veiled won't drink much

[Marc10edora]

I've had my juvenile female veiled for over two weeks now and still I only seen her drink twice. I wake up every morning at 8:00 am to turn on her dripper and mist with warm water. But everytime I mist, she goes and hides in a corner. Then, after I'm done she will take a quick stroll around the cage until she ends back up at her basking branch. It's like she is totally ignoring the water on the leaves. The first time I saw her drink was from a huge droplet on the roof of my wire mesh enclosure. The dripper goes on all day at 10-15 drops per minute and drops on a couple of vines and leaves next to her basking perch. But I haven't seen her show any intrest in it yet. Three days ago her poop was really yellow. So the past two days I put her in the shower, on a plant, and misted her for 30 minutes. Since then, her poop was starting to get out of the yellow range and she is more active.

But it is still not the pearly white color it used to be. It is getting white with just a tint of yellow. She I really frustrating me. I will be gone for 3 days at the end of this week and I want to make sure she is in the best condition before I leave. I have my misters and lights all set up and ready to go automated for that time. But it scares me leaving her knowing that she isn't fully hydrated. Should I keep putting her in the shower for the next few days? Also I've been misting by hand 4-5 times a day, really soaking the cage and the auto mister sprays for 1 minute every hour to keep humidity up. I know the showers must be working because her poop is getting out of the yellow range. But I can't do that when I'm gone and it is putting stress on her everytime I take her out of her cage.

 

[marxous]

i know that some individuals on this site have suggested not misting so often because the tank should have an oppertunity to dry out between mistings. They nevery fully explained why, but i would imagine it is so all the water/moisture evaporates so there is no oppertunity for mold, fungus or bad bacteria to begin to spawn. Perhaps you should try longer mists less frequent.

 

[Marc10edora]

I understand the mold part. Right now I change the reptile carpet once a week and I cut a drain hole in the bottom of the cage. But I also have a wood grape vine in there. Could that develop mold if I keep it wet alot?

 

[marxous]

im no expert, however i think that allowing the enclosure to dry out is more preventitive than any anything. Its has to do with maximizing your animals potential to thrive, and minimizing its potential to get sick. Also a benifit to longer misting sessions is that your cham is more likely to drink and that more moisture encourages it to clean its eyes! And if you've been paying attention to recent posts, there have been many eye issues lately.

i havent heard of really anyone misting longer than 20 mins a day though...
I would reccommend at least trying to let your enclosure fully dry out before misting it again. I can only really manage to mist 3x a day, maybe 4, because i do let my enclosure dry out.

Give it a shot, if your veild seems more alert or healthy then stick with it!

to me it makes sense waiting inbetween mists though.

Good luck!

 

[Julirs]

My guy was 8 weeks old when I got him. I wasn't seeing him drink much, and he became a little dehydrated with yellow poop and everything. I had a dripper and misted 3X a day because I was so worried about him. I never watched him do anything with the dripper-I think it scared him. The system that took about 3 weeks to perfect for us is to mist 3X daily, for 5 minutes each time, at 8:30,1, and 6. I use hot water out of the tap-that is a nice warm mist. He comes out to open his mouth as his mist hits him and I ocassionally catch him drinking off of the leaves, or catching a big drop. It took about 5 days to get nice white poops, so maybe he is adjusting a bit slower to the move to your home. I have two basking lamps aiming at the side of the side of the cage but downwards that help dry up the bottom, and once a day I hand dry with papertowels.

 

[Marc10edora]

mayabe I'll try that schedule.

 

[Marc10edora]

poop is back to normal. What a releif... But the only downside is that the reptile carpet is soaked and I have to change it alot..

 

[blood4eva69]

the reason u should let it dry is coz of Respitory infection.

 

[kinyonga]

Letting the cage dry out also helps prevent sores from forming on the soles of their feet.