Misting, drippers and baby veileds

Miss Lily

Chameleon Enthusiast
I have been reading posts on Teresa's thread https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-cage-my-new-25613/ about misting and watering a baby veiled.

My question is what is actually deemed as 'drinking'? Lily always used to lick her lips when I misted her but I never saw her drink from the leaves after the day I brought her home. Is licking their lips while being misted enough? Or should I be looking for my cham actually licking droplets off of the leaves?

Interestingly, Lily's post mortem showed that her kidneys were ok which would suggest that she had an adequate water intake, despite my worries that I didn't see her actually drink.

Also is a 14 week old baby too small for a dripper? Or should I stick with the misting twice a day until she's a bit older?
 
My guys do lick their lips and I believe that is how they drinking:confused: They do take water into their mouth that way.
 
I have some that only ever lick lips when misting and others that run up to the screen, opening mouth wide to take drinks. I also, slow my mist down to a drip on each enclosure to, incase any have decided they want a bigger drink that time.
I've seen my panther girls, hanging onto the mist head inside enclosure as well, just waiting for the automatic one to turn on.
My babies and younger ones, usually lick the plant leaves lots as another way for drinking.
I would think that a dripper, set up safely (cover the collection container) should be ok to use at that age.
 
The Chams method of drinking really depends on the Cham. I've only ever seen my veiled drink by slowly opening his mouth and licking his lips during misting, or sometimes he will put his mouth at the bottom of a leaf and open it to catch the water draining down it during misting. He ignores the dripper. I still offer it just in case.

My Melleri are lazy. During their showers they close their eyes and put on their sleeping colors wile the very very slowly open their mouths repeatedly to drink. They do not lick. Now I have caught Lumbwi standing on his hind legs with his mouth right at the nozzle. I've never seen him drink like this, he just seems to like it hitting him in the face. He will do this sometimes for the entire 30 minute shower....Crazy
 
mine just licks his lips too. I say that as long as water is getting in, its considered drinking. Whether the method is licking or actually "drinking" is choice I guess.
 
Usually when I mist the cage throughout the day, one of the times...Gary will open his mouth wide to let water in, so I move in with the wand of my sprayer and let it drip beside him, then he moves to the tip of the sprayer and actively drinks from that until he is done. lol, then he will hiss at the nossle....talk about being used and abused (the sprayer that is)
 
Let's start with my babies are spoiled. They have an automatic mister 3 times a day, and a dripper for most of the time they are awake. They also eat at least 4 times a day, the little chow hounds.:D
Tiff I am sure Amy will learn to drink what ever way you decide.
 
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How do I know my chameleon is drinking enough?
check the fecal matter. White urate? if yes, he has been drinking behind your back. :)
 
The dripper is fine, so long as its within easy reach, prefrable above a nice branch etc.
Homer had a dripper from 3 weeks old.
If your creative, you might teach it to associate the dripper with food, by hand feeding its favorite feeder right under the dripper. It will get a few drops with its feeder and gradulally approach the dripper on its own.
:)
 
my last cham before my current would actually grab leaves full of water on his ficus with one hand like it was a dish and then go to town!!! most hilarious thing ever i rarely see mine drink like that now, mainly the licking lips...but then compared to my others...hes pretty shy
 
Homer used to bites chunks from leaves trying to drink from them (very early on, around 4 weeks) so I decided use a dripper, and fortunately he much preferred to guzzle from it! :)
 
Let's start with my babies are spoiled. They eat at least 4 times a day, the little chow hounds.:D

Wow, that's a lot!
I am feeding babies no more than twice daily (usually just once) 2 to 4 small crickets or flies each total for the day, not per feeding.
I am finding that the growth rate is not extraordinary, but on track and bone development is quite good.
They are big and sturdy, but not fat.

-Brad
 
My girl, Porsche, mostly licks her lips to drink, but sometimes goes and licks drops off of leaves.
Tzar can't seem to make up his mind, a lot of the time he "shoots" the water as it's about to drip from a leaf... and I can't imagine he gets much that way. He also licks water up and licks his lips.
 
ok, my baby boy (3 1/2 months old) never seemed to like the dripper at all.
in fact he still doesn't like to get wet or sprayed with water in any way.

while I do see him drink from time to time, it's mostly the first misting of the day.
it's always never much, just a quick lick on a vine or plant leaf, then he's done.
he sometimes does open his mouth a few times like he's licking his lips, but he's not gettig any water this way as I try to not spray him...he realy doesn't like to be sprayed.

this morning he was watching a leaf getting some water dripping on it.
he saw some water collect at the tip of the leaf.
he then licked up not only that huge drop of water, but gave the leaf an extra lick or two for good mesure.
I then tryed my hardest to get some extra water on that leaf to see if he would drink some more...without spraying him at the same time.
sure enough he took an extra lick or two before moving on.
today was the most I've seen him drink.

while I'm sure my little guy drinks behind my back, I'll bet it's not alot.
since they get some moisture from breathing in the air, I wonder if that is the reason he drinks so little...:confused:

trust me, this guy is not shy at all.
he has been eating from my fingers since day 3.
he will let me hand feed him even infront of a small group of my nephiews and nieces....and you know they can't stand still.
but drinking? I'm sure he dose it, but it's not like what I would expect since all I read about is misting and dripping alot or often.

maybe some chams don't drink alot if the feeders are gutloaded with alot of "wet" food? maybe that helps with extra bug juice, thus the need for less water?

Harry
 
Do you use a drip system as well as spraying? Veileds generally don't need as much humidity and in the past I have had the best results with a drip system setup.
 
Harry,

As long as his urates are white, then he is drinking. Are his urates okay?

You may not see it, but water droplets will stay on the leaves for a few hours after a misting. He has plenty of chances to sneak a drink behind your back.

Mine wouldn't drink in front of me for a long time. Now I can't get him to leave the mist.

Put some nice hot water in there and mist for a long time. I mean a long time, like 10 min of misting from the top of the cage. At first he may not like it, but keep an eye on him, he might begin to chill out, then enjoy it. Some chameleons just take a longer time to be stimulated to drink it seems.

Mine really warmed up to misting in general after a few long 10-20 min misting sessions. Now, as soon as he sees the mister, he puts his face right into it.
 
update? hows she goin Lil?

She's doing great, thanks! I was just curious as to what constitutes 'drinking' as I only ever saw Lily drink from a leaf once. The rest of the time she liked being misted and would just lick her lips and open/close her mouth.

Think I am being a bit over anxious with my new baby! She is now handfeeding and not hiding so much. She took 4 locusts and a waxworm from me today!:D
 
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