Veiled chameleon humidity?

[Johan2808]

Hello,
I got my first chameleon! Her name is inky. She is in a huge mesh enclosure, My main question is Her substrate is paper towel and The dripping system( Zoomed's little dripper) Gets it soaking wet. My digital thermometer gives me a humidity reading of 99% which is weird . Anyway is my question is could high humidity harm her? I'm trying to get it low and it is at 80 but the basement we live in is pretty darn humid! so any suggestions? I mist her twice a day.
Please let me know! thank you!
-Johan

 

[carbyville]

The "good range" for humidity for a veiled is between 40-70% -- if it stays too humid in their enclosure, they can develop upper respiratory infections. And if the bottom of the enclosure is *too* wet, and the water pools down there, that's no good either. That water is a breeding ground for bacteria.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. How old is Inky? Do you have any pictures? I keep veileds and the little girls are just so sweet. Veileds don't require the humidity to be as high as some chameleons and it normally drops in between mistings. If the humidity it to high it could cause an RI (respiratory infection). You probably need some type of drainage in her enclosure and try to get the humidity down. I'll see if I can find you a link to some drainage info. Below is a link to my blog for new keepers and a link about keeping females and two links about egg laying and the laying bin. Females lay eggs without a man even being around and by 5 months old need a laying bin in their enclosure at all times.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

More chameleon info here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

 

[Johan2808]

Hello guys,
Thanks for the welcome!
The humidity now is about 57% and the substrate is damp.
Inky is 3 years old.
I do not have any close up pictures but inky has a little abcess on her nose(The way I bought her) but I'm going to get that checked out mid september. And I do have a laying bin filled with damp play sand.

 

[Johan2808]

Also the enclosure is a 65 gallon flexterium or something like that, it's an exo terra

 

[Decadancin]

I would not be too concerned with humidity with veiled chameleons. If you have too much moisture I'd be more concerned with mold. The general safe bet is to have the enclosure "dry out" between mistings. I generally suggest two hygrometers in an enclosure just so you can be sure you are getting an accurate reading.

If you are struggling with humidity being too high, change out the towels at the bottom a bit more often and that may help. What are the temps in the enclosure?

 

[Johan2808]

80-87,
At this point the towel is damp and The dripper is on.

 

[SocialNumb]

I'd do away with the paper towels. Personally I use nothing down there. It's cleaner all around.

A drainage system would be good. Right now I'm using a very shallow tupperware to collect the water and I clean it out multiple times a day. I also keep the dripper on pretty slow release. My little one takes a dump from the branches and it lands in the water. Easy clean up.

 

[Johan2808]

It got very messy at this point ,so I'm thinking of just misting extra rather than the drip system as she never uses it and only drinks when I mist....good idea?