Are waterfalls really that bad?

Sammyjohnny1016

New Member
I've been hearing a lot about waterfalls as a water source for chameleon. When I first got him I wasn't quite sure how I was going to provide a water source. The people at the pet store where I got him said he would drink from a bowl of water, but I knew that was wrong and did a little bit of research. You are supposed to mist them with warm water or provide a dripping system but my cham doesn't like either of those things. I'm getting worried because he wouldn't drink water and get dehydrated very fast. I've tried all different ways to provide him with water including the shower and bath methods, and still have had no luck. I know you are supposed to thoroughly clean the waterfall everyday due to bacteria if you do have one and that they are very high maintenance. I guess I just need help to figure out if I should actually purchase a waterfall and if it would be a good investment.
 
Chameleons do not live around water falls.

They drink water off of Leaves, after rains/the morning dew. They live in trees, with no waterfalls, and they do not live by streams, so no standing water.

So not only, are waterfalls a source of bacteria and issue, they are completely unnatural, and would never be around a chameleon in the wild.

Your Chameleon will drink a dripper, or misting, they will lick the water off the leaves, just because you dont see them doing it, does not mean they are not. This is how they are designed, this is how they drink they have been doing so for millions of years, you wanting a waterfall does not change these reality's.

Same applies to baths. Chameleons do not need, nor would they ever take a bath. They live in trees, far and away from ponds, lakes, they rarely go to the ground, when they do its to go to a different tree as quickly as possible.
 
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Chameleons do not live around water falls.

They drink water off of Leaves, after rains/the morning dew. They live in trees, with no waterfalls, and they do not live by streams, so no standing water.

So not only, are waterfalls a source of bacteria and issue, they are completely unnatural, and would never be around a chameleon in the wild.

Your Chameleon will drink a dripper, or misting, they will lick the water off the leaves, just because you dont see them doing it, does not mean they are not. This is how they are designed, this is how they drink they have been doing so for millions of years, you wanting a waterfall does not change these reality's.

Same applies to baths. Chameleons do not need, nor would they ever take a bath. They live in trees, far and away from ponds, lakes, they rarely go to the ground, when they do its to go to a different tree as quickly as possible.
I can see that he is dehydrated. Is there anything you recommend I do to fix that?
 
I can see that he is dehydrated. Is there anything you recommend I do to fix that?

Mist his cage, do you have a mister? Hand misting is likely not going to get it, as you will forget or not want to mist long enough. His cage needs misted, for at least a few mins, completely, a couple times a day.

It could also not be dehydration but stress. Chameleons do not like being handled, they do not like bathes, you are likely causing more problems by doing your rehydration methods.

To rehydrate, mist more, and add a dripper. Thats it.
 
Mist his cage, do you have a mister? Hand misting is likely not going to get it, as you will forget or not want to mist long enough. His cage needs misted, for at least a few mins, completely, a couple times a day.
No I do not have a misting system, but I will definitely purchase one. Do you have any recommendations as far as brands go?
 
No I do not have a misting system, but I will definitely purchase one. Do you have any recommendations as far as brands go?

Mistking is the best, Promist is also very good. Both are expensive though, i have never used the cheaper ones like repti fogger but lots of folks do use them, with maybe some success not sure how long.

Hand misting is a pain, to sustain and to mist long enough. So the mister is defiantly worth the cost.
 
Mistking is the best, Promist is also very good. Both are expensive though, i have never used the cheaper ones like repti fogger but lots of folks do use them, with maybe some success not sure how long.

Hand misting is a pain, to sustain and to mist long enough. So the mister is defiantly worth the cost.
Great, thank you so much!
 
Don't take this as an excuse to use a water feature, but there are chams found around streams. Parsonii seem to be one. I'd imagine rainforest montanes to be more likely than something like a panther.

I don't want to say you can't EVER use a water feature because if you did it right, I think it would be an acceptable experiment. I have yet to see ANYONE do it right though lol. By right I mean, sump+UV sterilizers+mechanical and biological filtration.... all the works... then with that you'd still need regular water changes and maintenance.
 
Don't take this as an excuse to use a water feature, but there are chams found around streams. Parsonii seem to be one. I'd imagine rainforest montanes to be more likely than something like a panther.

I don't want to say you can't EVER use a water feature because if you did it right, I think it would be an acceptable experiment. I have yet to see ANYONE do it right though lol. By right I mean, sump+UV sterilizers+mechanical and biological filtration.... all the works... then with that you'd still need regular water changes and maintenance.

Well kind of, but not cage proximity to said stream at all.

Screenshot_20200426-080709_Chrome.jpg


As you can see they say they live Around streams. But surely not beside the water, or above it. Adding it to your chams cage is the latter.

If you want to recreate them living by the water, the way they do. Put a large water feature on the other side of the room :p.
 
REPTIRAIN SUCKS. It does not give you the capability of spraying for longer than one minute, and it has more of a spray than a mist. You're best off with a mistking, but maybe a monsoon if you're going for the price of reptirain.
haha okay thank you so much :)
 
Well kind of, but not cage proximity to said stream at all.

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As you can see they say they live Around streams. But surely not beside the water, or above it. Adding it to your chams cage is the latter.

If you want to recreate them living by the water, the way they do. Put a large water feature on the other side of the room :p.

With that logic we'd also have 15+ high cages because they wouldn't be a few feet off the ground from the substrate either. Also, the scaling down of the water feature(like it would be for us) would be equivalent to a larger one a little further away in the wild. I'd assume the humidity and maybe slight breeze is what they like from a stream, I don't know though. It's not necessary, but it's not wrong either if you do it in the way I described, which to my knowledge, no one has. A small stream a foot away from your chams perch hypothetically would be similar to a large stream 10 feet from their perch in the wild. And lastly, I talked to craig who has been there a few times and I THINK he mentioned that where he's found them in the wild was around streams. And that also their habitats tend to be pretty hot and humid during the summer. Don't quote me on that, I'd want to ask him again just to be sure.
 
With that logic we'd also have 15+ high cages because they wouldn't be a few feet off the ground from the substrate either. Also, the scaling down of the water feature(like it would be for us) would be equivalent to a larger one a little further away in the wild. I'd assume the humidity and maybe slight breeze is what they like from a stream, I don't know though. It's not necessary, but it's not wrong either if you do it in the way I described, which to my knowledge, no one has. A small stream a foot away from your chams perch hypothetically would be similar to a large stream 10 feet from their perch in the wild. And lastly, I talked to craig who has been there a few times and I THINK he mentioned that where he's found them in the wild was around streams. And that also their habitats tend to be pretty hot and humid during the summer. Don't quote me on that, I'd want to ask him again just to be sure.

Well ya near streams is what Madcham said too. However I think how close to the stream is the real question.

If the chams wanted to be feet away from the water, in riparian zones they would, they dont according to madcham, and putting it in the cage creates a riparian zone so not really the same thing.

As to the 15ft cages. I wouldn't be against that one bit for species that would appreciate it.

I have seen images of Mellers up high like that. I am not sure about parsonii parsonii. cristifers from all accounts I have seen, are found head height, or a tad more.

I have seen panthers high up in florida, but the Malagasy footage has them always at head height as well.

Carpets and Minors, are found below 5 ft usually in shrubs, more so than trees.

So all species I keep or intend to keep, are not really found at 15ft, so for me a 6ft cage top would be fine. Thats not to say they don't or can't go higher. Just that from what I have seen those species don't much.


For people that do keep 15ft high most times species thats not very practical.

At the end of the day, I don't think the waterfall serves purpose, does add danger, isn't very natural to be that close.

Waterfalls are cool, I agree to that. We like waterfalls, so setup a large cage between the chams cage. With a large waterfall, and fill it with frogs that do live in that riparian zone.

The rivers that parsons are near will be littered with Reed Frogs. So wanting a waterfall justify making a huge reed frog viv next to the parsons viv lol.

If there is only 1 piece of screen separating the 2. The chameleon will get all the hunidity and cool breeze from the waterfall, without being able to interact with the water. The frogs will be another cool pet, and will utilize the water.
 
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