 10% humidity every 15 minutes. So I was looking at stuff to help retain some humidity. I know substrate is a big no no, but what about sphagnum moss on the bottom of the enclosure?

There are better substrate choices. Sphagnum's longer strands could cause twisty internal issues if injested. I know several people who use cocofibre or sand, sometimes covered in river rocks. You could put a bowl of water with a sponge in the enclosure (cover with a screen if you want). You could use a more solid sided enclosure (wood, glass, plastic etc) to better retain humidity. You could buy a humidifier (your own health and skin might appreciate having this!)

 

[Canny Chams]

ive used the super fine cocofibre with juvinile chams before, it helps with humidity quite a bit, but you have to be VERY careful with supplementation, many people say that if chameleons are missing some minuscule nutrients that they sense in the substrate, generally i would say just to use paper towel, and just get a full room humidifier, less risk that way. I also wouldnt recomend cup feeding until they are full grown, or at least 9 monthes of age, also not at all with females, they wont get the exersize they would get from catchling the food free in their cage.