Im wondering if bacteria in the fogger tubes/reservoir is even a problem. I drink out of the hose, i have well water unfiltered other than a softener. I have read cases of humans having problems drinking well water 100's of miles away because the flora is different and they have not adapted to it.
Well it has been seen to be a serious issue in Humans. Children, have died from the use of these cheap amazon ultrasonic foggers. From Severe respiratory infections.
5 microns, is enough to get into humans lungs, and so you are creating an airborne bacteria and its going straight into your lungs.
Also, the well water, is like you said your use to that bacteria. Same principle as in the other thread, my "Bubble Cham Syndrome" theory.
I dont believe My RI's were caused by dirty ultrasonic misters.
My hypothesis is down to 2 causes:
1) ultra sonic (and good old mist kings etc) shove "everything" in the water into the air. I think this may produce a hydroponic effect were nutrients are dispersed onto any surface that will collect them. Combined with high humidity, you now have food and water for lots of things(bacteria, mold, mildew, etc) to grow.
2) High humidity period, regardless if its steam, evaporation, or ultrasonic, combined with lack of air circulation(cuz winter and door is shut), turns the cage/room into a mushroom pit.
So it may be that you need both humidity and air circulation in order to prevent RI,
There is definitely good reasoning to that. Ventilation is defiantly a factor, as is likely the "Bubble Cham Syndrome" that I mentioned in the heat and humidity thread.
A ceiling fan, or Air purifier would help great with that, to keep air moving, lots of plants in the cage / room would also help.
you could be sucking pond water through your mist king/ultrasonic and be just fine
I wouldn't go that far... The humidity and the Fog, Rain the Chameleons are exposed to the in the wild, are acidic. Non Polluted rain water is what 5.5ph?
I can only report my own observations stemming from others theories. No there is no scientific proof behind this.
And that is the camera footage I mentioned earlier. Do I have proof of what's happening. No but it is believed the video I have captured proves such theory.
I have several recordings, and some unrecorded playback as well. Of the act of swallowing multiple times a night during the times fogging is being supplied. The theory of rhis is that the breathed in particles cling around in the nasal cavity until a nasal drip is caused stimulating swallowing.
I have not observed this at night without the foggers going.
I personally fully believe this and here is why, it has been proven in the past that force hydrating, caused from prolonged periods of an old method of "showering" chameleons would cause involuntary swallowing reflexes as water poured into the nostrils, my thoughts are if it can be forced in with running water, why cant it be breathed in from tiny particles and swallowed in a similar manner. Manner of which I believe I have video of. This is personal speculation to the theory I've heard and made efforts to observe.
Thats a good point, and I brought that up in the comments as well. The condensation bringing the drinking, which in turn means we really cant prove, if they are becoming hydrated by the fog, or by the water they slurp up from the condensation that forms on them.
However the forced in, is where I take issue. As the premise of that was that we are "Forcing Showers" and "Forcing Drinking". It still rains in Madagascar, ALOT. I know Petr has said he has seen not seen Chameleons Drinking said rain water, and that from what he has seen they hide from it.
I had brought up to Petr my own testing on this. I turn most of the lights off, before a mist on my large viv. My chameleon has shown to be able to recognize what this means, similar to clouds in the sky. 90% of the time, I seen the same as Petr, the Chameleon will begin to move to a place he knows he can hide from the mist. However, sometimes he does not do this, sometimes he moves to to the mister, and sits front and center, to the closest mister he can get to, and waits for it to come on.
To contrast this, we have this.
https://www.madcham.de/en/nebel-und-nebler/
Now, I want to point out this is not an attack on Petr, or what he has seen (or not seen rather). Its simply a contrast in data, there is alot of things I have never seen, does that mean they do not happen? Or do not exist? Not in the slightest, so in this particular aspect, I am leaning to siding with Madcham. Half the team lives in Madagascar, they have more field hours, and thus more time where they could have witnessed a rarity, that does happen just not always.
I fully believe Petr has not seen this behavior, I do not think that means it doesn't happen, especially when Madcham says it 100% does. Especially when, in my own testing of a "Rain Alert System" I have seen the same thing.
. And increase in Humidity at night, would surely slow the loss of water, I think we can all fathom why this works and how it works. Breathing in highly humid air, may also result in a hydration effect more testing is needed to be sure, but it makes sense."
