Only drinks from a syringe ???

[DIGGS]

My male veiled of 6 months only drinks from a syringe I run a dripper for 6 hours of the day and have an automatic mister\ rain in his enclosure that runs 3 times for 10 mins each everyday... but will not drink ( i watch him all day) but when i offer water from a syringe he will drink continuously i am confused, i dont want to let him dehydrate... but want him to regulate his own water intake. any ideas? please?

 

[Decadancin]

I think you are looking at this all wrong! Its totally cool that your veiled trusts you enough to do that. With the misting schedule and availability of dripping water you shouldn't need to worry much. Monitor urate color and offer some hornworms (great hydrators!) if you are concerned, but its pretty cool that your little one drinks this way . Many owners never see their chams drink.

 

[DIGGS]

thats a great way to look at it i suppose it seems he does trust me very much. i just want to be sure he gets everything he needs even if im not there to "administer" it for him. lol yes he loves his hornedworms.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Mine does the same thing! He won't drink any other way despite all efforts. https://www.chameleonforums.com/drinking-syringe-100221/

 

[DIGGS]

Thank you for your replies, i have been monitoring his stool and water intake daily. This morning i did notice that urinate was slightly yellow and not white like it should be. Wouldn't he drink if he becomes dehydrated? He has tremendous opportunities all day to drink, and yet he does not.... he waits for me to offer it to him with a soft tip syringe. I even went as far as mounting a syringe on the end of his dripper that feeds into his enclosure . Anyone Have any input?

 

[Carlton]

Thank you for your replies, i have been monitoring his stool and water intake daily. This morning i did notice that urinate was slightly yellow and not white like it should be. Wouldn't he drink if he becomes dehydrated? He has tremendous opportunities all day to drink, and yet he does not.... he waits for me to offer it to him with a soft tip syringe. I even went as far as mounting a syringe on the end of his dripper that feeds into his enclosure . Anyone Have any input?

I LOVE chams who will drink from a syringe! Saves a lot of guessing how much water they are actually ingesting daily. And, interacting with them is a pleasure. When you offer him water how long do you let him drink? When they are "full" they will tend to tip their head straight up more and more and eventually turn away from the water before they "spill". Chams don't have a sphincter between their stomach and their esophagus that prevents "backflow" if they are too full. And, they have relatively small stomachs. We feed them fewer but larger feeders every day than they probably get in the wild so a smaller stomach is more of an issue. I'll bet a wild cham spends a lot more effort trying to fill that same small stomach. But, small food and lots of moisture is available all day every day in most seasons so they don't need to be super efficient at conserving either.

In captivity in the typical human house, humidity and moisture are controlled and a lot more limited because we don't like living in a rainforest sauna. Moisture balance becomes an issue. What is your cage humidity range? If your cage is at a correct humidity level your cham won't dehydrate between good drinking sessions once or twice a day. All the moisture that's available during the day when you can't offer water by hand should keep him from losing ground. If the cage/room is too dry he will get thirsty sooner and show other signs of dehydration (sunken eyes, sunken casque, hard sheds, skin tenting, hard dense urates, constipation, and orange urates. A little yellow tinge in urates occasionally is a hint to check things again...not a full blown crisis.

 

[Decadancin]

I have also noticed a tint of yellow on the edges of urates when using some supplements. It will usually only be at the edge and the rest is still bright white.

 

[DIGGS]

I LOVE chams who will drink from a syringe! Saves a lot of guessing how much water they are actually ingesting daily. And, interacting with them is a pleasure. When you offer him water how long do you let him drink? When they are "full" they will tend to tip their head straight up more and more and eventually turn away from the water before they "spill". Chams don't have a sphincter between their stomach and their esophagus that prevents "backflow" if they are too full. And, they have relatively small stomachs. We feed them fewer but larger feeders every day than they probably get in the wild so a smaller stomach is more of an issue. I'll bet a wild cham spends a lot more effort trying to fill that same small stomach. But, small food and lots of moisture is available all day every day in most seasons so they don't need to be super efficient at conserving either.

In captivity in the typical human house, humidity and moisture are controlled and a lot more limited because we don't like living in a rainforest sauna. Moisture balance becomes an issue. What is your cage humidity range? If your cage is at a correct humidity level your cham won't dehydrate between good drinking sessions once or twice a day. All the moisture that's available during the day when you can't offer water by hand should keep him from losing ground. If the cage/room is too dry he will get thirsty sooner and show other signs of dehydration (sunken eyes, sunken casque, hard sheds, skin tenting, hard dense urates, constipation, and orange urates. A little yellow tinge in urates occasionally is a hint to check things again...not a full blown crisis.

Amazing replies! Thank you so much. Humidity in the tank ranges between 50 and 70 percent always dries between misting sessions. although he has his dripper going all day, as well as his rain system 5 times daily for 4-5 mins at a time he will not drink from them but will readily drink from the syringe if i offer it too him. 3 to 4 ml of water before he will tilt his head back as if saying " thats all for me. no more please" as for his urinates almost like an egg lol solid brown and white but almost like a little yellow yolk on the side of the white? maybe do to supplementation? here is a pic of Congo

 

[Carlton]

He's beautiful! What's your dusting schedule and what do you use now? The yellow tinge could be from that but we can check that if you give us details. Oh, and remember that the older portion of the urate (that bit that gets excreted first) will tend to show color because it is more concentrated and has been sitting there longer if you know what I mean!

 

[DIGGS]

He's beautiful! What's your dusting schedule and what do you use now? The yellow tinge could be from that but we can check that if you give us details. Oh, and remember that the older portion of the urate (that bit that gets excreted first) will tend to show color because it is more concentrated and has been sitting there longer if you know what I mean!

His current dusting/supplement schedule is Rep Cal calcium very feeding ( eats everyday) Reptivit once a month, alternating with a calcium d3 once a month, and repashy vit A once a month. Had signs of MBD when we rescued him from the pet store and takes 2 drops of calcium carbonate once every week instead of rep cal powder supplement.