Question about watering

sarahog

New Member
My female veiled has decided that she will only drink a good amount of water if she's in the shower. I mist her whole cage thoroughly 3 times a day. My male will go to each leaf drinking water but my female won't have it. She will drink in the shower but in her cage it seems the second I mist with HOT water she'll drink a sip but then she stops..maybe it cools down too much, or because she's too lazy to go around searching for water when there could be a cricket lurking around that she missed? She will drink in the shower if I put her on a plant and the water is really really warm. So with that, my question is how many times per week do you think I should shower her and for how long each time? I am super terrified of dehydrating her which right now she has no symptoms of.

Thanks!
 
She will drink in the shower if I put her on a plant and the water is really really warm. So with that, my question is how many times per week do you think I should shower her and for how long each time? I am super terrified of dehydrating her which right now she has no symptoms of.

Thanks!

I wonder if she would be a good candidate for hand held syringe drinking? Try this...trigger drinking either in the shower or her cage, whatever works. Once she's in the mood (swallowing and licking her lips) hold a small squirt bottle or syringe (without the needle) full of warm water over her head and start dribbling it over her snout so the water runs into her mouth along her lips so she can swallow it. She may drink and drink until she's full that way. Once she realizes this is an easy way to drink all she wants it could make your job much easier. I LOVE it when my chams learn to do this! I've even taught a wc verrucosus to lick water out of my hand.
 
I have tried this and sometimes she will drink this way and sometimes she won't and the sight of the syringe makes her mad. She comes onto my hand readily and she'll sometimes drink off my finger but it's hard to manage without having a third hand to dip water onto my finger with..
 
what about just running a dripper in her cage? My cham is a horrible drinker. I can literally drip water on his nose for 5 mintues and sometimes he will take a few sips and sometimes not! He drives me crazy with his drinking habits. When I mist, he runs for the hills! Never drinks off of that either.
 
Yeah I would try a dripper. Then you could still give her showers a few times a week till you know she will use the dripper.
 
I put a dripper in there but the thing is she's so weird! The water has to be super hot.. and even then for some reason she just won't drink from the leaves much. I've tried different plants to see if that made a difference.. I tried one with big leaves (about 3-4 inch diameter) and one with small (a ficus) but nope. And the plant I put her in the shower with is in her cage but she will not step onto it at all in the cage, though she seems to enjoy the shower and climbs on it and turns all happy and light bright green. She's a water/shower snob?? Do I need to figure out some form of watering other than the shower or is it possible to just shower her a few times a week for a good period of time or even once a day for a shorter period?
 
Do you have a mistking? If so you could try using a fish tank heater inside of the water bucket to keep the water warm. Maybe she will drink that way.
 
I do not have a mist king, but that's a great idea with the fish tank heater... I'll have to look into that, I've never seen how a mist king works
 
Oh wow, fancy!

Does the water get everywhere...like out of the cages? What do you have on the bottom of the cage to catch the water that falls? Also, are these on a timer to mist every so often..can you choose how often? I am the worst when it comes to installing gadgets!
 
Does the water get everywhere...like out of the cages? What do you have on the bottom of the cage to catch the water that falls? Also, are these on a timer to mist every so often..can you choose how often? I am the worst when it comes to installing gadgets!

No water wont go everywhere if you point the nozzle right. They make drain pans for the bottom of the cage or you can DIY a pan. Or in my males 2x2x4 cages I dont need a pan. It dries out at the bottom with the paper towels. On a smaller cage it will need a catch pan. The mistking timer is very advanced. You can set even seconds. I put mine at 3 times a day. With the middle one lasting the longest (2 minutes). And I have the other two times for 1 minute. But you can do it how ever you want.
It is very easy to set up.
 
Oh okay good to know, both my Chamcages are 4" tall also so this could totally work...as long as she starts caring about water as much as she does about food! I ordered some worms too silk and butterworms so hopefully those will give her a little more moisture in her diet wise..right now I've only fed her crickets, supers and the occasional moths or mantis I find before the alligator lizard living under our porch does..
 
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