Naturalistic hydration - how does it work?

Brodybreaux25

Chameleon Enthusiast
Like many of you, I started using the naturalistic hydration technique several months ago. Very pleased with the results so far. I was talking about it with a friend earlier today and while explaining it I realized that I can easily explain how to implement the technique but I have virtually no understanding of what the chams are doing to take advantage of the technique. What biological process or structure is used to extract the moisture from the air? How does that transfer happen?
 
Like many of you, I started using the naturalistic hydration technique several months ago. Very pleased with the results so far. I was talking about it with a friend earlier today and while explaining it I realized that I can easily explain how to implement the technique but I have virtually no understanding of what the chams are doing to take advantage of the technique. What biological process or structure is used to extract the moisture from the air? How does that transfer happen?
Look at the typed up version and at the very bottom he has different references as well. I do not know the specifics you are looking for. I have a very basic understanding of it.
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-89-naturalistic-hydration-for-chameleons/
 
The idea is based on the amount of moisture in the air and the transference into or out of the lungs. In many dehydration cases in humans, sweating is not always the main culprit in water loss. Many will lose water through breathing in dry rooms at night sleeping. The effect is amplified for those who breathe through their mouths while sleeping. It is finding a balance. If you have two rooms separated by a door and one has 20% humidity and the other 1000%, once the door is left open the two rooms will start to become balanced. The molecules in the dry air have more room between them and it is easy for moisture to take up the space.

Think of a cold winter day. You go outside and see your breath. That is moisture leaving your body through your lungs. (There is also a temperature factor here as well.) That moisture transfer happens in the chameleon's natural environment and we can replicate it in our captive settings with a fogger. If we only focus on misting during the day for hydration we could actually be causing more dehydration due to our methods. I will say that tons of us have been successful using misting as the primary source of water, but this seemed like a more efficient way to provide it. That is what led me to try the night time fogging method and I am also very pleased with the results.

I'm sure someone here has the terms that explain the moisture transfer in lungs as well as how it aids in oxygen use by the body, but that is above my pay grade :geek:...
 
I would love additional advice on fogging at night. I have two hydrometers in Beman's enclosure. It is a clearside 30 inch wide/24 deep/48tall. I have the fogger hose running in the back right corner on the top. No matter what I have tried I can not seem to get the humidity up past 70%.... I have even tried covering the screen side and only leaving the bottom 4 inches open for chimney effect air flow. How do I get the level higher? It is my understanding that they should have a 90-100% level at night.
 
I would love additional advice on fogging at night. I have two hydrometers in Beman's enclosure. It is a clearside 30 inch wide/24 deep/48tall. I have the fogger hose running in the back right corner on the top. No matter what I have tried I can not seem to get the humidity up past 70%.... I have even tried covering the screen side and only leaving the bottom 4 inches open for chimney effect air flow. How do I get the level higher? It is my understanding that they should have a 90-100% level at night.

The only way to do this would be raising the ambient humidity, the foggers usually only raise humidity in a small area around them. Does humidity where veileds live reach 100% regularly at night? Not arguing, genuinely curious. Petr necas research was in the mountains of Kenya, wasn't it? Much different than panther or veiled habitats.
 
The only way to do this would be raising the ambient humidity, the foggers usually only raise humidity in a small area around them. Does humidity where veileds live reach 100% regularly at night? Not arguing, genuinely curious. Petr necas research was in the mountains of Kenya, wasn't it? Much different than panther or veiled habitats.
I am not sure. But I also know that he is having pure white urates no orange or yellow. So I almost feel like the 70% is working just fine.
 
So I had my Ambilobe for the last 2 weeks in his 18x18x36 with a mister misting every 4hrs for 1min during the day. He had only fake plants. His turrets were full and urates were white. When I put him in his 2x2x4 with umbrella plant and purged the mister he was drinking off it right away like he hasn't had water in forever. I've never really seen him drinking before this unless the mister was blasting him indirectly. He's not one to run from a little rain. Yet his humidity levels are 50-60% during the day and 80-90% at night every day. My climate has very low RH usually less than 25%. I have no choice but to use a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier in their room at almost all hours of the day adjusting as needed. I do not use a fogger because imo a fogger is just a humidifier that gives off warmer air than cooler air and achieve the same goal. Now was he hydrated before in his 18x18x36 or was he just holding out until he had a good opportunity for a drink off a real plant? I believe this happens in the wild as well. Especially with Mellers Chameleons that need the water but yet go months in a dry season without it.
 
I would love additional advice on fogging at night. I have two hydrometers in Beman's enclosure. It is a clearside 30 inch wide/24 deep/48tall. I have the fogger hose running in the back right corner on the top. No matter what I have tried I can not seem to get the humidity up past 70%.... I have even tried covering the screen side and only leaving the bottom 4 inches open for chimney effect air flow. How do I get the level higher? It is my understanding that they should have a 90-100% level at night.
I have this same problem. No matter how much I enclose the cage with plastic vinyl I leave at least half of the front cage open for air flow and get 77-85 percent humidity tops at night. I also have 2 hydro meters on the top and bottom of my enclosure. Like @jamest0o0 said though most of this research was done where Jackson chameleon species were the main species being observed in this type of climate. What I’ve done is add the weather report on my phone app of the towns where my chameleon species is abundant in and watch and look what their weather is like on a day to day basis. For an ambilobe panther for instance I have their weather on my phone and see that their average humidity at night is around 75-85% from what I’ve seen. And around 55% during the day. For Jackson’s I have Meru, Nairobi, Nanyuki, all places with abundance of Jackson chameleon species. They average around 80-100% at night and a lot more rain.
 
I have this same problem. No matter how much I enclose the cage with plastic vinyl I leave at least half of the front cage open for air flow and get 77-85 percent humidity tops at night. I also have 2 hydro meters on the top and bottom of my enclosure. Like @jamest0o0 said though most of this research was done where Jackson chameleon species were the main species being observed in this type of climate. What I’ve done is add the weather report on my phone app of the towns where my chameleon species is abundant in and watch and look what their weather is like on a day to day basis. For an ambilobe panther for instance I have their weather on my phone and see that their average humidity at night is around 75-85% from what I’ve seen. And around 55% during the day. For Jackson’s I have Meru, Nairobi, Nanyuki, all places with abundance of Jackson chameleon species. They average around 80-100% at night and a lot more rain.

That's a great idea!
 
Not sure on where veiled chameleon are mostly located but if you find where they are in abundance and watch the weather on towns close to these locations you can get an idea of what your ranges should be.
 
I have this same problem. No matter how much I enclose the cage with plastic vinyl I leave at least half of the front cage open for air flow and get 77-85 percent humidity tops at night. I also have 2 hydro meters on the top and bottom of my enclosure. Like @jamest0o0 said though most of this research was done where Jackson chameleon species were the main species being observed in this type of climate. What I’ve done is add the weather report on my phone app of the towns where my chameleon species is abundant in and watch and look what their weather is like on a day to day basis. For an ambilobe panther for instance I have their weather on my phone and see that their average humidity at night is around 75-85% from what I’ve seen. And around 55% during the day. For Jackson’s I have Meru, Nairobi, Nanyuki, all places with abundance of Jackson chameleon species. They average around 80-100% at night and a lot more rain.
You should listen to this new podcast... It is about cooler species and he speaks to Jacksons and what to be careful about as well with overdoing it.
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-110-fogging-and-airflow-with-mario-jungmann/

It is very very interesting.
 
I am listening now but dang this is going to be one that I need to listen to repeatedly to fully understand everything.

I was thinking the same thing. I paused it several times to take notes. And I re-listened to some sections but I think I'll just listen to the whole thing again this weekend. Interesting stuff. I definitely have some changes I need to make asap.
 
You should listen to this new podcast... It is about cooler species and he speaks to Jacksons and what to be careful about as well with overdoing it.
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-110-fogging-and-airflow-with-mario-jungmann/

It is very very interesting.
I will check this out thank you! Off subject But I’d like to point out that I was planing on getting a Jackson’s chameleon in the beginning of this adventure when I started researching these amazing creatures 5 months ago. That’s why I have so many locations for Jackson’s weather in my phone lol. But after much research around the forum I decided on a @Matt Vanilla Gorilla ambilobe panther chameleon about a month ago. He will be arriving very soon :). Shout out to him he is one of the best on this forum for panther babies and is extremely knowledgeable!
 
Back
Top Bottom