What to do for a 24-48 hour trip?

[CamiGirl89]

I have a question regarding what to do when going on short 1 or 2 night stays home (3 hours from my apartment). Usually I leave a trusted friend or my boyfriend at the apartment to take care of the chameleons, but there are some instances when they can't stay and take care of the chams. What do you guys do? I was considering purchasing "Little Drippers" to set at a slow drip, but does anyone have any recommendations? MistKing is not an option for me right now until I get hired on at a job other than internships If it is unhealthy and a bad idea, I will not leave them, but I am wondering if some of the experts here know if they are ok without misting for a day or two?

 

[Solid Snake]

They will live, are these veileds? Its my understanding that they dont need as much humidity, so Id think it would be fine.

I would definitely make a large dripper at least, they will still need some water.

 

[pssh]

What species and are they healthy adults?

 

[jannb]

Allot of people here will tell you it's ok to leave them alone but just from reading this forums you see how quickly they can go down. I have a pet/ house sitter for when we go off. I would ask and train a friend of neighbor to come by and mist, drip and Check on them once or twice a day. Make sure they have phone numbers incase there's a problem. If you are only gone a day or two feed them well before you go and not having food would not be a problem.

 

[CamiGirl89]

There are 2 veileds (each 1+ years old), then my young panther (4.5 months). I don't want to leave them alone while he is still young, but I feel like a buggy neighbor Maybe my neighbor will just have to get used to it, and take care of them anyway! I usually go buy crickets the day before the babysitter comes, so food for them is never the problem while I am gone.

 

[Thechameleonkeeper]

They should be fine, just make a dripper with a "Qt" cup and a small pin hole on bottom edge, will drip for a long time, or make sure very hydrated the am u leave, and as soon as you get home, id say prob 2 days max, or 3 at very max.

 

[Solid Snake]

I would not leave a one that young, thats just me though.

 

[skittles1234]

There are 2 veileds (each 1+ years old), then my young panther (4.5 months). I don't want to leave them alone while he is still young, but I feel like a buggy neighbor Maybe my neighbor will just have to get used to it, and take care of them anyway! I usually go buy crickets the day before the babysitter comes, so food for them is never the problem while I am gone.

I alway's throw my neighbor a few bucks. Slip a $20 under the door he will learn to love your chammies. My neighbor actually asks to just come over and say hey to them even when i'm home now!!

 

[CamiGirl89]

Haha that is cute! I tried to pay my neighbor, but she is on a big health kick... She just wanted strawberries and bananas! I guess Cami always hisses at her, but the boys have yet to give her a problem.

 

[DanSB]

Allot of people here will tell you it's ok to leave them alone but just from reading this forums you see how quickly they can go down. I have a pet/ house sitter for when we go off. I would ask and train a friend of neighbor to come by and mist, drip and Check on them once or twice a day. Make sure they have phone numbers incase there's a problem. If you are only gone a day or two feed them well before you go and not having food would not be a problem.

I agree with Jann on this one. Most of the key words are "they SHOULD be fine"... well they should, but there are many things that could go wrong...

What happens if a light goes out, if the thermostat for the apartment dies on you, if if if... Getting someone to swing by once a day just to check on things and mist could make a world of difference.

I have personally lost a frog, and the majority of two saltwater tanks from preventable issues a simple daily check from a friend could have prevented. (all three temperature related)

 

[Olimpia]

I wouldn't be able to leave if it weren't for my Mistking. I don't know what I'd do otherwise! With it I can leave for a few days and not worry about it, because they can still get 15 minutes of misting a day for over a week with the reservoir and drainage capacity I have. I don't leave them that long, but as far as water is concerned it wouldn't be a problem.

Maybe a high capacity dripper would be fine, I guess, but the downside is that it goes all night too, so you waste a lot of that water when the chams aren't even awake.

 

[CamiGirl89]

Everyone has very good points, and I appreciate all of them! I feel guilty when I leave them, so having someone come check on them is wonderful. I also feel guilty asking the neighbor to come check on them so often. Eventually I will invest in Mistkings, and the good thing is if my neighbor's power or whatnot goes out, so does mine (we are in the same apartment building with the same AC systems). I think this is something I will debate with myself for awhile. I will probably end up getting a more portable cage for Bagheera and just bring them all with me. Thank you all again for your help and advice!

 

[sandrachameleon]

I would not leave one that was less than at least a year old (and also not an old animal close to the end of its life) for even one day without water.
But if I have to, I can leave my adults for up to two nights without worry. I feed and water before I go, and again when I get back. So its only that day inbetween that they are alone. They dont notice my absence. One day with out water wont kill them. The chances of some freak accident is there, but its also there when I'm at work or when Im asleep.

 

[DekuScrub]

i wouldnt be concerned about the veileds if theyre in good health. i wouldnt even worry about the panther if hes in good health as well.

here are two things you can do.

gallon jug. poke a very tiny hole in it with a needle. VERY tiny. you have to realize the weight of the water will push it out fast at first. but ive had situations where i make a hole so small that it will stop half way through. you want it to be able to drain completely.

you can help slow the flow by putting a tiny pinhole in the lid as well. it will regulate the vacuum/air pressure and the rate of flow. but its really a trial and error situation until you get it just right. *note, dont use the lid unless it has a hole in it as it will produce a vacuum and flow will cease comletely

as long as you have live plants, as you should, you should be able to maintain humidity. in fact you can turn the basking light off completly to avoid dehydration. trust me they can go on just fine without a basking light for a couple days....what do you think happens when it gets cloudy?

and just over feed them before you leave. as long as you dont use feeders with HUGE mandibles youll be just fine. and even so the likelyhood of them nippin your cham is slim as long as they had been well fed. that would be like you biting a dragon cause you want a snack, its only going to happen because of starvation/desperation.

all in all if you think about it 2 days as long as you feed and water them right before you leave and right when you get home is like nothing

 

[Elizadolots]

If it were me, I would ask a neighbor to come refill regular drippers and to call you if they see anything odd (you might want to make a list of things you would consider odd...like, he's asleep during the day or he's staying on the bottom of the cage). Refilling and replacing water drippers shouldn't tax anyone.

Just feed them well right before you leave and they should be fine for food.

You might want to have a back up plan in your head just in case you need to stay longer and someone does have to feed them. In my experience, teenage boys are all over the idea of feeding insects to lizards, so maybe you can line up a neighborhood kid to be "the on call chameleon feeder" should you need it.

 

[stepho]

My suggestion would be to convince one of your good friends of the awesomeness that is chameleons enough so that they research how to care for them and get their own. Then you can call on them when you go out of town. Make sure it is someone that doesn't go on trips very often as they will likely call you when they go out of town.

 

[DanSB]

Make sure it is someone that doesn't go on trips very often as they will likely call you when they go out of town.

HA! That is hilarious.

Kinda like when you're moving only ask your friends that don't have very much stuff for help...

 

[DekuScrub]

*COUGHsomeofyouseemveryparanoidCOUGH*

youd would have to have a cham with a preexisting condition for such a short period of time to effect them detrimentally

just do what i said. trust me. even thats more than you need to do with healthy chams.

if youre that paranoid buy a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier. 2 reasons to get em. 1. if youre an addict like me and most of us youll eventually get montane species and this will be a godsend (walgreens like jdog says) 2. the mist looks really sweet.

but realllllly HOOOOOOOONESTLY what do you think happens to wild chams that are probably infested with parasites when there is a random dry spell? or lack of prey for a day? do they fall off their branches and die? no.

they will be just spiffy

 

[Elizadolots]

Deku, the fact is, crap happens so having some one take a peek every day is a good idea. I'm thinking of a thread (it might have been a year ago) when someone went away for a week, arranged for someone to visit mid week but somewhere in between a cat in the house knocked a cage down and a chameleon died.

I also happen to think that all animals deserve to have water available at least a few hours a day.

The fact that they might go without in the wild is not important to me because these are my pets, my responsibility and for me to deprive them of the most basic of things (water) seems just wrong.

Everyone's entitled do their opinions.

 

[DanSB]

*COUGHsomeofyouseemveryparanoidCOUGH*

youd would have to have a cham with a preexisting condition for such a short period of time to effect them detrimentally

just do what i said. trust me. even thats more than you need to do with healthy chams.

if youre that paranoid buy a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier. 2 reasons to get em. 1. if youre an addict like me and most of us youll eventually get montane species and this will be a godsend (walgreens like jdog says) 2. the mist looks really sweet.

but realllllly HOOOOOOOONESTLY what do you think happens to wild chams that are probably infested with parasites when there is a random dry spell? or lack of prey for a day? do they fall off their branches and die? no.

they will be just spiffy

In addition to what Eliza said above things aren't always perfect.

I had the thermostat bug out on my AC when I was gone for the weekend... dead frog. I guess the house getting over 100 caused the terrarium to get even hotter. I've had two similar instances with aquarium thermostats.

Granted a chameleon could likely survive a house over 100 degrees (depending on the species) and this won't always be a problem unless it is the middle of summer or the dead of winter. But there are many things that can happen other than those issues.

I see little to no point in taking a risk personally. I wouldn't say you are negligent if you took the risk, and I will admit to mild paranoia when it comes to such things.

The real truth is when you're not home an leave animals anything can happen and things that would be no big deal for most people could kill your animals. This has little to do with being able to survive a few days without food or water.

While on the subject I also believe it is a little cruel. Sure they can survive but why would you put them through the stress of mild dehydration? No food for a few days is perfectly fine, but no water just isn't.

I would also point out that lack of water in the wild is preceded by atmospheric changes most reptiles and amphibians can sense. Thus their bodies are likely to anticipate and go into conserve mode. This is just a guess but then so is assuming your not causing any long term stress issues by leaving them without food and water for a few days...