Have we spoiled our girl?

[OACham]

She doesn't seem to drink when we spray the leaves of her umbrella plant, but she will drink sraight from the sprayer. We thought it was cute when she first opened her mouth to the sprayer so my wife sprayed some water into her mouth. She swallowed and we made a habit of that or going really slow so she can drink directly off the tip. Did we spoil her?

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

well, what about vacation misting?

 

[jannb]

My little guy dranks from a dropper and my daughters chameleons drink from a baster. So they are spoiled too!

 

[SoCaliSon]

You really want to avoid spraying directly into their mouth, even when they open up and make it so tempting. You want to let them drink from water collected on leaves for misting, some will even drink by opening their mouths repeatedly during the misting, drinking the water that is gathering around their mouths... This is the natural way... Spraying water with force directly into their mouths risks getting water down the wrong pipe, and possibly drowning your cham. This is dangerous as it is not how they are designed to drink, it is incredibly unnatural. Imagine how easy it would be to choke if you were having your drinking water sprayed into your mouth instead of being allowed to sip. I would recommend allowing your cham to learn how to drink on their own... I typically mist mine until I see them start to open up to drink. Then I stop and let them drink what they want from the leaves. If you have a Cham that is refusing to drink and becoming dehydrated this is when you must consider more manual ways of getting water into their system.

~Joe

 

[Kat77]

You want to be really careful about misting directly into your cham's open mouth. They can asperate the water and drown right then and there. She will drink from the leaves, I promise. Some chams are "undercover" drinkers, and sneak drinks while you aren't looking. Just let her get used to it again. And I would really stop spraying into her mouth, for her safety. Sometimes it will take ten or fifteen minutes of misting before they start drinking from the leaves or the screen, but they do. It is the natural way they drink.

Edit: haha looks like Joe and I were typing practically the same thing at the same time!

 

[OACham]

To be more accurate she laps the drips off the tip of the sprayer. Rarely do we ever spray her directly, and it's alway on the mist setting.

 

[Lancecham]

Like everyone has said, spraying directly in the mouth is not a good idea. Even though you think she will not drink any other way, if thirsty enough, she will find another way to get her water. If you provide the usual ways to "water" your chameleon, she will start drinking pretty quick.

 

[SoCaliSon]

She swallowed and we made a habit of that or going really slow so she can drink directly off the tip. Did we spoil her?

Okay... I will answer this more directly... It is a bad habit... Yes you are spoiling her. You should allow her to learn to drink in the way that is natural to them, so that you are not confined to bottle feeding her forever...and you don't risk shooting water down a vital pipe. Hope that helps.