Questions on putting my chameleon in the shower. Also open enclosure q's.

[lindseymeder16]

I've been reading alot on here about how people put their chams in the shower and was wondering if i should do the same. How do you put your chams in the shower, on a plant or in his cage etc? What temp should the water be? And how long should he be in there? I've got a little boy, 4-5 month old veiled chameleon, do veileds like this? Also, I mist him 4-5 times a day, and was wondering if misting and the shower would be too much in one day? I can't find any other info on this so please help!

On open enclosures --
I don't want to let him roam around my house becuase i have a numerous amount of other pets, and don't want to harm him plus my mom would freak. But i'm thinking about getting another plant and keeping it outside, so once in a while i can put him on that so he can get some sun. I have a schefflers plant in his cage now, so should I get a different plant for outside to mix things up? Also, how long should i keep him outside? and I live in AZ, so temps get pretty hot here. right now the high is about 70-78 degrees, in the summer it gets way hotter (100 an up to 120). is it a good time to put him outside or wait for it to warm up? I know 100 + is too hot.

 

[Olimpia]

You don't need to shower your chameleon unless there's something wrong/it's needed (like they need a lot of extra hydration, have something in their eyes, have trouble shedding, etc.) if your cham is fine with his normal misting (his urates are white) then there's no real need to do it. What I do is put a plant in the tub, fill up a pump sprayer with hot water and let it spray on the finest mist setting. It comes out luke warm and lasts for a good 20 minutes without wasting more than the 5 gals the thing holds. Other people put them in the shower on a plant and point the shower head at the wall, letting the water spray off the wall on them.

As for open enclosures. You can use whatever plant you want, even a fake 6' ficus would be nice. Sometimes you can get those on sale from Michael's for $14. HOWEVER, if you want him to be outside you will need to watch him like a hawk, because there have been numerous ocasions where people have had their chameleons snatched up by birds or run away. In the 70's and 80's is more than fine. They don't have to be in full sun, and if you can put the plant in a partly shady spot that is more than fine, so they can regulate their temps a little more. And there isn't a minimum or maximum, but even 30 mins of natural lights a day would probably be beneficial.

 

[lindseymeder16]

You don't need to shower your chameleon unless there's something wrong/it's needed (like they need a lot of extra hydration, have something in their eyes, have trouble shedding, etc.) if your cham is fine with his normal misting (his urates are white) then there's no real need to do it. What I do is put a plant in the tub, fill up a pump sprayer with hot water and let it spray on the finest mist setting. It comes out luke warm and lasts for a good 20 minutes without wasting more than the 5 gals the thing holds. Other people put them in the shower on a plant and point the shower head at the wall, letting the water spray off the wall on them.

As for open enclosures. You can use whatever plant you want, even a fake 6' ficus would be nice. Sometimes you can get those on sale from Michael's for $14. HOWEVER, if you want him to be outside you will need to watch him like a hawk, because there have been numerous ocasions where people have had their chameleons snatched up by birds or run away. In the 70's and 80's is more than fine. They don't have to be in full sun, and if you can put the plant in a partly shady spot that is more than fine, so they can regulate their temps a little more. And there isn't a minimum or maximum, but even 30 mins of natural lights a day would probably be beneficial.

Thanks so much! He seems extremely happy with me misting him, and he is showing no signs of sickness. Is it ok to just put him in the shower once a week or every couple weeks? If there is no reason to do it, should i not even bother with it?
Thanks again!

 

[Olimpia]

You can certainly do it if you want to, it's just not something you HAVE to do regularly For example, mine have a misting system that gives them water several times a day and usually that is all they need. But this past week my misting system has been broken so while I fix it they've been getting manual mistings, but it's not nearly as much water. So yesterday I gave every single one of the chams a 10-15 minute shower to fill up on water if they need it. But they wouldn't usually need that.

You can do it every week or two or three if you want to, it's up to you. If he looks like he hates it then don't do it unless he needs it.

 

[lindseymeder16]

OK thanks! I think i will try it out and see how it goes.