hydration
the thing with a cham is , by the time you start seeing its dehydrated, its already a problem. the only solution is to try not to let it happen in the first place. im not trying to say i have all of the answers, but i did explain to you in yesterdays post , a simple, easy, cheap, way to heat your spray water (even in a spray bottle), hydration is basically an issue of how wet/humid your enviroment is, and how willing your cham is to accept it. sure you can try the shower thing, but that doesnt really change any of the conditions in his cage, which is why he is underhydrated in the first place. for many chams heated misting water is the key to how accepting they are of it. if you try to mist, with mist that is 20* colder than his body tempurature , he is going to be freaked out by it , that is the cham equivalent of somebody pushing you into a cold shower. the key to getting your cham to accept mistings , be more comfortable around water, wet folige ,wet branches, is to heat your misting water, and improve your spraying routine, this is why auto misting systems are strongly reccomended, but, there is no reason a simple spray bottle and heated misting water cant work just as good. just up your (heated) mistings, and try to refine your spray technique so that he doesnt panic every time he sees the spray bottle, start with a few little spritzes and do it from behind when easy to do, and always try to avoid letting him get freaked out by it. if hes less freaked out during his mistings , the more likely he is to drink , and eat and so on. i'd be willing to bet that if you just keep your enviro a little wetter, by means of a dripper like the one sandra chameleon posted , upped your mistings (and used heated misting water) that your cham would be rehydrated in no time, and stay that way. and when manually misting you have to stay on top of it , every time you miss a misting , his cage is drying out further, the humidity is going lower , its one less time that he may have drank , hes getting dehydrated again and the cycle continues. (thats why auto misters are so recomended) you can also up the raise and stabilize the humidity in your cage by simply hanging a trash bag (or attatching a frosted acrylic panel). the more humid you keep your enviroment , and the more your cham is accepting of water, the more hydrated he will be. this is why many of the more experienced keepers on the forum heat their misting water (even automisters) its easy and cheap to do
