How to make a water fall work

Right now, the best I can provide my cham is with a water fall for water. The things cost me an arm and a leg and I cant afford to replace it at the moment, so..... without bias...... can anyone help me find solutions on how to make one work without every day cleaning. My idea would be to add small chunks of mopani wood into the water reservoir because of its natural antiseptic qualities and because the tannins it releases is full of awesome anti-oxidents. Would this work out for me? If not, can anyone else get creative and help me find a solution?

You cant just use a simple hand sprayer a few times a day? That alone would be better than a waterfall. In fact your cham probably wont drink from it as it is standing water, so its useless anyway

Hey Mr Bonzai! Well, the problem you're having is pretty much the reason people don't use waterfalls, can't keep 'em clean. Maybe that solution you suggested would help but over all, hand spraying would be a lot better.

Also - I might be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure a waterfall is not even an option for a water source. I know if I put a waterfall in my chams cage, and stopped misting him, he'd eventually die of dehydration. My cham doesn't know a water drop till it hits him in the face.

Has anyone seen a cham drink from a waterfall?

you'll find most people dont suggest waterfalls as they can be messy and dirty, one problem is preventing feces from falling in, i use screen over the basin, and 100% change every2-3 days. the wood is a good idea, it will help

My first mistake.......

My first mistake years ago was to buy a couple of those ZooMed waterfall things. That was long before I joined this group. They are now in the closet along with some other things I got that were useless. I'm saving mine until I go to a reptile club group meeting. I hope to sell them and the other stuff to people who have reptiles they are appropriate for. I suggest you do the same or sell yours on Ebay. Buy a $2.00 plastic hand sprayer like the type you put glass cleaner in at your local hardware store. Mist your cham by hand twice a day. He/she will like that a lot better. I think you will find you like it too because you will actually get to watch your Panther drink from plant leaves

no way to keep it clean w/o cleaning it every day lol

you could take a cheap plastic dish or cup and poke a small hole in it, place it above the cham cage and fill with water so you will have a makeshift dripper until you can get a real solution. i used this method for a while before i set up something a little better and it will work fine until you can afford something else.

mrbonzai211 said:

Right now, the best I can provide my cham is with a water fall for water. The things cost me an arm and a leg and I cant afford to replace it at the moment, so..... without bias...... can anyone help me find solutions on how to make one work without every day cleaning. My idea would be to add small chunks of mopani wood into the water reservoir because of its natural antiseptic qualities and because the tannins it releases is full of awesome anti-oxidents. Would this work out for me? If not, can anyone else get creative and help me find a solution?

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can't you refund the waterfall and use that money to buy a mister instead?
your chameleon will probably think the waterfall as his potty place. He will poop there and worsen the bacteria situation.
since he probably poop every day or two, i doubt chunks of mopani wood will be sufficient. Plus, if he gets creative and start shooting at the wood, you might risk an impaction to your cham.

mrbonzai211 said:

Right now, the best I can provide my cham is with a water fall for water. The things cost me an arm and a leg and I cant afford to replace it at the moment, so..... without bias...... can anyone help me find solutions on how to make one work without every day cleaning. My idea would be to add small chunks of mopani wood into the water reservoir because of its natural antiseptic qualities and because the tannins it releases is full of awesome anti-oxidents. Would this work out for me? If not, can anyone else get creative and help me find a solution?

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Get that thing out of there. Use a large deli cup with a pin hole in it to drip down into the cage. Those are free.

Even if that waterfall cost you so much, I still suggest you not use it for your chameleon; And specially if you don't intend to clean it every single day. Even if you put those wood chunks in for aseptic purposes, the amount of bacteria that can accumulate in one day from your cham defecating in the waterfall and also your feeders possibly drowning in and even defecating in the waterfall as well would be greater than the amount of work the wood can do to purify the water for your cham to drink.
I would suggest using that waterfall for something else other than for your cham. Like other people have suggested before me, use a water sprayer and mist your cham's cage and make a dripper. The dripper is much much much better than a waterfall. Just take a milk jug or any bottle and poke a super tiny hole in it so that it drips slowly and lasts longer. Have the dripper drip onto vines or leaves that way your cham sees the water dropplet rolling off the leaves. I know I don't have enough money to spend on some pricey automatic mister... so I have a drip system and i mist when i can. My cham sits there and watches the drips of water rolling for a few minutes before he licks the leaves or even the screen top where the water is dripping from.

NO WATERFALLS! Just take a plastic cup,poke a small hole under it and put some water in it and you got yourself a dripper. Or get a hand sprayer,make sure youve cleaned it out well though.

A vet visit or a dead chameleon costs more than any waterfall

Hey Mr. Bonzai.

A lot of people are jumping on you about the waterfall, which you probably expected. In a sense you were kind of asking how to get a python to eat dogfood by saying "I know people don't do it, but what's the best way?"

There kind of is no best way, that's why you've got a lot of responses that don't answer your question. There kind of isn't an answer.

Hopefully you're not too discouraged. We're passionate about husbandry here, that's for sure.

Not to be flippant, but the best way to make a waterfall work in chameleon cage is the same treatment I recommend for heat rocks.

Wire cutters to the cord.

Well we had a waterfall in scooters cage for a while. i prob. only saw him drink out of it once or twice. and i think he did poop in it everyday just to make me mad. i had to clean it everyday. i thought it would be better then the dripper and make less of a mess but i was wrong and went back to the dripper. i would just follow the help of all the ppl on here and just mist your cham real good whenever you can. and drippers are very inexpensive.

christyo2o2 said:

Well we had a waterfall in scooters cage for a while. i prob. only saw him drink out of it once or twice. and i think he did poop in it everyday just to make me mad. i had to clean it everyday. i thought it would be better then the dripper and make less of a mess but i was wrong and went back to the dripper. i would just follow the help of all the ppl on here and just mist your cham real good whenever you can. and drippers are very inexpensive.

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My dad said when he was a child in the philippines, him and his friends would poop in the downstream right before the waterfall where the kids were playing in the water just under the waterfall... ur story of scooter made reminded me of his story. haha...

dj special k said:

My dad said when he was a child in the philippines, him and his friends would poop in the downstream right before the waterfall where the kids were playing in the water just under the waterfall... ur story of scooter made reminded me of his story. haha...

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LOL,kinda made me throw up inside...

ewwwwwww. lol

omg thats gross!! lol but scooter really did use it as a bathroom and not to drink out of.

christyo2o2 said:

omg thats gross!! lol but scooter really did use it as a bathroom and not to drink out of.

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it is almost a universal thing among creatures of earth.
running water = poop spot.
even human think that way