Hydration

[Slofe]

How does a chameleon achieve it? I tell you why I ask this question. I've had my little fella for nearly 2 months. I mist him twice a day, which he hates lol. He's obviously getting enough hydration because his urates are always white and...well....he's still alive! 8 weeks without water would kill most, if not all, animals.

When I mist him I let the spray fall on him but I never spray him directly. I see him open and close his mouth so I can only assume he's licking the drops from his lips. I have only seen him lick water from a leaf once and this was when I first got him. Do they sup some of the humidity from the air as hydration? and does some absorb through the skin? it's just one of those questions that's been bugging me! thanks

 

[sandrachameleon]

They get their water from drinking (off leaves and other surfaces, from drippers, etc), and from well hydrated prey (gutload your insects with fruits and veggies). Keeping the place humid helps (in that they wont loose it as fast, not in that they absorb it in through their skins).

 

[Slofe]

He must be drinking off the leaves when i'm not looking then

 

[beeze]

I would also set up a drip cup for him.

 

[kuskye25]

just dont mist him directly they hate that and its not nessesary, setup a drip system... done deal

 

[hallenhe]

They've always seemed to me to be the least efficient drinkers in the animal Kingdom. Thaxter enjoys his misting, but it takes him about three minutes each time to remember this, and up to another five minutes to realize that that wet stuff is water and it might not be a bad idea to drink it. Thaxter does a lot of leaf licking, and I have a drip system set to drip slowly and regularly throughout the day as well as the mistings. In the summer, he liked playing in the sprinkler (as long as he could find some shelter in the peonies).

 

[sandrachameleon]

All but one of my panthers come directly to their drippers each morning when I fill them. One of them waits until he thinks I am gone / not looking before he starts drinking.

 

[Drone]

lol my panther hates it when I watch him drink. But he will eat out of my hand quite frequently just cause he's an impatient pig when it comes to food lol

 

[SoCaliSon]

They also take in a certain amount of hydration from the insects they eat. Silkies and Hornworms are really good for hydrating a cham.

 

[jannb]

I mist mine with really warm water and they get some hydration from just soaking up the water.

 

[kuskye25]

I mist mine with really warm water and they get some hydration from just soaking up the water.

ive heard many that get used to it, but mine hates it at any temp, i got a picky one though....

 

[hallenhe]

What's the evidence of his hating it? - I only ask because Thaxter will routinely walk away when I start spritzing. I used to say "Oh, he doesn't like it," and stop at that point, but since then I've learned to keep spritzing where he was (not chase him with it). He stops when he gets just out of range, thinks about it for a few minutes, then will come back and enjoy his drink and shower. And, if nothing else, the plant gets good and wet and he can come back and sip later.

 

[kuskye25]

What's the evidence of his hating it? - I only ask because Thaxter will routinely walk away when I start spritzing. I used to say "Oh, he doesn't like it," and stop at that point, but since then I've learned to keep spritzing where he was (not chase him with it). He stops when he gets just out of range, thinks about it for a few minutes, then will come back and enjoy his drink and shower. And, if nothing else, the plant gets good and wet and he can come back and sip later.

of course its more the sprayer but the water bothers it to, but yes mine runs, sometimes stupidly, it interupts basking sometimes, etc. i dont care and do it anyway slowly and properly, but totally unavoidable with my cham. if you directly mist it, once again its not used to being directly misted, its why i mentioned doing it often will make it more used to it..

my anoles i care less for and mist with warm water they run at first but then drink and lick their eyes, still though i know they would preffer i got the water by them not on them, i know this cause i used to use a dripper to water feed the anoles and i would hand drip it by them theyd drink and never run or flinch...

 

[Drone]

What's the evidence of his hating it? - I only ask because Thaxter will routinely walk away when I start spritzing. I used to say "Oh, he doesn't like it," and stop at that point, but since then I've learned to keep spritzing where he was (not chase him with it). He stops when he gets just out of range, thinks about it for a few minutes, then will come back and enjoy his drink and shower. And, if nothing else, the plant gets good and wet and he can come back and sip later.

mmm I wonder what the different temperatures of water would feel like hitting me If I were cold blooded.

 

[Slofe]

All but one of my panthers come directly to their drippers each morning when I fill them. One of them waits until he thinks I am gone / not looking before he starts drinking.

I reckon that's what my veiled does. When ever I mist he turns and runs, in the way chameleons run, up his hanging basket to get as high as possible. I call it his sulking corner

lol my panther hates it when I watch him drink. But he will eat out of my hand quite frequently just cause he's an impatient pig when it comes to food lol

Same with mine, he eats from my hand no problem but he won't let me get my hand anywhere near him lol.

They also take in a certain amount of hydration from the insects they eat. Silkies and Hornworms are really good for hydrating a cham.

I would love to get some horn worms but i'm in the UK and my government has banned horn worms because they're a pest

I mist mine with really warm water and they get some hydration from just soaking up the water.

Yeah I use warm water, i'm convinced he sups the mist from the air and from his lips because he opens and closes his mouth just after the bulk off the mist has gone.

 

[Miss Lily]

I would love to get some horn worms but i'm in the UK and my government has banned horn worms because they're a pest

Thanks Slofe - I didn't know that's why we can't get hornworms over here! It can be a right pain living in the UK!! Not only is the weather awful most of the time, but we can't easily get hold of a lot of the stuff for chams that is readily available in America and Canada!

After reading on here about how good silkworms and calciworms are, I finally tracked down UK suppliers and ordered some, but Lily (the little madam) was not impressed with them!!

Tiff

 

[Slofe]

Thanks Slofe - I didn't know that's why we can't get hornworms over here! It can be a right pain living in the UK!! Not only is the weather awful most of the time, but we can't easily get hold of a lot of the stuff for chams that is readily available in America and Canada!

After reading on here about how good silkworms and calciworms are, I finally tracked down UK suppliers and ordered some, but Lily (the little madam) was not impressed with them!!

Tiff

Did you order some calci worms? I heard Defra banned these aswell I really wanna try some for Isambard, where'd you get them from?. Mind you he's happy with the roaches I give him. By the way if your cham doesn't like food try tossing another food item in with his staple. Isambard seamed to go off roahces a bit, which was a bit of a worry considering I have about 1000 in a box! but when I tossed a single meal worm in he came racing off his perch to tuck in. I do this every time now, put roaches in he doesn't wanna know, chuck a mealy in and he's down there munching the worm and the roaches. I know meal worms aren't the best thing for them but 1 a day is fine, I always make sure it's a white one too so I know it's freshly shed and softer for him.

 

[Miss Lily]

Did you order some calci worms? I heard Defra banned these aswell I really wanna try some for Isambard, where'd you get them from?.

I got them from: http://livefoods.pollywog.co.uk/ I ordered some back in August when Lily was going through her 'I'm not eating anything' phase. It's possible that they have been banned as the website states - 'Shop Currently Closed'. Lily liked them to start with but they were quite small - the size of a mealworm pupa!

Lily also loves mealworms, but she only gets them occasionally, and, like you, I only give her the newly shed ones. Right now she'll eat anything that moves (she laid her first clutch of 103 eggs on 23rd December) and has 'hollow legs' at the moment! Thankfully the eggs were infertile!

Where did you get your roaches from? Not sure I could cope with them yet!! It's taken me ages to get used to the locusts and crickets!! Before I had Lily I couldn't even pick up a box of them! Now I've learnt that my tweezers are my best friend!

 

[Slofe]

I got them from: http://livefoods.pollywog.co.uk/ I ordered some back in August when Lily was going through her 'I'm not eating anything' phase. It's possible that they have been banned as the website states - 'Shop Currently Closed'. Lily liked them to start with but they were quite small - the size of a mealworm pupa!

Lily also loves mealworms, but she only gets them occasionally, and, like you, I only give her the newly shed ones. Right now she'll eat anything that moves (she laid her first clutch of 103 eggs on 23rd December) and has 'hollow legs' at the moment! Thankfully the eggs were infertile!

Where did you get your roaches from? Not sure I could cope with them yet!! It's taken me ages to get used to the locusts and crickets!! Before I had Lily I couldn't even pick up a box of them! Now I've learnt that my tweezers are my best friend!

Yeah I think it was around August they got banned, no one has them anywhere now! 103 eggs!? whoa! you're very lucky they were infertile!

I cannot recommend roaches enough. I got mine in July, 4 months before I bought Isambard. I started off with 100, which cost me £30. I now have over 1000! it's the box that keeps on giving!. As a result my costs are around £10, if that, a month including the electricity. I got mine from http://www.roachshop.co.uk/ he's suspended sales cause of cold weather but I highly recommend him. He also sells a roach diet for about a fiver, it's full of nutritious good stuff and the roaches love it so they're easy to gutload.

Roaches are easy to care for too, just put them in a deep storage container, put a very low watt heat matt under them, give them some egg boxes to hide under, chuck food in when you need to and just leave them to it! they breed like mad and they give birth to live young too. Yeah they're a bit creepy at first but you get used to them. They hardly smell, don't make any noise and if you leave the colony a few months to build you'll have that £30 back in no time. Or you can just start out with a fairly big colony and they'll soon add to it, roaches breed better when there's more of them. They're actually more nutritious than crickets and if you don't wanna touch them just do what I do, which is put a kitchen roll tube in there and loads of them will hide inside and underneath it, when it comes to feeding time I just brush a few off into the dish

As you can see, I rate roaches highly

 

[Miss Lily]

Thanks for the roach link - I'll check it out!