So after a month of reading and researching all I can about chameleons and their care I am still confused by their humidity needs. From all I've seen the misting and humidity is not as vital during the day as it is at night and that the environment should be cooler and wetter while they sleep. That just goes against everything that I would have assumed. Wouldn't you want them to have a WARM, humid daytime temp and if they need it cooler at night, to not have them in a wet environment? I certainly wouldn't want to be cold, dark and damp while sleeping but apparently they do? Am I getting that right?
Thanks in advance for helping me understand, or clarifying if I've mis-read.
Sue
I wish I could describe the recent battle royal that occurred about this very subject. Anyways, I’ll try (but fail) to be brief.
A natural humidity cycle—where RH waxes and wanes over a 24 hour period—has been noted by many field researchers. In the wild, humidity is at its highest at night when fog banks permeate the environment—peaking in the early morning. As the sun rises, things dry out, and the RH hits its lowest in mid to late afternoon. After which time, the sun sets, and humidity begins to rise again. So, the thinking is that chameleons are adapted to sleep in cool humid air, from which part of their hydration needs are met: Air at 100% humidity cannot absorb moisture from respiration, so chameleons lose less water when they sleep. It is also suggested that chameleons can absorb water by breathing in air at 100% humidity. In any case, after a night without little to no water loss via respiration, wild chameleons wake up to dew-covered leaves, from which they can drink and top up, so to speak. Then they go about their day, retiring to their humid slumber after sunset. So, if this is how chameleons have evolved to get their water, and we have the ability to mimic this, then why would t we?
So that’s the quick and dirty version of naturalistic hydration. Now, wild theories about daytime misting and RIs are often bandied about, but RIs are far more complicated than that; and what’s more, chameleons lived perfectly healthy RI-free lives for decades before the advent of naturalistic hydration. More reasonably, many people note that their chams don’t like being sprayed during the day. Also, all sides agree that an enclosure needs a dry out period very day in order to avoid mold, root rot, and foot problems. So, the difference really amounts to when we chose to provide humid/moist conditions, and when we provide dry conditions. Naturalistic hydration says humid at night and dry during the day because this most closely resembles nature. Skeptics say moist during the day and dry at night. It should also be noted that a whole bunch of beliefs are untruthfully attributed to moderates in the naturalist camp. For instance, that naturalists hold that fogging should be the sole means of hydration, or that occasional daytime misting is always wrong. Maybe some radicals hold these views, but moderate keepers who practice naturalistic husbandry do not deal in such absolutes or extremes. Obviously I’m slightly biased, so keep that in mind. But that’s the not so short answer.
