Drippers and Drinking

[Miss Lily]

I made Amy a dripper which drips onto her hibiscus plant. However, I have never seen her use it to drink from. The drops hit the leaf then drip off the end just after. It was working fine until Amy decided to take a chunk out of the leaf that gets dripped on, lol! Little madam! I had to move the plant over slightly.

For those of you that also use drippers, do you ever see your chams drink from it? Do they drink from where the drip comes from or off of the leaves that it drips on to?

Amy's cage is misted thoroughly twice a day and I sometimes see her drink when I mist, but not usually - she prefers to hide! Her urates are not concerning, although there always seems to be a tiny little orange bit at the tip, most of it is white. They are usually contained in a jelly like substance and she passes a small amount of water at the same time.

I just wondered if anyone else's cham actually uses their dripper!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Mine drink almost exclusively from drippers.
I have aquarium air hose on the end of the dripper, the hose hangs into the cage, they all now drink directly from the end of the hose. At one time, a young male preferred to drink off a leaf, but now he's like the others, prefering the easy way.

Is your dripper dripping fast enough to catch her attention?
Is it dripping consistently at the same times of day? I find morning is when mine are most intereted in a good long drink.

 

[Miss Lily]

Thanks Sandra. I fill it first thing in the morning and it drips every 2 seconds or so for a few hours, gradually slowing as the water level decreases. However, it stopped dripping today so I made a new one which drips faster. I currently use a plastic cup with a hole in the bottom - it works a treat!

 

[sandrachameleon]

You might want to try a slightly faster drip rate?

When I first fill mine in the morning, they drip about 2 or 3 drips every second. This is when they do most of their drinking.

Not much later, the second morning fill (the bucket isnt all that big), I slow the rate down to similar to yours. The afternoon fill also dripps slowly.

 

[Miss Lily]

Thanks! I'll give it a try. If it drips faster it will be a constant trickle rather than a drip. Is that what it should be doing?

 

[Lizardlover]

actually my dripper is near my chams favorite perch and he sits under it sometimes so it drips on him and then he starts drinking lol....hes a bit slow.

 

[jojackson]

The drops hit the leaf then drip off the end just after. It was working fine until Amy decided to take a chunk out of the leaf that gets dripped on, lol! Little madam! I had to move the plant over slightly.

Thats exactly what homer did at about 3 months old Lil, trying to get more water from his favorite leaf! I did the same too, fussed about with that plant like an old maid till I got fed up with it. I realised he just wasn't getting enough water anymore off the leaves, so I decided to move the dripper to where he spent the most time, the basking spot.
He didnt quite 'get it' for a while till I realised it had to drip faster. He would sit there and try to 'shoot' drops with his tongue, it was funny to watch his little head bob as he tried to follow falling drips and he'd give up after a few drops.
When I made it drip faster, it initially garanteed he'd shoot a few drops, then he got closer and closer as he worked out 'shooting' was doing it the hard way!
The first time he actually stuck his mouth under the dripper, drank like a fish then threw his back to let it run down, I was like 'Whoo hoo!'.
Ofcourse this meant much more water and hence a much larger resevoir, so it could drip all day at a pretty steady rate.
something like 1 'sam', 2 sam, 3 sam, 4 sam, ive found to be a good rate for me/my collection tray.
That is say 'sam' between drops without waiting. It will depend on your particular drainage system and resevoir size ofcourse, but maximum water dripping without it becoming inconvenient in terms of collection emptying/refilling.

 

[laurie]

Hi Tiff, i now have a central drip system, set up by bored hubby. but prior to that I used a gal or 1/2 gal plastic milk carton with fish tubing and a drip regulator (also fish supply) on the end. Then you can regulate the drips until Amy is happy. Also some of my chams drink by going under the dripper and just opening their mouths, other lick leaves.

 

[hallenhe]

Thaxter loves to drink straight from his dripper - but he seems only to have learned this trick in the past eight months or so (and I've had him just under four years, and the dripper's always been there...) Once or twice the spout with the valve came loose and water came pouring out, like a faucet, and he'd stick his head right in there and drink. He also periodically will drink directly from the nozzle of a plant mister, if I can get the water to come out drop by drop and not spray him in the face.
With both the dripper and the plant mister, he understands that "you get water from these things", but seems a bit unclear on the notion that there are only particular places from which the water comes out - he'll lick the top and sides of the plant mister, the valve you turn to open the dripper, etc.
These are also the moments he gets so excited by his drink and forgets to swallow (I've posted a picture before: https://www.chameleonforums.com/lizard-spit-eww-17772/).

 

[mightymart]

I had my Cham just over a week & I have seen him drink twice, Because I just wanted to set it up on the quick I just place it on the top like in the picture , But like most the valve on the little dripper is rubbish, so after reading on here I got another valve from B&Q (Flower bed inline valve, £1) that I added on the end, So the original valve I just use as a on off tap , so each time i turn on I dont have to fiddle to get the correct drip rate.
I placed the dripper so it drips near his perch on to the leafs, but he shots up to the mesh for the water ! I must admit the drip rate is about a drip per 2 secs but it forms a large drip on the mesh & does a big drip every 7/10 secs, Im a bit worried if he will hurt his tongue on the mesh ? but I will move it in the week & add the rubber tube so it runs straight in to his viv, but i had a move round the weekend & he dont seem that happy so I will leave it another few days before i start moving stuff around again.

 

[Miss Lily]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! I have made a slightly bigger hole in another cup and will give it a try in the morning. If I don't see her drinking from this, I will buy some tubing and a valve and make a hole in the mesh to poke the tube through (which I don't really want to do). I did see some suckers for the tubing today and I thought they may be useful in positioning the tube in the right place. I am hoping that she will learn to drink from the end of the tube which will make drip collection a whole lot easier!