does the "no food" for a few hours....

[lele]

...before lights out also pertain to water? Cyrus has this habit of drinking heavily right before bedtime. He will sit under his dripper for 1/2 hour or more, drink, bulge and clean his eyes (not the right one so much since the surgery). I realize that the food issue is so that undigested food does not sit in his cool belly all night, but wondered about the water. His dripper sits on top of his UVB strip so it is always warm and I cannot imagine there would be any reason not to let him do this, but figured I'd ask anyway. Antone else's cham do this?

lele

 

[Tygerr]

I think you're right in your assumption.

The reason most people warn against feeding chams just before lights out, is because the cham digestive system needs heat in order to digest food. That's why correct basking temperatures are so critical.
And if the cham ate shortly before its lights went out, it wouldn't have any of that critical heat overnight to help digest the food, which potentially could cause digestive tract blockages/impaction or simply not processing the nutrients out of the food.

Now, as far as drinking water before nightfall goes, the water shouldn't pose the same problems as undigested food, so I would surmise that it is perfectly safe for a cham to drink before bedtime. (The only reasons humans are usually told not to drink water just before bed is because then you have to wake up in the middle of the night to go pee... )

The only warnings I've heard regarding water before night-time is that if the lights go out shortly after a watering session, the cage won't dry out as quickly as it would during the day, and could lead to a permanently wet cage - which isn't good for reasons of bacteria growth/cham respiration/skin disorders.