Hydrating during Feeding and Gaping - Is it OK?

Zygofeet

Member
I had a veiled chameleon for years and I was always able to manually feed her. I would gently drip water on her snout and this was her cue that it was drinking time. She then would lift her head upwards and open her mouth 3-4 times gulping down the water. With my new panther its a different story. The water just beads up on him and he shows no interest in drinking. I do have a Mistking system that is on 5 times a day but I have never seen him drink.

So what I do now is give him water during his feeding. If I watch him eat a cricket, hornworm, or whatever, I will manually dispense water into his mouth when it is open between chews. He doesn't seem to object and he doesn't spit it out. The other thing I do is while I notice him "gaping"....(mouth open), I will add water to his open mouth. He clenches immediately and is startled, but never spits it out.

Do you think this practice is ok?
 
Surprising a Cham with an in unexpected mouth full of water is begging for aspiration.
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I love the setup! I agree with @Brodybreaux25 in that I would avoid force watering unless there is a medical need. I would be pissed if someone was squirting water in my mouth while I was trying to chew my food. Haha. Just have a talk with your Cham and explain that it is rude to chew with your mouth open.

Neither of my Chams drink while misting and I never really see my Veiled drink at all but he looks healthy. For the Panther he walks around the cage drinking drops that form on the branches.
 
By the way, I am just blown away by your graphics and the level of detail regarding the mouth of a chameleon. I learned so much! This is the reason why I joined this awesome forum. To help each of us learn more regarding our love of these fascinating animals. Thank you again!
No problem, but I can’t take credit for that, I did not create it. I just took a screen shot from someone on this forum, can’t remember who...
 
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