how important is misting?

Here's the scenario:

I have a humidifier sitting outside the enclosure at the bottom. I still have to get a gauge for the temp and the humidity. Will the humidifier drop the temp of the enclosure? I upped the heat bulb to a 100 watt and he responded nicely with a healthier appetite.

I poked a hole in the bottom of a 32oz Powerade bottle, I can control the drip by how tight I put the cap on.

I have a small pump sprayer that I was using several times daily before I thought about the humidifier and before I made the drip bottle.

So...with the drip and the humidifer, I should be able to cut back on the misting, right? Do chams need water sprayed directly on the skin on occasion? I had to spray my iguanas bc it helps them shed. Chams don't shed as often as iggy's do though, right?

What humidity range should I shoot for, and should I have the humidifier on at night since the heat lamp will be off?

Lots of questions I know, I'm still behind the power curve here, lol. Thanks everybody, great forum!

what kinds of chameleons are we talking about? your chams still need to be misted because thats how they drink, they dont recognize any other water source other than drops on leaves.

He's an ambilobe panther. Forgot to put that, lol.

I know they only drink from leaves, but I thought the drip system would take care of most of that. If the drip system is keeping the leaves wet enough for him to drink off of, then I shouldn't need to mist as often, since I am using the humidifier to keep the humidity up.

At least, that's the idea...lol

I'd say misting is pretty important, next to feeding. Although, I have a humidifier, its an ultrasonic. They do drip quite a bit. But, like you said, it cools the air down quite a bit. So the time that it's on, in order to stay warm, doesn't produce enough water to replace misting.

OK, so I should only use the humidifier (mine's an ultrasonic as well) during the day when the basking lamp is on.

I guess what I'm not getting is this...if the humidity is controled by the humidifier, and the cham is getting his drinking water from the dripper, then what does the misting provide? It seems like a LOT of water over the course of a day. Unless the misting is to provide water for the plants? I can water those separately though? I'm confused

He has a drip system tho, I would still mist when you can, just let the cage dry out a little before you mist again, as for humidity i think 30-50% is good but spikes after mist is not a problem, Humidifier at night not so sure on, but i would say no, i would just check your humidity at night, i know its not good to have a wet cage before bed time and night time so i would not use it at night

is the misting used to provide a spike in humidity?

Misting him also cleans him so i would do it when you can, not a big deal if hes getting enough water from the dripper
Or you can just give him a shower ounce in awhile if its not to stressful

I know I'm not suppposed to spray him directly...but when I mist, should he be wet when I'm through?

My big guy (when he is in the mood) loves being misted directly. He will sit there all puffed out with his head up and when i stop he looks at me like, "are you kidding?! You cant stop now!" Other days when i start misting he runs and hides in his plants...Go figure...

Id say mist at least once a day. It is good for them to get wet every once on a while.

Shammy kind of gives me the same response. I quit misting him directly when I read somewhere that said not to do it. He's my first cham and I've only had him for 2 weeks, so I'm still learning to read his body language and signs. But if it's ok, I guess I'll go back to that. He *seems* to like it.

I was just afraid that the misting along with the dripper and the humidifier was going to be too much water. I guess it isn't after all.

Off topic, how much should he eat? I'm giving him the large mealworms (are these what everyone is calling superworms?) and he was eating 4 or 5 a day. Then one day he ate 16 at one time. That was 2 days ago and he hasn't eaten anything since then that I'm aware of. Is this normal? I know I need to vary his diet and I'm working on that as well.

Thanks everyone for your help! I truly appreciate the input. Quincy

Misting simulates rain witch stimulates his drinking mechanism. Its too much of a risk to think that he will be drinking all he wants from a dripper alone. Misting him will make him drink, and thats good. We keepers only do this to make it as easy for the cham as possible. We want to provide enough and ever possible chance we can for them to drink because dehydration is a big problem.

But you can do what you want its your cham.
I like to give my cham more then enough chances to hydrate tho.

nightcrawler said:

Misting simulates rain witch stimulates his drinking mechanism. Its too much of a risk to think that he will be drinking all he wants from a dripper alone. Misting him will make him drink, and thats good.

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That's what I wanted to know. I assumed since the leaves were always wet, that he would naturally know to drink when he needed hydration.

nightcrawler said:

But you can do what you want its your cham.

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It's not a matter of doing what I want, I'm trying to do what's best for him. As stated in my original post, I'm still in the infancy stage of learning how to take care of this guy. I normally research more before making a purchase of an animal I'm not familiar with, but I wasn't given the opportunity under the given circumstances.

I was making sure I wasn't providing too much water and thereby causing other problems if I still continued to mist him often--too much humidity, increased potential for mold growth, etc.

When I mist Gizmo I use warm water and rather than spray it on him directly, I mist OVER the top of him. You can see the finest of mist begin to settle on his body and after a few minutes, begin to bead up on him.

Gizmo uses the misting time to clean out his eyes of any dust particles that may have gotten in there. They look pretty strange doing it too. The eye will pull in, then it will bulge way out - then the other one until he feels that it's clean enough.

If for no other reason, it is good for the health of his eyes. Gizmo has never liked being sprayed directly but will calmly stay put for the "Over the Top" misting. Hope this helps.

It definitely helps! I'm glad you mentioned it, b/c I've seen Shammy do that several times during misting. I wasn't sure what he was doing. I can see now (no pun intended) that I need to keep misting him even though I thought I was giving him plenty of water through other means.

I wish that some of the other sites on the web had better information, it's very misleading b/c their info is so general and vague. This forum has proven to be an awesome and reliable source of information for newbs like myself, and I thank you guys for taking the time to respond to my questions!

i no this has got nothing to do with anything but how does a dripper work? it confuses me by tightening the lid the water droplets come out slower

Humidity

Hi.

This is my first posting. I've a male Panther and have read through all the advise given by all the keepers / collectors.
My one piece of advise regarding temp & humidity levels is to go online & check the weather of the country of origin. A good web site will show Day, Night & humidity levels, as well as seasonal averages and photo periods.
If the vivarium is close to the range shown on the website you won't go far wrong.
I hope this is useful.

Stewart.

I guess what I'm not getting is this...if the humidity is controled by the humidifier, and the cham is getting his drinking water from the dripper, then what does the misting provide?

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Misting is not at all necessary, if you drip or rain. Some misters are so fine they are actually quite unnatural.

Misting simulates rain witch stimulates his drinking mechanism. Its too much of a risk to think that he will be drinking all he wants from a dripper alone. Misting him will make him drink, and thats good.

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I highlighted the bold part myself. It is not too much to ask. In fact, I have seen many chams live a long and bountiful life on a dripper. Chameleons easily recognize dripping water, and are more than adequately stimulated by it. The dripper should be situated so that the drop cascades down through a plant, creating multiple sustained drink points on its way .... "and that's good"

The problem lies in that there are so many ways to "mist" a chameleon. The finer the mist or spray, the less natural it is, and the more water is needed to be put into the cage to create actual drinking opportunities. A quick misting creates drops in places .. one here, one there ... etc. Rarely sustained opportunities.

A drip creates a continuous flow, often with sustained drinking points as it cascades down through a plant, etc. Not at all unlike a rain, where the chameleon can go to one or two spots and get its fill. Much like being in a tree druing a rain. Additionally, a half cup of water dripping can create a drink opportunity that lasts for 30 minutes or longer. It may also make your water management easier, that being minimizing problems within the cage and without due to water where you do not need it, or want it.

On a side note, I have seen misting, and actually spraying water at a chameleons eyes, as being recommended before because the animal will then "clean" its eyes, and that this is natural. No more someone turning a hose onto your own open eye would be! When you then reached for a rag to wipe your eye out and tried to get your vision back, I wonder if your keeper would say "Look ! This is how they like to clean their eyes!", and a spray nozzle in your face was then a daily part of your husbandry. And you will wipe them out every time

I am not anti some misting. But it certainly is not necessary as a means of providing hydration, and if I had a choice between one or the other, I would always lean more towards the drip as the primary water source, if for no other reason than it offers a sustained drinking opportunity, and is more like a rain when in the lower parts of a tree. Good luck.

Joe: If you poke a tiny hole in the bottom of a plastic bottle, fill it up with water and put the cap on tight, it won't leak any water if the bottle is just sitting undisturbed. Any water that comes out of the bottom has to be replaced by air coming in from the top. By loosening the cap, I can control how much air is let in from the top, and that is what controls the drip. I don't know if it's a great explaination, you just have to try it to see it. I just used a needle to make the hole.

Stewart: That's probably the best advice I've read anywhere. It makes you go, "Why didn't I think of that??!!" when you read it, lol.

Hi Jim,

I agree, one should not spray water directly into their chams eyes. It's not what they would encounter in their natural surroundings.

I NEVER spray my cham directly into his eyes. My hand mister produces a very fine mist that I always spray over him. The mist gently floats down onto his body. I also have a drip system that is turned on in the morning and only turned off just before his lights go out. Gizmo is always hand misted 3 times a day (more if we are having dry weather).