Dehydrated help!

[coastalvibesmama]

Recently added a male panther and had to move my females enclosure to another spot. I have since begun dripping during the day with ice cubes also. It has been several days since she's pooped and today she finally went but urates were all orange. She's usually 50% white, 50% orange. I mist heavily twice a day. How long do I have to rehydrate her before this becomes dangerous for her? Also, recommendations for best ways to rehydrate her quickly. I'm so surprised to see this especially considering we added more daytime water recently.

Thanks!

 

[SteveH]

Do you ever witness her drinking and do you fog at night ? What are you day and night time humidity readings ?

 

[elizaann2]

If you have silk or horn works you could feed those to help give her a hydration boost while you are working on adjusting her hydration schedule.

 

[coastalvibesmama]

Do you ever witness her drinking and do you fog at night ? What are you day and night time humidity readings ?

Have not fogged at night because urates were always good. Never see her drinking either. Daytime humidity is usually around 60, night time about 70 after misting, not sure how long it lasts, by am misting it's back to around 60.

 

[coastalvibesmama]

If you have silk or horn works you could feed those to help give her a hydration boost while you are working on adjusting her hydration schedule.

Ok great, I will try to find her some today. Thank you!

 

[SteveH]

Ok great, I will try to find her some today. Thank you!

As @elizaann2 mentioned silk or hornworms would be a big help. I highly recommend running a fogger at night at they actually breathe in the fog helping with her hydration.

 

[Steve A]

Have not fogged at night because urates were always good. Never see her drinking either. Daytime humidity is usually around 60, night time about 70 after misting, not sure how long it lasts, by am misting it's back to around 60.

I think the answer here is clear: Although your daytime humidity is kinda on the higher side (but fine), your night time humidity is not high enough.

I shoot for around 85-95% (80-100% is recommended).

What does your actual misting/fogging schedule look like? Keep in mind that short bursts of higher humidity aren't likely to be enough. Considering they're not typically drinking and just 'absorbing' the humidity, they likely need the higher humidity for a longer period of time.

Are you able to get an automatic mister and a fogger?

For example I am misting at 7:30pm, 1:00am, and 6:25 am

Right now I am misting for 60 seconds each time. However, I am also fogging from 1am - 6am.

This helps keep the humidity in the mid-high 80s+ all night/morning long, starting at 1am.

If you are just misting by hand, I don't think it's enough (For your situation specifically. for others...this can work).

As suggested earlier by @elizaann2 , to give your chameleon a hydration boost, I agree with offering some hornworms/silkworms to help your chameleon immediately. I personally feed silkworm(s) to Spike daily. But I feel like you need to make adjustments on your misting/fogging in general. I think that's the real issue here, if I am not mistaken.

With a humidity of 60% I would never mist/fog during the day. My humidity during the day is typically 45-60%+ and I would never even consider it. My male panther has done excellent with only hydrating at night while he's asleep. But I am also making sure that his humidity is consistently high (above 80%) from 1am until 6:00am. So he is being hydrated that entire time (not just in short spurts). I hope this helps!

edit: If you are already on a schedule, maybe you simply need to increase the duration of your mister. In the winter I found out that I had to actually increase my misting from 60 seconds to 120 seconds to reach the humidity I wanted to achieve at night. And now I am back to 60 seconds.

 

[Beman]

Has she laid eggs yet? If so when was the last time? If not then how old is she?

 

[coastalvibesmama]

Has she laid eggs yet? If so when was the last time? If not then how old is she?

She has not laid eggs yet, she has visited the sand bin recently for a couple days in a row (about 2-3 weeks ago) and then no unusual behavior since. She did start shedding today. I gave her a horn worm last night and ordered a mister that I hope to set up tonight or first thing tomorrow. When I got her from the pet store they had no idea, said maybe 8 months old. She's shorter than my 6 month old male but much plumper, she's always been plump.

 

[coastalvibesmama]

I think the answer here is clear: Although your daytime humidity is kinda on the higher side (but fine), your night time humidity is not high enough.

I shoot for around 85-95% (80-100% is recommended).

What does your actual misting/fogging schedule look like? Keep in mind that short bursts of higher humidity aren't likely to be enough. Considering they're not typically drinking and just 'absorbing' the humidity, they likely need the higher humidity for a longer period of time.

Are you able to get an automatic mister and a fogger?

For example I am misting at 7:30pm, 1:00am, and 6:25 am

Right now I am misting for 60 seconds each time. However, I am also fogging from 1am - 6am.

This helps keep the humidity in the mid-high 80s+ all night/morning long, starting at 1am.

If you are just misting by hand, I don't think it's enough (For your situation specifically. for others...this can work).

As suggested earlier by @elizaann2 , to give your chameleon a hydration boost, I agree with offering some hornworms/silkworms to help your chameleon immediately. I personally feed silkworm(s) to Spike daily. But I feel like you need to make adjustments on your misting/fogging in general. I think that's the real issue here, if I am not mistaken.

With a humidity of 60% I would never mist/fog during the day. My humidity during the day is typically 45-60%+ and I would never even consider it. My male panther has done excellent with only hydrating at night while he's asleep. But I am also making sure that his humidity is consistently high (above 80%) from 1am until 6:00am. So he is being hydrated that entire time (not just in short spurts). I hope this helps!

edit: If you are already on a schedule, maybe you simply need to increase the duration of your mister. In the winter I found out that I had to actually increase my misting from 60 seconds to 120 seconds to reach the humidity I wanted to achieve at night. And now I am back to 60 seconds.

Thank you! I gave her a hornworm yesterday, how often would you recommend to help with hydration until I figure out the correct misting? I had not done any automatic misting or fogging as she has had hydrated urates since I've had her (just hand misting after lights in pm and before lights in am). I ordered a mister on Amazon and it just arrived, hope to have it set up tonight for her. I agree, it appears hand misting is not enough. From what I understand, our nighttime temp didn't get low enough to fog, typically 72 in our house for summer, winter will be different. She started to shed today also. Do you run a dripper during the day at all?

Thanks!!

 

[MzLaurie]

I think Beman is onto your issue. Bringing a male Cham into the home will surely change her egg laying schedule too. It may be causing her stress too. When my panther gets ready to lay she stops eating and drinking completely for two to three days prior to laying. So if she is going to the laybin you might want to cover up the front of the enclosure to give her privacy. I flatten out a box and just prop that in front as it’s easy to remove. MsSkittles is a pro on this.

 

[Beman]

She has not laid eggs yet, she has visited the sand bin recently for a couple days in a row (about 2-3 weeks ago) and then no unusual behavior since. She did start shedding today. I gave her a horn worm last night and ordered a mister that I hope to set up tonight or first thing tomorrow. When I got her from the pet store they had no idea, said maybe 8 months old. She's shorter than my 6 month old male but much plumper, she's always been plump.

Could you post multiple pics of her for me please. Can she see the male?

 

[Steve A]

Thank you! I gave her a hornworm yesterday, how often would you recommend to help with hydration until I figure out the correct misting? I had not done any automatic misting or fogging as she has had hydrated urates since I've had her (just hand misting after lights in pm and before lights in am). I ordered a mister on Amazon and it just arrived, hope to have it set up tonight for her. I agree, it appears hand misting is not enough. From what I understand, our nighttime temp didn't get low enough to fog, typically 72 in our house for summer, winter will be different. She started to shed today also. Do you run a dripper during the day at all?

Thanks!!

I think you should ask someone with a bit more experience on that if you feel she is in fact dehydrated. I don't know how to answer because I think it really depends to be honest. Especially since she is female, I believe you want to be careful how much you feed her.

IMO, I would look into doing what most of us are doing with the automatic misting/fogging.

If it's not possible to lower the temp a little more at night (remember, the temp only has to go down at night while you'll likely be sleeping anyway), then I would say stick with an automatic mister only and have it mist throughout the night periodically (you will have to figure out how often on your own and adjust, based on what your humidity readings are each night until you get it down).

I have central air in my house so it's easier for me, but what I do is I allow my A/C to bring the temps down around 11pm from 70-73 to 67-70 (my thermostat only works in increments of 3....). Then at 1am the mister cools it down even more as the fogger is turning on and it stays cool (low to mid 60s Fahrenheit range) throughout the night. Remember, the area that's most important is where your chameleon is sleeping. Where Spike sleeps is a few degrees cooler than the top of the enclosure, even at night. This is why I monitor temps/humidity so closely at different spots of my enclosure. If I only had 1 sensor, then it wouldn't be accurate, and I may feel like I couldn't fog when I actually could. Or vice versa.

With all that being said, pay close attention to what @Beman is saying. I am just talking about hydration in general. She is far more experienced than me (she has been a mentor for me to put it in perspective) and she is going to know a lot more about what is going on with your chameleons' situation.

I do personally think it would be well worth you at least investing in an automatic mister to reach a better humidity range, for a longer period of time late night - early morning for your chameleon regardless of that specific issue.

edit: I forgot to mention, I do NOT use a dripper during the day. I used to always have a dripper on hand, but I have the luxury of watching my chameleon on my computer monitor ALL day while at work. Not once have I ever witnessed him utilize the dripper. I ended up removing it for a while to test and see how things go, and Spike is doing great, so I have not put it back. At this point, considering how close I monitor his temps/humidity at each range in his enclosure, check his poops/urates, etc I don't think I'll be putting it back unless I see some evidence that he would need it. I've so far had great success by simply hydrating him at night while sleeping.

 

[coastalvibesmama]

Could you post multiple pics of her for me please. Can she see the male?

Sure cannot see the male but she saw him when he moved in. First pic was this am, second 2 were yesterday, last 2 were Wednesday. She also pooped yesterday and it was about 30% white again. We set up a mister Wednesday night, running 5 times (8 pm, 11 pm, 2 am, 5 am and 8 am (I think, still messing with the settings) at first 20 seconds, now 35 seconds but it doesn't really appear to be increasing humidity. I'm still hand misting before and after lights and that's getting it to 85% humidity (barely). She had 2 hornworms, (Tues & Thurs) I'm pretty sure she ate them because I can't find them.

Edit to add- added last pic from above taken this am, do eyes look sunken or ok?

 

[Beman]

Sure cannot see the male but she saw him when he moved in. First pic was this am, second 2 were yesterday, last 2 were Wednesday. She also pooped yesterday and it was about 30% white again. We set up a mister Wednesday night, running 5 times (8 pm, 11 pm, 2 am, 5 am and 8 am (I think, still messing with the settings) at first 20 seconds, now 35 seconds but it doesn't really appear to be increasing humidity. I'm still hand misting before and after lights and that's getting it to 85% humidity (barely). She had 2 hornworms, (Tues & Thurs) I'm pretty sure she ate them because I can't find them.

Edit to add- added last pic from above taken this am, do eyes look sunken or ok?

So are any of the automatic misting sessions when lights are on? Some do not respond well to hand spraying when it comes to being comfortable enough to drink in front of you. Also most really need a long misting session to trigger drinking. Mine run anywhere from 2-5 minutes at a time.

Physically she just looks a little hefty. Not sure how long you have had her but if the pet store said roughly 8 months when you got her this would put her into the right time for eggs. I would go ahead and take a look and basking temp along with your feeding amounts and schedule. She is showing excess weight in her casque.

 

[coastalvibesmama]

So are any of the automatic misting sessions when lights are on? Some do not respond well to hand spraying when it comes to being comfortable enough to drink in front of you. Also most really need a long misting session to trigger drinking. Mine run anywhere from 2-5 minutes at a time.

Physically she just looks a little hefty. Not sure how long you have had her but if the pet store said roughly 8 months when you got her this would put her into the right time for eggs. I would go ahead and take a look and basking temp along with your feeding amounts and schedule. She is showing excess weight in her casque.

I bumped up misting to 40 seconds, it runs 4 times overnight and I have still been hand misting after lights out and before lights on, no misting with lights on. Her basking temp is usually right at 80 and she's been doing well except she's always jet black when I walk in the room, she then lightens up. Thanks so much! I've also dropped down to 5 crickets every other day