Dehydrated? Help!

Rango_TheManEater

New Member
I’ve been informed that my juvenile veiled chameleon has MBD, and I will be taking him to a reptile doctor as soon as possible, as well as updating his husbandry to accommodate him.

However, I have yet to witness my chameleon drink water. I have had him for several weeks now (a month?), and I mist my tank twice a day. Once before the lights turn on, and once after. However, I’m unsure that my chameleon is interested in drinking the mist from my plants. Is there anything I can do to ensure he’s drinking his water??
 
You often won't see a chameleon drink (I haven't in the months I've owned one), so we monitor their urates to gauge about how hydrated they are. We generally want a white, creamy color, but a little bit yellow/orange isn't terrible either.
For extra hydration opportunities, you can DIY a dripper with a few materials following this video as inspiration.
Otherwise you can purchase a dripper to place atop the enclosure. It should drip at a rate of 1 or 2 drops per second.
 
Then the chameleon shouldn’t be dehydrated. Why do you think it is dehydrated?
Just a new chameleon owner making sure that my baby is doing okay. He’s got MBD already, as previously mentioned, so I don’t want anything else going wrong with him.

As I also said, I haven’t personally seen him drink water, but I’ve already been told that this is normal and I may not catch him drinking water often. Thank you for helping, though! :)
 
If the chameleon is dehydrated the urates are usually very orange/yellow. If they are white or almost white they should not be dehydrated. Many are, for sure, secret drinkers.
 
Back
Top Bottom