Watering my chameleon!! Help pls!

[DASVlDANlYA]

Hi guys, so I spray my cham pretty regularly and has been perfectly hydrated until recently. I noticed that her urate has started to have a bit of yellow in it but I can't figure out how to get her drink more water now? Like i mentioned, i spray her (and her enclosure pretty regularly) and I've read before that chams will drink water when you're not watching. Fair. BUT she's never had a problem eating or drinking right in front of me, and now i feel like she just doesnt drink water.

Now then, I've read that you shouldn't put a waterfall thingy in there bc of bacteria. And I've also read that chams don't drink from still water hence why i've only been spraying her myself. But i read recently that spraying them works fine for younger chams (fair) but once they get older, you should put a little dish with water in a section of the terrarium where the light reflects. So I did that but she doesn't seem to understand that it's.. water lol.

She's about 7 months now. So yeah. Thoughts please :|

 

[bobbydigital]

How often do you mist and for how long? Do you have a dripper?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Hi guys, so I spray my cham pretty regularly and has been perfectly hydrated until recently. I noticed that her urate has started to have a bit of yellow in it but I can't figure out how to get her drink more water now? Like i mentioned, i spray her (and her enclosure pretty regularly) and I've read before that chams will drink water when you're not watching. Fair. BUT she's never had a problem eating or drinking right in front of me, and now i feel like she just doesnt drink water.

Now then, I've read that you shouldn't put a waterfall thingy in there bc of bacteria. And I've also read that chams don't drink from still water hence why i've only been spraying her myself. But i read recently that spraying them works fine for younger chams (fair) but once they get older, you should put a little dish with water in a section of the terrarium where the light reflects. So I did that but she doesn't seem to understand that it's.. water lol.

She's about 7 months now. So yeah. Thoughts please :|

Respectfully, your wasting your time with the bowl. Invest in a Mistking, they are worth every penny. If you can’t afford a Mistking get a dripper see pic below. They are cheap and effective. Try to get 1 drop of water every 5 seconds. Make sure the drops are landing on some leaves so your Cham will recognize it as a water source. Please post a good pic of your viv.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Slight tinge of orange or yellow are not a huge deal but they can also be a sign of over supplementation. What supplements do you give her and how often?

 

[DASVlDANlYA]

How often do you mist and for how long? Do you have a dripper?

If i'm not home for some of the day i mist her twice that day for quite a bit and make sure everything's soaked including her. But if I'm home I mist her 3-4 times.

 

[DASVlDANlYA]

Slight tinge of orange or yellow are not a huge deal but they can also be a sign of over supplementation. What supplements do you give her and how often?

Oh Damn, i had a little dripper but got rid of it. I'll get another one immediately lol. And I've been dusting her crickets every meal with calcium with no d3, and then every other week I'll dust one serving of crickets with reptivite, and the other serving of crickets with calcium with d3. (I give her 12 1/2in crickets a day, 6 in the morning, then 6 in the evening)

here's her terrarium. I cup feed her, occasionally turn on her humidifier and plan on putting a pothos in there.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Supplements look correct, that’s not the issue. Restart the dripper and if it doesn’t improve come back and we can go from there. Next time she poops please post a pic of the urates.

 

[Syreptyon]

Oh Damn, i had a little dripper but got rid of it. I'll get another one immediately lol. And I've been dusting her crickets every meal with calcium with no d3, and then every other week I'll dust one serving of crickets with reptivite, and the other serving of crickets with calcium with d3. (I give her 12 1/2in crickets a day, 6 in the morning, then 6 in the evening)

here's her terrarium. I cup feed her, occasionally turn on her humidifier and plan on putting a pothos in there.

Her enclosure needs a fair bit of work. As it is, it is poorly suited for a chameleon. #1 thing to do is remove that water dish! The only community I have ever found which advocates using still water for chameleons is the chameleon subreddit and boy is that not a place you want to spend time (I learned this quickly myself). You will not find any respectable breeders or experienced keepers that recommend that. Misting and drippers are the safe, consistent way to go and adult chameleons do not in any way struggle to drink in this manner. Oh, a picture of the cham would be useful, too!

Secondly, she has very little surface area to utilize in that exoterra. What is the size of it? She needs a 24x24x48" enclosure by the time she is an adult. The biggest problem you have right now is that there are very few horizontal branches/vines/walkways for her to utilize. And the ones you do have are way too low in the enclosure to be useful. Chameleons need MANY horizontal options at all elevations in the cage, but especially in the top half. The ones you have will not do any good for her to benefit from the basking bulb and UVB. They are arboreal reptiles and naturally want to be as high up as possible to feel secure.

She also needs much more foliage cover in there. In addition to perches, she needs the option to hide. I would replace those fake plants if I were you (they offer no usefulness and imo are an eye sore) with real ones like pothos, ficus, or schefflera. This will also be good for her humidity and she may even munch on the leaves.

Finally, that substrate needs to come out ASAP! Unless your vivarium is bioactive (stocked with a breeding population of springtails and isopods), it is going to do nothing but collect water and grow mold, which will quickly lead to a respiratory infection for your little girl. This is especially a concern because you are keeping her in glass, which already poses an above average risk of RI

 

[Syreptyon]

Oh and one more thing: you are going to want to replace the coiled UVB light you are using. They do not distribute UVB well enough for chameleons to benefit from their presence and can also cause eye problems. What you want instead is the linear style of UVB strip light (like a reptisun 5.0). Just never use the compact/coiled ones

 

[DASVlDANlYA]

Oh and one more thing: you are going to want to replace the coiled UVB light you are using. They do not distribute UVB well enough for chameleons to benefit from their presence and can also cause eye problems. What you want instead is the linear style of UVB strip light (like a reptisun 5.0). Just never use the compact/coiled ones

I mean, i've only tried the water dish "method" for a couple days before I came here to ask for real help lmao. I've already put in a new dripper so she can drink more hopefully. So there's that!

And ok ok word. I'll get on giving her more surface area and getting better lighting. I do totally love her and want the best which is why I'm here T_T lol Her terrarium is 24x18x36. I got it after previously asking if this was an okay size for a fully grown female veiled chameleon and people basically said it would suffice. I had her in that typical screen enclosure when she was a tiny baby but she had a little (now totally healed) eye problem and when I took her to the vet and explained all the normal cham care, she advised me to up the humidity. Idk if maybe living right outside chicago has anything to do with my air lmao but nothing I did upped the humidity in her enclosure! I saran wrapped one side and covered another side with paper towels AND had a humidifier going and the humidity level was still at 30% at all times. Hence the current glass enclosure which i feel does help a lot with that. (sorry long story ahahah) I will add that I do leave her doors open often when I'm hanging out in the room for a long breath of fresh air.

Ah yes I've read about the plants!! I;ve honestly been a little nervous to get her these plants bc I've read to be wary of fertilizers and pesticides which I feel bigger stores deal a lot with. But i think i found a little local plant spot I can trust and I'll head there as soon as I can. As for the substrate, I've read some discussions on if substrate is fine for your cham to be around or not and the conversation really seems 50/50 (half saying it's perfectly fine, the other half saying no substrate is better for cleaning purposes). Even the workers at the pet store said it was fine, but I didn't know she could get RI from it T_T so i'll toss it for sure. Do you have any recommendations on what I can use for the bottom of her enclosure? When I mist her/let the dripper drip, a ton of water collects pools at the bottom and turns into a puddle.

Also this is Matcha! She's a little puffed because she's not a fan of the print on my phone case lol

 

[lycan_megura0523]

Does she act restless or go to the bottom of her enclosure? How old is she?

 

[DASVlDANlYA]

Does she act restless or go to the bottom of her enclosure? How old is she?

No not really. She's quite still and really only starts heading down there when i bring in the cup with her crickets. I believe she's 7 moths and I know I have to start preparing for her egg laying haha.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I mean, i've only tried the water dish "method" for a couple days before I came here to ask for real help lmao. I've already put in a new dripper so she can drink more hopefully. So there's that!

And ok ok word. I'll get on giving her more surface area and getting better lighting. I do totally love her and want the best which is why I'm here T_T lol Her terrarium is 24x18x36. I got it after previously asking if this was an okay size for a fully grown female veiled chameleon and people basically said it would suffice. I had her in that typical screen enclosure when she was a tiny baby but she had a little (now totally healed) eye problem and when I took her to the vet and explained all the normal cham care, she advised me to up the humidity. Idk if maybe living right outside chicago has anything to do with my air lmao but nothing I did upped the humidity in her enclosure! I saran wrapped one side and covered another side with paper towels AND had a humidifier going and the humidity level was still at 30% at all times. Hence the current glass enclosure which i feel does help a lot with that. (sorry long story ahahah) I will add that I do leave her doors open often when I'm hanging out in the room for a long breath of fresh air.

Ah yes I've read about the plants!! I;ve honestly been a little nervous to get her these plants bc I've read to be wary of fertilizers and pesticides which I feel bigger stores deal a lot with. But i think i found a little local plant spot I can trust and I'll head there as soon as I can. As for the substrate, I've read some discussions on if substrate is fine for your cham to be around or not and the conversation really seems 50/50 (half saying it's perfectly fine, the other half saying no substrate is better for cleaning purposes). Even the workers at the pet store said it was fine, but I didn't know she could get RI from it T_T so i'll toss it for sure. Do you have any recommendations on what I can use for the bottom of her enclosure? When I mist her/let the dripper drip, a ton of water collects pools at the bottom and turns into a puddle.

Also this is Matcha! She's a little puffed because she's not a fan of the print on my phone case lol

You have three options on the substrate, in my opinion at least. It sounds like you already know about them from your research, but for me in order of preference it’s:
1 Bioactive substrate
2 bare floor with water dish for catching water (for drainage, not drinking!)
3 Non-Bioactive substrate

If you are interested in having some type of Bioactive substrate I recommend you talk to @jamest0o0 i think he is a bit of an expert on it and won’t steer you wrong.

And I’m glad you realize that this forum is the place to be for “real help.” Pet store employees often have good intentions but let’s face it, they are making minimum wage and that’s not a very good incentive to actually make the effort to educate themselves so they just parroting things they have heard...

 

[andrearamirezo91]

You have three options on the substrate, in my opinion at least. It sounds like you already know about them from your research, but for me in order of preference it’s:
1 Bioactive substrate
2 bare floor with water dish for catching water (for drainage, not drinking!)
3 Non-Bioactive substrate

If you are interested in having some type of Bioactive substrate I recommend you talk to @jamest0o0 i think he is a bit of an expert on it and won’t steer you wrong.

And I’m glad you realize that this forum is the place to be for “real help.” Pet store employees often have good intentions but let’s face it, they are making minimum wage and that’s not a very good incentive to actually make the effort to educate themselves so they just parroting things they have heard...

I worked at a pet store for a while when I was younger, and all the preparation I had before I began working was a one hour course to learn about the products they offer. People would come to me with all sorts of questions related to animal care and health... Everything from fish to birds and reptiles and I can honestly say all my suggestions were based on an "educated guess". I really didn't know better. I never EVER trust pet store people.

 

[lycan_megura0523]

I worked at a pet store for a while when I was younger, and all the preparation I had before I began working was a one hour course to learn about the products they offer. People would come to me with all sorts of questions related to animal care and health... Everything from fish to birds and reptiles and I can honestly say all my suggestions were based on an "educated guess". I really didn't know better. I never EVER trust pet store people.

I work at PetSmart in pet care and I work with the reptiles, fish, small animals l, and birds. I personally have done major research on the animals we sell so that I can direct the customer to what is needed to properly care for what ever animal they wish to get as a pet. While in some cases it may not be wise to trust pet store people. Some of us do know what we are talking about I can also refuse to sell an animal if I feel that it will not receive proper care from the person wishing to buy it. My manager has also allowed me to start gutloading the crickets with greens and other veggies and fruits. So I wouldn’t say never trust a pet store person.

 

[andrearamirezo91]

I work at PetSmart in pet care and I work with the reptiles, fish, small animals l, and birds. I personally have done major research on the animals we sell so that I can direct the customer to what is needed to properly care for what ever animal they wish to get as a pet. While in some cases it may not be wise to trust pet store people. Some of us do know what we are talking about I can also refuse to sell an animal if I feel that it will not receive proper care from the person wishing to buy it. My manager has also allowed me to start gutloading the crickets with greens and other veggies and fruits. So I wouldn’t say never trust a pet store person.

I'm glad that there's people like you out there that care. Regardless, in cases like yours it's the individual person who chooses to go the extra mile to learn.

Like you said, you made time yourself in order to do extra research to ensure that the animals are receiving proper care. In my case, the store didn't make any effort at all, and I was young and ignorant enough to not know any better. A lot of times the worker has only the best intentions when trying to provide customers with help, but they sometimes they fail to offer proper advice because sadly they weren't properly prepared by the people that hired them. A lot of people think taking care of animals is simple and are completely oblivious to the world of information and proper husbandry requirements that are out there for every specific animal. It should be the store's responsibility to ensure that their workers know what they're talking about, or at least to inform them of how detrimental spreading misinformation may be. I'm 100% sure that there are good people out there like yourself, but given what I PERSONALLY experienced, I rather do my own research. There's just no way of knowing who did their research and who is just trying to make a sale, so why take my chances?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Thank you for making the extra effort to educate yourself but I think even you can admit that you are the exception to the rule.

 

[bobbydigital]

For humidity, I use a tarp around 3 sides.

As for the plants, you can re pot them with organic potting soil and wash the leaves with soap and water and rinse a few times to remove any pesticides.

For the buildup of water at the bottom, you need to put a drainage bin under the cage. What I do is drill holes into the pvc flooring and put a bin under to catch the water. I also have a rubber mat under that on the floor in case any water slips through and doesn't mess up the floor.