Drinking Water and Trust

Andrew1283

Chameleon Enthusiast
I have only ever hand fed my Cham and so she pretty much equates fingers with food. A.K.A. that screen door opens and she comes running. One time she actually mistook my finger for a cricket and it scared the ever living heck out of me! Getting bitten felt like strong jaws filled with sandpaper. It didn’t hurt but I wasn’t ready for it :). Anyway I have some soft black air line running from my dripper onto pothos leaves and I can get her to drink from it directly like a gerbil (yes totally unnatural). Once she saw my fingers near the water drops she seemed to have a little Ah Ha moment and she now goes right to it for water. I wipe it clean daily. When she’s done with me she gives the chameleon salute and I let her be. I love my smart little buddy and her superhero stretch.
 

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I would caution you against teaching her to drink from you. This can make her reliant on you only giving her water. Some get used to this and it is the only way they will take water. It is not natural and does not make it so that they rely on natural behaviors to drink when needed. Also you do not want her hitting the hard plastic straight on like that repeatedly.
 
Do you think a soft flexible rubber hose could cause tongue problems? I plan on having her for the rest of her life with a dripper on her enclosure. Has anyone documented tongue problems from chams drinking like this? She doesn’t launch her tongue at it like she does the crickets. I appreciate your advice and will certainly take it into serious consideration.
 
As long as you've got a dripper, I'd just make use of that—water dripping on the leaves, and your cham drinking the droplets off of the leaves. Safe... natural... no worries. ;)
 
Do you think a soft flexible rubber hose could cause tongue problems? I plan on having her for the rest of her life with a dripper on her enclosure. Has anyone documented tongue problems from chams drinking like this? She doesn’t launch her tongue at it like she does the crickets. I appreciate your advice and will certainly take it into serious consideration.
I am looking at the way you are holding it to her. This is a different hitting surface as opposed to it coming down hanging into the cage. At that angle she is hitting the water dripping more then the plastic. With the way your holding it and so close she is doing a direct hit against it. Being as their tongues are fragile and very needed I would be hesitant doing this.

I know it is cute seeing her drink from you... Problem is if you have to take a trip for a weekend and she has learned this behavior she may not choose to drink naturally when you need her to.

Again this is my opinion based on my several years experience with chams and what I have seen within this forum. I have seen how hard it is to convert them off of this type of method later on once it is learned. I just want you to have the flipside of the bad along with the cute.
 
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