jacksons wont drink, imagine that?
i am guessing (from your avatar) that your cham is some sort of jackson's ?. jacksons xanths can be real stubborn drinkers, most of the time they drink just fine, but if they are feeling the slightest bit under the weather (like being already dehydrated), it is not uncommon for them to stare at dripping water for hrs without drinking . when this happens, i like to use something i call the "head down trick" , it involves manual misting with cold water that has been heated (not warm tap water) first try and do it when your cham is by the top of the cage , the basic idea is to strategically coax him into a downward position without freaking him out and in the brief time available get him soaking wet (also without freaking him out)while keeping him(or her)in a head down position , your cage setup and chams personality sort of determines how you go about this , basically start with a light spritz from above, using a slightly spitty spritz, but, not a solid stream, try not to get their attention any more than neccessary, give them like thirty seconds between light spritzings and try and spitz just enough so they dont move (which eventually they will), when they do start to move use the spray to try and coax them into a downward position , hopefully they will already be well on their way to being drenched , as the cham moves down ward give them a short blitz of spray, but not so much that they start racing around the cage in an effort to get away , remember the idea is to try and keep them in a downward facing position while they are dripping wet , as soon as it is wet enough to start dripping off of their chin, STOP, hopefully your cham will stop to, if you can get them to maintain a downward position while water is dripping off of their chin, sooner or later it will drink ,if this happens , as soon as he starts to run out of water give him ONE quick spritz from a distance, just often enough to keep the water dripping of of his chin , it takes some practice, and may take several tries, but it will usually eventually work , its sort of like if you had water running down your face , its almost impossible to resist wiping it off, its a reflex reaction , if they spend enough time facing downwards with water dripping off of their chin, they will eventually try to lick it off (whether they are thirsty or not), it is rare that this trick doesnt eventually work, and if it doesnt, after dialing it in with several tries a day , then there are probably other issues besides lack of hydration , if it continues to fail , and you are concerned about your chams ability to survive short term , then you can always go the ol emergency standby , use a dental syringe (the type with no needle and a curved plastic tip)and grab your cham in a no nonsense matter and try to get it to gape at you , when it does , squirt a small amount of water behind their toungue [not in front thats where the treachea is(risk of inhalation )]also if it is still feeding you can try injecting your feeders with a drop or two of water apiece , remember these are only short term solutions, whenever a cham (most chams )are displaying out of the ordinary behaviour , it is quite probably a sign that something else is wrong ,so you want to keep the bottom of your cage especially clean during this period, because i would suggest getting the next fecal that comes along and submitting it for examination, just to be sure, one last note, many jacksons are shy drinkers, and may drink only when no one is around , and on one final contradictory note never assume your cham is drinking unless you have actually seen them drink , i also am in seattle and was begining to wonder if, if i was the only one, there are a few others from outlying areas but you are the first i have heared of that is actually in seattle , you are welcome to contact me anytime for specific related jacksons question/issues, but also remember, that no one person has all of the answers ,even xanthoman has his limits, on the forum you will always get a broad range of answers from many experienced cham people and of course the more you learn about your species,the better prepared you are to deal with its issues, and one of the best places to learn is in the help pages, its just as important to learn what not to do , and you often learn more from reading other peoples problems and the responses to them than you do from asking your own specific questions
They just love to drive us nuts.
It's the truth-- and I've seen my fair share of them in the last few years. It's a shame you've not found a female yet. They're very rarely kept successfully in captivity!
