Recommendations...

[BuddhaBud]

Hello all! My fiance & I are the proud owners of a 1 yr old Veiled chameleon named Buddha - he's literally the BEST & we love him with all our hearts. We're always looking for ways to upgrade his enclosure (2'x2'x4' mesh) & I think the next step is implementing an automated misting system to the mix. We both work from home & are able to mist his enclosure multiple times throughout the day; we also have a fogger running into his cage when he's awake & a "warm mist" humidifier next to his cage.

Buddha really likes his veggies & has destroyed nearly every plant he's been introduced to (all safe, we checked ). He's also attracted to the soil, so I'm not sure how to go about adding live plants to his enclosure but this is certainly something we'd like to accomplish someday - not only to promote humidity but to make it feel more like home for our lil' guy!

This is our first winter with Buddha (we live in MN) & we've been constantly battling to keep the humidity up (I have a feeling the furnace makes the air dryer). We have the money & we've done research on the various mist systems, but are really interested to learn what everyone here recommends. Thanks!

 

[DarinD]

MistKing Starter System is your best bet, in my humble opinion. Then all you would need to be up and running is a water reservoir, like a bucket. MistKing is extremely popular in the chameleon community (I use one too). I have no issues with mine and parts are readily available to set up your system how you'd like. Josh's Frogs has them in stock for $129 and free shipping.

 

[BuddhaBud]

MistKing Starter System is your best bet, in my humble opinion. Then all you would need to be up and running is a water reservoir, like a bucket. MistKing is extremely popular in the chameleon community (I use one too). I have no issues with mine and parts are readily available to set up your system how you'd like. Josh's Frogs has them in stock for $129 and free shipping.

Thank you for your suggestion, Darin - Yeah, we'll be pulling the plug on a MistKing very soon. It definitely seemed like the ExoTerra Monsoon had more bad reviews than good (flooding the tank randomly, water blasting out the nozzle, etc.)... I liked the mist quality produced by the MistKing & the 3 pivot points on the nozzles.. plus it just seems to be more reliable in general. How many nozzles do you use with your setup?

After watching some MistKing set up videos, I'm finding our next challenge to be the drainage element. We have a ReptiBreeze 2'x2'x4' cage in a shelving unit about 2' off the ground - there's plenty of shelf space underneath for the future water reservoir & pump, but how do we go about collecting all the run off? I found the Dragon Strand Universal 25" drainage tray that seemed like it would work with our cage, but it doesn't seem like we could make our reservoir very large if we went that route (one review said to never make your water reservoir larger than your run off reservoir, to prevent flooding). What size water reservoir is usually used with a MistKing?

 

[Daniel266jz]

If your worried about him eating the soil just cover with washed pebbles big enough to where he can’t swallow it and that should solve your problem I use a Home Depot 5 gal bucket for my Mistking Reservoir.

 

[DarinD]

Thank you for your suggestion, Darin - Yeah, we'll be pulling the plug on a MistKing very soon. It definitely seemed like the ExoTerra Monsoon had more bad reviews than good (flooding the tank randomly, water blasting out the nozzle, etc.)... I liked the mist quality produced by the MistKing & the 3 pivot points on the nozzles.. plus it just seems to be more reliable in general. How many nozzles do you use with your setup?

After watching some MistKing set up videos, I'm finding our next challenge to be the drainage element. We have a ReptiBreeze 2'x2'x4' cage in a shelving unit about 2' off the ground - there's plenty of shelf space underneath for the future water reservoir & pump, but how do we go about collecting all the run off? I found the Dragon Strand Universal 25" drainage tray that seemed like it would work with our cage, but it doesn't seem like we could make our reservoir very large if we went that route (one review said to never make your water reservoir larger than your run off reservoir, to prevent flooding). What size water reservoir is usually used with a MistKing?

I use one nozzle in each 2x2x4 enclosure. It gives me more than enough coverage for the cage. I don't know how you want to set up your area, but I keep my setup simple. I use a drainage tray like the one you mentioned, and a 5 gallon bucket as a reservoir. I'll be upgrading to a RO/DI system here shortly and change reservoirs. I check the water level in the drainage tray daily, and vacuum it out as needed. I haven't measured how much the tray holds, but I've never even come close to overflowing. I use a Home Depot Buckethead vacuum and a bucket to remove the water.