New Mistking! Duration Question...

[BrandonG]

Well the order and installation was a great success. How long do you guys usually let the mister run each time? I don't have any problems with humidity levels, if anything it goes too high while misting. So...strictly for cham hydration...what is a good length for each mist? 30 seconds? 2 minutes? Just a good starting point and I can adjust from there as I see needed.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

[BrandonG]

Basically I just want a few people to tell me their misting schedules and durations so I can get a good idea of how to set mine up.

 

[jadeaudio]

You kind of just go by what you feel is right. I started out at like 1 minute and now I do 5 minutes. It also depends on how often. I do mine for 5 minutes every 3 hours. I look at how long it takes to dry up and how warm you can get the water you are spraying. Chams do not like it very much when it is cold, but if you warm it up they like it more. You'll notice that when you do it for only a minute or so you never notice if they actually drink. I empty a full 5 gallon bucket everyday, but I also have 5 cages. Only 3 are being used though.

 

[BrandonG]

Yea, right now I've got mine going about every 3.5 hours. He drinks pretty well from the dripper and his urates are always fine so I'm not THAT concerned with him drinking. I think I'll just try it for a minute each time for now.

 

[RSGriff]

I do lights on at 7:58, mistking starts at 8 and runs for 4 min, then 12, 4 and 7pm for 4 min each then lights off at 9

 

[summoner12]

RSGriff you might wanna shorten your light cycle now that it is winter time... unless you are in 'summer' with the chams right now.

I don't have my system running at the moment because I am moving things around for my chams... but when it is up and running again I don't plan to mist right after lights on like I used to. I am also in the school of thought that nice long showers are more 'natural' to the chams and gives them time to drink, clean their eyes and 'bath' in the water. My veileds literally shower in the mist. One of them will go to it first thing and sit there waiting and stand in front of the misting nozzle.

As for schedule I would run a 15-20 minute mist, anywhere from 30-90 minutes after lights on and then maybe a short spritz of 2-5 minutes three hours later and then maybe early to mid afternoon do another 15-20 minute mist again. I wouldn't mist any later than 2 hours before lights out. That way they have a chance to warm up or find their night spot without being all wet before lights out. It also gives your cage a good amount of time to dry out. you don't want it wet alllllll the time. If you live in a dry place with low humidity then having a humidifier in the room would help.

What species of cham do you have? this would also help with how you should mist. My montain species get a different schedule than my veileds and panthers. Veileds and panthers get two 20 minute showers early and later in the day with a 5 minute mid day mist to bump humidity. My Melleri (mountain species) get the same but with more misting bits in between the showers.

BTW, doesn't your mist king rock?

 

[RSGriff]

yeah, im getting ready to change it soon

 

[BrandonG]

Thanks for everyone's help! And yes...the MistKing rocks! It's great for me because I work nights on the weekends so during the day I tend to do a bit of sleeping =)

 

[Psi]

Everything's soaked in my setup after only 1 minute of on time.
I run it 4 times a day.

When they're thirsty they drink. When they're not they run away.

Maybe I just have some nice co-operative chams

 

[HairyScaryMark]

Would I be right in thinking there is a notable drainage system involved for a 15-20 minute misting session? Even after 5 minutes I would imagine a fair quantity of water to gather at the bottom otherwise. I've never actually used a misting system but this appeared to me to be likely.

 

[summoner12]

Uh, yeah it would be a good idea to have a good system setup.

 

[HairyScaryMark]

I've been concidering the posibility of a misting system recently. Currently I just hand mist + fill up dripper (plastic cup with hole in bottom). My chameleon cage is on my desk with no drainage. I've just been cleaning out the bottom of the cage with anti bacterial cleaner + replace newspaper and paper towels once per week. I think the misting system is probably a concideration for further down the line for me as I need to sort out drainage first and that would require me to move chameleon off my desk and find somewhere suitable for him to go. It would make life easier however.

 

[nick barta]

Jim at Chameleon Company said "When it comes to hydration, think monsoon, not sprinkles." I do 20 minutes 2 times a day, once an hour after lights on, and once at 5:00pm.

I also have a dripper pump that supplies drips to all 6 cages @ 10:00am and 3:00pm.

I also know keepers who just fill the container with a hole in it and drip until it runs out, and raise great animals.

My suggestion is to err toward too much H2O, and put 'em to bed with dry conditions.

Nick

 

[BrandonG]

I've got mine set up to run 4 times a day. Thats for about a minute during the 2 peak hours (11 and 2), and less for just a light shower right when the lights come on and about an hour before the lights go off. The cage has time to dry out before the lights go down though. This is along with dripper running for a good part of the day. Needless to say...Garrett is very well hydrated, lol.

Oh, and yes Mark, in my opinion with a mister running it is almost required to fabricate some sort of drainage. Mine was super cheap and works great. I actully had the parts laying around, but it wouldn't have been over 5 bucks either way. But I tried it without a drainage system before I even got the mister and woke up to water all over the stand one morning. Not good. It's definitely something to consider.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!