dudleycrow
New Member
some web pages say to spray the cham and the plants.Iwas told to spray the cham till he gets a big gulp????. Pokey dont like that!!!. Im new to chams,Im looking for info. I want to have a happy,healthy cham.thanks dudley
water cham
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dudleycrow
New Member
thanks for your reply D crowSally13 said:
dudleycrow
New Member
thank you for the reply d crowDrake said:
Heika
New Member
I don't believe that chams absorb water through their skin. They are not amphibians, after all. Maybe a small amount, but not much. Generally speaking, you should spray the plants and around the cham until you see the cham drinking. Under normal conditions, my cham starts to drink almost immediately when the misting system starts, but some chams aren't so easy. Sometimes it takes five or ten minutes of regular misting before they start drinking. Using hot water in your spray bottle helps. For some reason, chams don't like to be saturated with cold water. 
dudleycrow
New Member
thanks d.crowHeika said:I don't believe that chams absorb water through their skin. They are not amphibians, after all. Maybe a small amount, but not much. Generally speaking, you should spray the plants and around the cham until you see the cham drinking. Under normal conditions, my cham starts to drink almost immediately when the misting system starts, but some chams aren't so easy. Sometimes it takes five or ten minutes of regular misting before they start drinking. Using hot water in your spray bottle helps. For some reason, chams don't like to be saturated with cold water.
jvillereptile
New Member
just becareful when you spray the chameleon you don't want to get water in there eye. my chameleons love to drink from a water fall
I have read about chameleons absorbing water through their skin. I think I have read it a few times as a suggestion for when a cham is severely dehydrated. I could not find the article(s), but will post a link if I find one. It mentioned using warm shallow water below the cham's knees as a way to help a severely dehydrated chameleon. I have only read this from a few sources and I have never used the technique myself. I recommend not using this method until further confirmation can be gained. A vet would be able to help a severely dehydrated chameleon much more than what might be gained by soaking your cham for a few minutes. I also would not do this on a healthy chameleon; I imagine the stress on the animal would be pretty high. I assume it might be used when the cham is possibly too weak for a shower. Maybe someone who has used this method can reply.
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2by2
New Member
This is just my opinion, and if anyone knows anything differently please correct me on this.
In my experience, when either my misting system goes off, or I manually mist my chams cages, the water beads up on their skin and rolls right off. Kind of like it does when you waterproof your deck. So because of this I've always assumed that if chameleons do absorb any kind of moisture through their skin, its very minimal and it probably comes more from the humidity in the cage than it does from actually misting the animal.
My advice is spray all the plants leaves in the cage well a couple times a day. If your cham is happy and healthy he'll drink the droplets right off the leaves.
In my experience, when either my misting system goes off, or I manually mist my chams cages, the water beads up on their skin and rolls right off. Kind of like it does when you waterproof your deck. So because of this I've always assumed that if chameleons do absorb any kind of moisture through their skin, its very minimal and it probably comes more from the humidity in the cage than it does from actually misting the animal.
My advice is spray all the plants leaves in the cage well a couple times a day. If your cham is happy and healthy he'll drink the droplets right off the leaves.
What I read was not misting, but an actual soak. For example, a small container filled with warm shallow water. I kind of regret mentioning it though because a severely dehydrated cham should go to the vet. They can offer a saline solution by injection. Also, I have never used the method myself and can not even find any sources. I would not use the method I describe here unless someone more experienced replies with different advice.
2by2
New Member
I used to work at a pet store that would get in ridiculously dehydrated chams from reptile wholesalers. Against my advice.....we used this soak method a couple of times on some various montane species. It didn't work....at all. It seemed everyone we soaked died...which may have ended up happening anyway, but I dont think the soak method helped at all.
The reason I was against it in the first place was because chameleons are arboreal animals. Other than the leaf chameleons, they're rarely on the ground, let alone sitting in a puddle of water. My logic says that this would be a great way to stress a cham out quicker than anything.
If your cham is dehydrated, your best bet is to use the shower method. This method is not only less stressful, but will probably help eleviate some of the stress your chameleon is going through. Most of my guys love nice long warm showers. On another note, if your cham is that dehydrated, you should probably see a vet anyway.
My opinions on the soak method are based solely on the very little amount of experience I've had with it, along with my good old fashion common sense. That said, if anyone has a different opinion, or has had success with the soak method, I'd love to hear it.
The reason I was against it in the first place was because chameleons are arboreal animals. Other than the leaf chameleons, they're rarely on the ground, let alone sitting in a puddle of water. My logic says that this would be a great way to stress a cham out quicker than anything.
If your cham is dehydrated, your best bet is to use the shower method. This method is not only less stressful, but will probably help eleviate some of the stress your chameleon is going through. Most of my guys love nice long warm showers. On another note, if your cham is that dehydrated, you should probably see a vet anyway.
My opinions on the soak method are based solely on the very little amount of experience I've had with it, along with my good old fashion common sense. That said, if anyone has a different opinion, or has had success with the soak method, I'd love to hear it.
Prism Chameleons
Established Member
Chameleons should not be sprayed directly when misting in their cage. Always mist the plants. If you chameleon is dyhydrated do the following that I suggested in another post on this forum about this subject:
Try a shower. I have a little tree in my shower (a silk tree so as to not cause overwatering a live plant) which I use to give all my chameleons soft, warm showers... Make sure the water is not hot or not too cold and not on full blast (this can hurt their eyes). Run the water softly as if soft raindrops were floating down, put your little tree under the "pretend" soft warm tropical rain and let your chameleon have a very enjoyable shower. If very dyhydrated, he may stay in the shower for 30 mins or more drinking. You may see him stretch his head and neck up as he drinks... this is normal. Let him drink as long as he wants... when he starts to get restless or stops drinking, then remove him from his shower. Make sure you place him under his basking light afterwards so as to not get chilled.
He will love it! All my chameleons turn happy colors when they see they are going to get a nice warm tropical rain in my shower .
By the way, a shower is NOT recommended for baby chameleons. Wait until they are big enough (4-5 months old or more) so as to not drown.
Good Luck!
Try a shower. I have a little tree in my shower (a silk tree so as to not cause overwatering a live plant) which I use to give all my chameleons soft, warm showers... Make sure the water is not hot or not too cold and not on full blast (this can hurt their eyes). Run the water softly as if soft raindrops were floating down, put your little tree under the "pretend" soft warm tropical rain and let your chameleon have a very enjoyable shower. If very dyhydrated, he may stay in the shower for 30 mins or more drinking. You may see him stretch his head and neck up as he drinks... this is normal. Let him drink as long as he wants... when he starts to get restless or stops drinking, then remove him from his shower. Make sure you place him under his basking light afterwards so as to not get chilled.
He will love it! All my chameleons turn happy colors when they see they are going to get a nice warm tropical rain in my shower .
By the way, a shower is NOT recommended for baby chameleons. Wait until they are big enough (4-5 months old or more) so as to not drown.
Good Luck!
Prism Chameleons
Established Member
By the way, I have never heard of soaking a chameleon in a bath or tub type atmosphere. This sounds very dangerous to me for the chameleon, and what he needs is a good drink, not a soak
Here is a link to a panther caresheet at bluebeast reptile: panther caresheet. At the bottom it mentions some advice on treating dehydrated chameleons and includes the shower and soak method.
2by2
New Member
Alot of times they really dont like it when you spray them directly. They will show you this by sometime shaking their heads back and forth, showing aggression towards the water, running away, or just kind of clamming up into a somewhat submissive stance. In my experiences I've found that misting all the foliage in the cage and letting small droplets collect and run off the leaves around the chameleon is a much less stressful way to accomplish things. My guys seem to like deciding when they want to drink, instead of having the water forced on them by getting directly sprayed.
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