What is Best Water Method for Veileds?

[LeonsPalace]

I have had a drip system for some time and I never see my chameleon near it or ever drinking the water from it. Worried due to little urate, I spray using a water bottle twice a day and I still rarely see him drink. Just recently, he is reaching up to catch drips from the spray bottle, so I stand there an let him drink. How can I get a system in place so he can drink on his own and I don't have to stand there hand-dripping to him? Does anyone have a good method I could try? I'm leaning towards the timed mister so I know he has enough water for whenever he wants to drink.

 

[fuzzhc]

A timed mister would be ideal. When I was worried about my veiled for a while I was using a dropper between mistings to drop onto his nose and when he figured it out he would lick the drops off the dropper until he was done

 

[Carlton]

I have had a drip system for some time and I never see my chameleon near it or ever drinking the water from it. Worried due to little urate, I spray using a water bottle twice a day and I still rarely see him drink. Just recently, he is reaching up to catch drips from the spray bottle, so I stand there an let him drink. How can I get a system in place so he can drink on his own and I don't have to stand there hand-dripping to him? Does anyone have a good method I could try? I'm leaning towards the timed mister so I know he has enough water for whenever he wants to drink.

Actually, letting him drink directly from the bottle is great. This way you'll know that he is getting a good drink every day. You can probably train him to take water from a hand-held syringe easily. I LOVE teaching my chams to do this. It is a little chance to interact with them, gets them used to receiving liquids from me (in case I have to give them a med in future), and you can observe how much water they will take before getting full. Your misting or dripping can still happen as it helps with cage humidity, but it is a bit less of a guess.

I usually get my chams in the "mood" to drink by first misting the cage foliage until I see the cham start reflex swallowing. Then I start dripping water onto their head from above (warm is better than cool). As the droplets start running down onto their lips they usually start licking and swallowing. Keep dripping as long as the cham keeps swallowing. When he's full he'll start tipping his head straight up and eventually turn away from the water completely.

 

[Love]

I manually spray my chameleons' cages at least twice a day, and my male drinks from the spray bottle. My female is on her way to learning how to drink from the spray bottle though.

 

[KarmenCham]

I just spray the viv with a spray bottle I also have a homemade drip system from a hot drinks Vending machine cup

 

[sandrachameleon]

If your cham is taking drips from the spraybottle, there's no reason for it not to accept a drip system.
but you might need to make a slight adjustment
does your drip system drip quickly or slowly? does it have a tube that enters the cage?

next time you are spray watering, hold the bottle nossel near the tube from the dripper, have the dripper running, help your chameleon connect from one to the other.