Solid Snake
Avid Member
Some thoughts I feel may be useful...
In the wild, they get a lot more rain, day and nite. The thing to remember is, they are not trapped into one wet location, they can stay higher and drier if they need to.
IMO,In captivity, you want to give the lots of water, but you dont want the dampness issues it causes, so we balance this. An easy way to balance this is with drainage, but everyones situation is DRASTICALLY different, so of course different things are going to work for different people.
also
Sandrachameleon points out that the "raining" is beneficial to their skin and eyes. I think this is important to keep in mind. I dont have any research that says this is true, but an animal that lives and evolves in rainstorms for thousands of years is bound to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with said rain, on all kinds of biological and psychological levels.
also
I sat outside in a thunderstorm today, with my two chameleons, to observe their behavior. My xanth was not phased at all by the rain, as sat still when it started. She did not start drinking until the rain fall was fairly heavy, then she drank for minutes.
My panther slowly made his way under a palm leaf for cover. After the rain got really heavy, he started to drink also(as the water fall was suffecient to penetrate his "cover").
They both drank slowly, and for at least 20 min. I then went inside so I have no idea what happened after that.
I give them all out rainstorms when they are outside. 3-10 times a day depending on how hot it is. They drink almost everytime, and the misting goes on for 10-20min at a time.
I have noticed, that the harder the "rainfall" the more likely they are to drink.
They both drink from leaves and drippers when they are inside, and they get "misted" more than "rained", but they never drink as much(it seems) from these.
Just my experience and thoughts.
In the wild, they get a lot more rain, day and nite. The thing to remember is, they are not trapped into one wet location, they can stay higher and drier if they need to.
IMO,In captivity, you want to give the lots of water, but you dont want the dampness issues it causes, so we balance this. An easy way to balance this is with drainage, but everyones situation is DRASTICALLY different, so of course different things are going to work for different people.
also
Sandrachameleon points out that the "raining" is beneficial to their skin and eyes. I think this is important to keep in mind. I dont have any research that says this is true, but an animal that lives and evolves in rainstorms for thousands of years is bound to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with said rain, on all kinds of biological and psychological levels.
also
I sat outside in a thunderstorm today, with my two chameleons, to observe their behavior. My xanth was not phased at all by the rain, as sat still when it started. She did not start drinking until the rain fall was fairly heavy, then she drank for minutes.
My panther slowly made his way under a palm leaf for cover. After the rain got really heavy, he started to drink also(as the water fall was suffecient to penetrate his "cover").
They both drank slowly, and for at least 20 min. I then went inside so I have no idea what happened after that.
I give them all out rainstorms when they are outside. 3-10 times a day depending on how hot it is. They drink almost everytime, and the misting goes on for 10-20min at a time.
I have noticed, that the harder the "rainfall" the more likely they are to drink.
They both drink from leaves and drippers when they are inside, and they get "misted" more than "rained", but they never drink as much(it seems) from these.
Just my experience and thoughts.
His dripper is 1 gallon size & drips all day every day.
