TommyTsunami88
New Member
I have a reptibreeze 16X16X30. And I get my veiled tmrw. How should I go about water collection from misting and such?
HELP. How To Catch Water?
- Thread starter TommyTsunami88
- Start date
TommyTsunami88
New Member
yeah I know but then they are going to drain. I just would like to have a backup because the enclosure is in my room and on top of a dresser.
TommyTsunami88
New Member
I actually emailed them about it today, hah, they said they wouldnt work with reptibreeze. Sucks cause those looked great.
alexbrock
New Member
darn! that would have been great.
TommyTsunami88
New Member
alright Ill just trial and error, hah. thanks though.
Eltortu
Established Member
You will do fine.
cantgetagoodsn
Avid Member
Do you have any other room besides e top of your dresser?
TommyTsunami88
New Member
no not at the moment
ghettomike
New Member
I use a approx 12 x 6 x 5 inch deep container (that premixed salad came in) with a screen securely fastened with tape to catch the majority of the water from the dripper and mistings and it works great for me. I would love to find a drip tray for under the whole cage but have not been able to find anything yet.
DeviousMike
New Member
I use a large plastic bowl under the plant where the dripper is or a large and semi-deepish saucer.
rcutchens
New Member
Hey TommyTsunami88 - I suspect you're probably misting as well as running a dipper so water collection/management is typically a challenge.
I'm not sure how many potted plants you have in your setup but, with ours, we have five smaller (approx 6" tall, 6" diameter) pots with plants in them and they manage to take in the excess from mistings without any trouble at all. The dripper poses the challenge, however, because it puts a lot more water into the environment than the planted pots can hold or even need. Like you, we have a Zilla Fresh Air cage that doesn't work with the water collection trays that are currently on the market because of the dimensions - 24" wide by 12" deep by 26" tall.
To solve this problem, I devised a simple water collection system using a small funnel, aquarium air tubing, a gang valve, some plant tie wire and a gallon milk carton. The gang valve isn't really necessary as it is just used to re-route water to the plants if needed - like a mini irrigation system - and, truth be told, we haven't really had to use it because the plants stay plenty moist from mistings. That might change during the winter as we start using the heater and the humidity in the house goes down.
I got the funnel at Bed Bath and Beyond as a set of two in the kitchen section for about $1.50. One was smaller than the other and I used the bigger one. You can get the aquarium air tubing and gang valve from any pet store and the milk carton is just used as a water collection receptacle so you could use anything else that you found would suit your needs.
I cut the tip of the funnel down to allow for greater flow rate leaving it small enough to still fit inside the tubing about a ¼” so it stays on. I poked small holes around the top edged of the funnel to allow wires to be ran through so I could secure the funnel to the cage and/or plants. I ran tubing to the gang valve and then a length of tubing off each valve stem to each plan so we can open the valves and direct water to the plants if needed. On the other end of the gang valve I ran a length of tubing back out of the cage and into a hole I drilled through cap on the milk jug which is small enough to hold the tubing securely in the milk carton.
I then positioned the funnel about 4” below the dripper nozzle so that when water drips it is collected in the funnel and re-routed through the tubing into the milk carton. I have positioned the dripper so it drips water between some branches that Rico can easily sit on and gain access to the dripper and the funnel is below those branches. You can see pictures of the water collection system in the album I posted –
https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/rcutchens-albums-rico-s-world.html
A modification I made later that is not pictured is that I took a small diameter branch, about ¼”, and shaved it down on both sides using a potato peeler so that it is flat but still ¼” wide and I wedged this into the funnel so it sticks straight up and positioned it about ¾” below the dripper nozzle. This allows the drops of water to hit the branch and flow down the stick while still draining through the funnel but it creates a "stream" of water down both sides of the stick which slows the water and retains it a little longer in the cage because it builds up on the surface of the stick. I call it Rico’s “Drip Stick”! Basically, it allows him more time to get water before it’s collected in the funnel and routed out of his cage and should he not want to drink directly from the dripper nozzle he has the option to lick the water off of his “Drip Stick”.
The total cost was about $16 but I spent about $8 on the 5-way gang valve so if you didn’t need one or choose not use one the collection system would be under $8. It was easy to setup and really didn’t take more than 45 minutes at best. Most of the time spent planning where everything was going to go and being that I wanted to run water to the plants I decided to take the tubing across the back of the cage so the gang valve could be mounted in the center about 10” up from the bottom of the cage. Everything is gravity driven so I had to take into account that things would need to be setup to allow water to always be flowing downward. Funnel to gang valve, gang valve to plant pots and gang valve to water collection receptacle. You could just was easily run it down one corner of your chameleon’s setup and just have the funnel somewhere about halfway and have the tubing exit anywhere below that.
The benefit to this system is the water is routed directly out of the environment so there's no need to get into his cage to remove a water collection receptacle and there's no danger of the chameleon or his feeders from falling into any kind of water collection receptacle that's kept in the cage. Though people that do that typically cover them with screen to prevent critters from falling in. I also don't have to use a lot of space inside the cage for water collection though because it's all outside.
I'm not sure how many potted plants you have in your setup but, with ours, we have five smaller (approx 6" tall, 6" diameter) pots with plants in them and they manage to take in the excess from mistings without any trouble at all. The dripper poses the challenge, however, because it puts a lot more water into the environment than the planted pots can hold or even need. Like you, we have a Zilla Fresh Air cage that doesn't work with the water collection trays that are currently on the market because of the dimensions - 24" wide by 12" deep by 26" tall.
To solve this problem, I devised a simple water collection system using a small funnel, aquarium air tubing, a gang valve, some plant tie wire and a gallon milk carton. The gang valve isn't really necessary as it is just used to re-route water to the plants if needed - like a mini irrigation system - and, truth be told, we haven't really had to use it because the plants stay plenty moist from mistings. That might change during the winter as we start using the heater and the humidity in the house goes down.
I got the funnel at Bed Bath and Beyond as a set of two in the kitchen section for about $1.50. One was smaller than the other and I used the bigger one. You can get the aquarium air tubing and gang valve from any pet store and the milk carton is just used as a water collection receptacle so you could use anything else that you found would suit your needs.
I cut the tip of the funnel down to allow for greater flow rate leaving it small enough to still fit inside the tubing about a ¼” so it stays on. I poked small holes around the top edged of the funnel to allow wires to be ran through so I could secure the funnel to the cage and/or plants. I ran tubing to the gang valve and then a length of tubing off each valve stem to each plan so we can open the valves and direct water to the plants if needed. On the other end of the gang valve I ran a length of tubing back out of the cage and into a hole I drilled through cap on the milk jug which is small enough to hold the tubing securely in the milk carton.
I then positioned the funnel about 4” below the dripper nozzle so that when water drips it is collected in the funnel and re-routed through the tubing into the milk carton. I have positioned the dripper so it drips water between some branches that Rico can easily sit on and gain access to the dripper and the funnel is below those branches. You can see pictures of the water collection system in the album I posted –
https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/rcutchens-albums-rico-s-world.html
A modification I made later that is not pictured is that I took a small diameter branch, about ¼”, and shaved it down on both sides using a potato peeler so that it is flat but still ¼” wide and I wedged this into the funnel so it sticks straight up and positioned it about ¾” below the dripper nozzle. This allows the drops of water to hit the branch and flow down the stick while still draining through the funnel but it creates a "stream" of water down both sides of the stick which slows the water and retains it a little longer in the cage because it builds up on the surface of the stick. I call it Rico’s “Drip Stick”! Basically, it allows him more time to get water before it’s collected in the funnel and routed out of his cage and should he not want to drink directly from the dripper nozzle he has the option to lick the water off of his “Drip Stick”.
The total cost was about $16 but I spent about $8 on the 5-way gang valve so if you didn’t need one or choose not use one the collection system would be under $8. It was easy to setup and really didn’t take more than 45 minutes at best. Most of the time spent planning where everything was going to go and being that I wanted to run water to the plants I decided to take the tubing across the back of the cage so the gang valve could be mounted in the center about 10” up from the bottom of the cage. Everything is gravity driven so I had to take into account that things would need to be setup to allow water to always be flowing downward. Funnel to gang valve, gang valve to plant pots and gang valve to water collection receptacle. You could just was easily run it down one corner of your chameleon’s setup and just have the funnel somewhere about halfway and have the tubing exit anywhere below that.
The benefit to this system is the water is routed directly out of the environment so there's no need to get into his cage to remove a water collection receptacle and there's no danger of the chameleon or his feeders from falling into any kind of water collection receptacle that's kept in the cage. Though people that do that typically cover them with screen to prevent critters from falling in. I also don't have to use a lot of space inside the cage for water collection though because it's all outside.
