Watering Advice

[BlueSky]

Hello again, chameleon forums!
So I've finally decided to commit to taking home my favorite baby boy from the pet store I work for. (Thanks everyone for the advice on him!) I've got a cage with vines and a water dripper on hold for me so far, but I need some advice on misting.
I won't be able to hand-mist this guy since I'm out of the house all day. I know chams require a certain level of humidity, but a questionable source also told me that just using a water dropper should be fine and humidity doesn't matter much. Does anyone have anything to say on this topic? Sounds like BS, but I want to be sure before I invest in both a dropper AND a mister.
If I still need a mister, what brands do you guys recommend? I'll be hitting up an animal expo in a few weeks, so I want a list of brands to keep my eyes out for.

Thanks!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

Hello again, chameleon forums!
So I've finally decided to commit to taking home my favorite baby boy from the pet store I work for. (Thanks everyone for the advice on him!) I've got a cage with vines and a water dripper on hold for me so far, but I need some advice on misting.
I won't be able to hand-mist this guy since I'm out of the house all day. I know chams require a certain level of humidity, but a questionable source also told me that just using a water dropper should be fine and humidity doesn't matter much. Does anyone have anything to say on this topic? Sounds like BS, but I want to be sure before I invest in both a dropper AND a mister.
If I still need a mister, what brands do you guys recommend? I'll be hitting up an animal expo in a few weeks, so I want a list of brands to keep my eyes out for.

Thanks!

You need to mist every 2 hours for 2-4 minutes. Definitely bs. I recommend a monsoon brand if possible!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

Also humidity should be AT LEAST 55%

 

[jpowell86]

A dripper won't suffice unfortunately. No matter what the species is, some humidity is required. I am not sure what kind of species you are bringing home, so that requirement fluctuates.

I would get a mistking system. You can get the smallest one they have and it will be more than enough for one chameleon.

Misting every two hours for 2-4 minutes is not accurate(no offense). It will depend on the species you house and how you are housing them.

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

A dripper won't suffice unfortunately. No matter what the species is, some humidity is required. I am not sure what kind of species you are bring home, so that requirement fluctuates.

I would get a mistking system. You can get the smallest one they have and it will be more than enough for one chameleon.

Misting every two hours for 2-4 minutes is not accurate(no offense). It will depend on the species you house and how you are housing them.

Sorry I was assuming it was a veiled... Haha

 

[BlueSky]

I'm bringing home a juvenile veiled, and housing him in a full mesh repti-breeze. I've been looking into prices for these misters and they are insane!!
This might be a stupid question but would a mini humidifier from Amazon be okay to use instead?

 

[Carlton]

I'm not sure what model you're talking about, but "mini" means you'll be filling the water reservoir constantly depending on how often it runs. Some models may be damaged if they are running when the water runs out. Not sure this will be a good option. It may not be very sturdy either.

You either have to be able to spray by hand at least a couple times a day (assuming you have lots of dense foliage in the cage to hold water and keep the humidity level high enough), or automate misting. A fogger and dripper alone may not be enough. I have kept conditions right by spraying everything down in the morning, running a room sized ultrasonic humidifier on and off with a timer during the day, and spraying again late afternoon. How well this will work in your particular situation depends on a lot of things....how dry your house and climate are, temps, how much airflow in the room, etc. You are trying to create a small humid forest habitat in a human house where conditions are comfortably dry for people...it takes work and $.

 

[BlueSky]

Okay, a room-sized humidifier would probably be doable. It sounds a lot easier than getting one of those $75 misting systems!
I have been called crazy for trying to keep a chameleon on a budget, but I'm not going to let anything stop me from DIYing the heck out of this setup and making it cheap as possible!

 

[LanceLee]

One additional note, if you run an automatic misting system, mist only during daytime, chameleons don't drink when they are asleep at night.

I made the terrible mistake of actually misting every two hours, including night time, and some of my chameleons fell sick because my cages are so wet all the time.

Give the cages time to dry in between each misting session.

My setup is right for me because i live in a humid city. I mist for 8 mins thrice a day, 7am / 11am / 3pm, supplemented by hand misting whenever i feel like it. While this works for me, misting every four hours, u might wanna mist every three hours (except night time) since u live in a drier city.
Point is, give at least 2~3 periods of drying times during day time for the cages to dry reasonably


And supplement along with dripping system as misting alone doesnt provide enough drinking times for them

 

[mvad]

Don't cheap out on a misting system. Chameleons are not inexpensive to keep. A mistking system may seem expensive but is worth it 100%. It's advised to get you enclosure Cham ready before introduction to its new home. Test runs to get a feel of how long and what intervals to run for misting can be fine tuned depending on temp and humidy levels where you live. Good luck and enjoy the world of chameleon keeping.

 

[Remkon]

I would go for a mistking rather than a monsoon since I read a lot of the monsoons brake after short times...
Or find a booster pump that does self feed and maybe just get the tubing from mistking.

On spraying/misting I would follow the advise of LanceLee ...
Spraying only during the day since it will not serve much purpose at night. Temperatures will then be lower and humidity higher due to this.
I don't think you can realy spray to much as long as you make sure your enclosure dries out between sessions.

I spray 4x a day 4-5 minutes at a time for my jacksonii but that may likely be more in the near future (i'm still tweaking it). Keep in mind that this is about 5 liter (~1 gallon) a day so make sure you have proper drainage.

Good luck on your new hobby and lifestyle!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

I would go for a mistking rather than a monsoon since I read a lot of the monsoons brake after short times...
Or find a booster pump that does self feed and maybe just get the tubing from mistking.

On spraying/misting I would follow the advise of LanceLee ...
Spraying only during the day since it will not serve much purpose at night. Temperatures will then be lower and humidity higher due to this.
I don't think you can realy spray to much as long as you make sure your enclosure dries out between sessions.

I spray 4x a day 4-5 minutes at a time for my jacksonii but that may likely be more in the near future (i'm still tweaking it). Keep in mind that this is about 5 liter (~1 gallon) a day so make sure you have proper drainage.

Good luck on your new hobby and lifestyle!

Oh I didn't know that about the monsoons! Thank you for letting me know that