Veiled chameleon trying to drink standing water. Normal?

[nell]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out a bit? I have a baby veiled chameleon called Bernard. He's been here for about 3 weeks and seems very active and happy. He's eating very well and has stayed bright green the whole time apart from when he takes himself to the bottom of his viv.

The only issue I'm having is I'm concerned about his water intake. I have been regularly misting his cage and as his favourite spot it right at the top in a bunch of leaves, he has been drinking water from there. I also bought him a dripping plant although I don't think he really gets it!

Over the last few days he has been coming to the bottom of the cage and trying to drink from the tray where I keep the water for the dripping plant. Assuming he wasn't getting enough water I set up a plastic cup dripper above his favourite spot. Still, he keeps coming to the bottom and skirting the tray full of standing water.

I'm a bit concerned in case he falls in and drowns for a start as he has slipped on the edges of the trays a few time, but I was also wondering if it's normal for a chameleon to drink from standing water, especially when he has so many dripping options!

Everything I've read about chameleon care says they don't drink from standing water. Any ideas whether I'm doing something wrong or what I can try instead? Or is it actually normal for him to drink this way?

Thanks!

 

[Nursemaia]

No it'snot normal and having standing water in your setup makes for a bacterial soup. Pictures of your setup would be helpful

 

[nell]

This is my setup. The dripper plant has a water pump, hence the standing water. I'm changing that water every day. His favourite spot is in the top right, he sits somewhere inside the leaves, sometimes on top, sometimes hidden so that's where I focus the spray when I' misting and I have put a plastic cup above to drip for him.

 

[Alexander1]

My Cham would also do that, I wouldn't say it's not normal but you should be cautious of fecal matter getting into the water, if you can remove the water tray use some kind of screen over it to prevent him from drinking the dirty water. When it happened to me I switched to the drip tray underneath the enclosure to be safe

 

[nell]

My Cham would also do that, I wouldn't say it's not normal but you should be cautious of fecal matter getting into the water, if you can remove the water tray use some kind of screen over it to prevent him from drinking the dirty water. When it happened to me I switched to the drip tray underneath the enclosure to be safe

 

[nell]

Thank you. I'll see if I can find some kind of screen to cover the tray with. I can't really take it out as the plant is dripping into it so some kind of screen seems like a good option. Just glad it's not as abnormal as it first seemed!