advice on hydration and misting

[antoinette]

Hi everyone im new to chameleons I have a panther chameleon hes 4 months I got a 48x24x24 screen enclosure a big dripper 1 large ficus plant branches day and night timer hes eating well and drinking water,o yea and a not so good mister called reptirain lol I spray his cage when I wake and before work my worry is hydration maybe im being a worry wart my work hours are from 6pm -4am I dont wake til 12 or 1 pm from after working and I dont hv the room for a mistking not even sure it will work with screen cage I got his timer set waking at 8 am-8pm sleep im thinking maybe set his timer to times im awake?for misting time or any suggestions on how to keep him well hydrated without spending lots of money and takin up room, ive put to much in already on mistakes.lol thnks all any advice is appreciatedthinkin maybe im being overly paranoid.lol

 

[Solid Snake]

Welcome to Chameleon Forums!

A mistking doesnt take up much room at all, almost none, and it will work with any cage period.

I would leave the lights coming on and off with the sun, thats best.

I would keep him awake while you are at home. I used to work similar hours, and would take care of the chameleon in the morning, before I went to bed, and would wake up just before work, or not sleep.

If this reptarian? thing is an automatic mister, then you could put it on a timer.

He ideally needs to be misted about an hr after lights on, again around 5-6 hrs after lights on, and once more 2-3 hrs before lights off.

You want the cage to dry in between mistings, and especially before lights off. This helps keep mold and such from forming.

You can tell if hes not getting enough water by looking at his urates. They are attached to the poop, and should be white, or near white. The whiter they are, the better hydrated he is, if they are yellow or orange, then he likely is not intaking enough water.

Again, welcome to Chameleon Forums, be sure to ask any and all questions you may have. Using the search function can also provide you with a wealth of information.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/panther/

 

[antoinette]

Hi thnks well my apt is small.lol was thinkin the bucket would look messy n my livingroom so was tryin to think of other options since my work hours wont permit me to mist 3 hrs b4 bed and the mistking lookd hard yo put yogether using drills I wouldnt know were to put it in a screen cage.lol rip a hole on top?my not so good mister has a timer cab spray 15 30 60 seconds every hour or 2 not a very good one I leabe it on and I get flooded.lol grrrr I see him lick the leaves I dont want to over due it on thing's but think I am.lol

 

[lilblack94gt]

another option is a monsoon. I have a couple of them for my various critters and it seems to work well. I use a clear shower curtain on 3of the sides so i don't have to worry about getting my other furniture wet. And it works pretty well. you can set it to mist so many times a day for certain lengths of time.

 

[Solid Snake]

Set your current mister to always on, and plug it into a wall timer, you can get them at almost any store.

Sounds like you need to properly handle your drainage.

At 0:35 in this video you can see how placing the cage on a rack, and placing a bin underneath will solve this.

In the little alcove that that cage was set up, is also where the mistking was stored. Literaly everything to run a chameleon is in that little space, or could be. Including feeders.



You can also see that a mistking can be ran outside of an enclosure (by the window) and not cause a mess. Its just a matter of controlling the water.

 

[antoinette]

Thnks @lilblack so the monsoon you can program how many times to mist a day?im leavin for 2 days tryin yo figure out what ima do@solid dam that was a whole room tht cham had lots of time put into it, yeah was thinking of buying a shelf similar to tht with a bucket seems simple hopefully walmart or somewere has them big enough for my large cage

 

[Solid Snake]

Walmart indeed does. As do most hardware stores.

I dont know anything about the monsoon really, but its my understanding that it is programmable.

The mistking comes with a seconds timer, meaning you can program it down to the seconds.