Work & Misting and home placement?

[Kimmers]

You've all given me a lot to think about and I truly appreciate that. I posted another thread about wanting to keep a cham at work but have learned that that is really not the best scenario for many reasons. So IF I were to decide to have a cham at home instead, I have two questions.

1) I've learned that misting needs to be done several times per day. So for me that means around 6:00 AM then 4:00 PM then 1-2 more before bed at 10:00 PM. Is that enough? (smallish enclosure because I would like a baby)

2) The real biggie! I have a cat and kitten who are intensely playful so the enclosure would have to be in my home office (door closed). Come fall I'm in there 3-4 hours most nights playing WOW. But some nights I watch TV in the livingroom. If I isolate the cats for a few evenings can I move the cage out or would the overly stress the chameleon?

 

[froggielog]

You've all given me a lot to think about and I truly appreciate that. I posted another thread about wanting to keep a cham at work but have learned that that is really not the best scenario for many reasons. So IF I were to decide to have a cham at home instead, I have two questions.

1) I've learned that misting needs to be done several times per day. So for me that means around 6:00 AM then 4:00 PM then 1-2 more before bed at 10:00 PM. Is that enough? (smallish enclosure because I would like a baby)

2) The real biggie! I have a cat and kitten who are intensely playful so the enclosure would have to be in my home office (door closed). Come fall I'm in there 3-4 hours most nights playing WOW. But some nights I watch TV in the livingroom. If I isolate the cats for a few evenings can I move the cage out or would the overly stress the chameleon?

As far as misting go, if you also have a dripper, I believe that would be the bare minimum. I would recommend going with an automatic mister. Keep in mind that chameleons are on a 12 hour cycle, so if you had the lights go on at 6am, would you be home to mist a few times before 6pm? Im still in school and I couldn't always relay on my parents so it took me a while to save up for the mister b/f I got Oliver, but it was worth it.
http://www.mistking.com/Starter-Misting-System-MKMSN.html

It would all depend on your chameleons temperament, as moving the whole cage might be a lot of work in general, would could adopt a lighter weight cage, that can be used around the house,outside,travel, ect...
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/reptarium-38-gallon.html (they have bigger ones too)

Good luck and happy chamming!

 

[Carlton]

You've all given me a lot to think about and I truly appreciate that. I posted another thread about wanting to keep a cham at work but have learned that that is really not the best scenario for many reasons. So IF I were to decide to have a cham at home instead, I have two questions.

1) I've learned that misting needs to be done several times per day. So for me that means around 6:00 AM then 4:00 PM then 1-2 more before bed at 10:00 PM. Is that enough? (smallish enclosure because I would like a baby)

2) The real biggie! I have a cat and kitten who are intensely playful so the enclosure would have to be in my home office (door closed). Come fall I'm in there 3-4 hours most nights playing WOW. But some nights I watch TV in the livingroom. If I isolate the cats for a few evenings can I move the cage out or would the overly stress the chameleon?

How often you need to mist is going to depend on your house humidity. We can't really predict it because we don't know the situation your cham's cage would be in, the foliage and design of the cage. Depending on where I've lived, the morning and evening mistings worked OK for some species but were not enough for others. A baby will need more frequent light misting because they tend to dehydrate more quickly than adults.

Basically, misting serves 2 purposes...to provide drinking water and to maintain humidity. If your house climate is humid year round (and we're talking about reaching spikes of 60%), you would probably only need the two mistings per day so your cham can drink. If your house is going to dry out you'll need some way to raise the cage humidity during the time you are at work. This is where ultrasonic humidifiers and multiple setting plug in timers fit right in. They can really bridge that gap keeping the cham from dehydrating in dry air until you get home.

Moving the cage may cause some stress, but again may depend on your cham and how secure it feels in its space. It will be a hassle so you will probably find yourself unwilling to do it (unplugging stuff, re-adjusting lights, watching for water spills) unless you have the cage on a rolling stand. You can always drape a dark colored sheet over the cage at night if you plan on using tv or a monitor at night.

 

[Kimmers]

Ok

Makes sense. Thanks!