So his first shed in my care is finished! He now has beautiful patterns on him! There are pictures below :-) I also bought him a nice Ficus tree!

Alrighty, questions...

From the pictures, does he look good? Hydrated, and everything?

Meal Worms. I bought 'em, but he shys away from me when I go into hand feed him, at times he has hissed. Any help?

Misting. Is it normal for chams to hate being missed? He always hides from the mist, and today he hissed! How much should I mist him when I do?

And cleaning...I need to clean his home, but because he refuses to be handled, I do no know how to get him out. What is good to clean his enclosure with?

Thanks guys! Enjoy the pictures!

Mine cham hisses only if I mist him with water that has room temperature (it's too cold for him)... You have to mist him with warm water! I think than he will stop hissing and he will start to enjoy. LoL

He looks O.K. for me. And look at his urin if it has some yellow or orange that means he is dehydrated.

Have a nice day.

And his eyes are little bit sunken... That indicates that he is dehydrated. Start misting him with warm water and when he is trying to go away when misting him let him GO and STOP misting.

Mine was trying to run everytime when I misted him with too cold water for him, but now he stays when I use warm water.

I do mist him with warm water.

If he's dehydrated I don't know what to do. I have a drip system that runs for 5 - 10 minutes 2 - 3 times daily, and when I mist I mist until the leaves are dripping wet, as well as misting him.

THE dripper needs to be on for a 1hour minimum, sometimes it takes a while for the cham to see and go over and take a drink. 5-10 is not long enough.

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And sometimes when chameleons feel threatened, they pull their eyes into their heads. To protect their most valuable sense maybe? TNC, I think your critter looks perfectly fine. Obviously make sure he does have access to water, both through misting and a dripper every day.

Now, to deviate a little... why would Mother Nature design an animal that needs an "hour" of constant water dripping them to stimulate them to drink? That makes absolutely no sense to me. Wouldn't one think that if they are thirsty, they would drink right away given access to water? Were does that husbandry theory come from?

Have fun with your new chameleon TNC!
Cheers,
t

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It is a good thing you posted the pictures. Just keep at it. You will see your cham swallowing while you are misting. A really fine mist works the best. I have my hand mister turned fine enough so that it doesn't bother their eyes. I also don't shoot it right at them. After awhile you know just the spot. In fact, my adult male will now open his mouth wide to catch the mist. I am so proud of him! It takes time for things like that. Make sure you have lots of leaves for the water to adhere to because they like to lick the water from the leaves.

Good luck and keep watching the eyes. You can see pics of other chams here and the eyes are really popping.

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I do see him making a swalling motion with his chin/neck when I mist, but his mouth doesn't open (only once has his mouth opened).

I use a fine mist, and when I mist him I do it from more of a distance than when I'm misting the plants.

I also don't really know what sunken eyes look like...

im not saying it takes an hour drip to stimulate thirts, im saying not all chamys dash to water sources.
ALL 4 of my chameleons took more than 5-10minutes to go over and take a drink out of the dripper. im not saying that if they are extremely thirsty that they wont go running over to it. everytime i put my drippers on, i notice it takes at least 20min for my chams to even notice the dripping, much less walk over and take a drink.

i dont know about you, but my cham moves slow, and to get across a 3-4ft cage takes more than 5-10min unless he's in a real hurry. but why make him rush in the first place? streams and waterfalls in nature dont run for just 5-10 minutes a couple times a day. they run all day, mine as well try to replicate natural environment as best as possible. but hey, do what you will.

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I will def. run the dripper for longer, chams do move slowly.

But what about all my other questions??