Watering question...

[perca05]

Hi...my new guy Finn seems to be doing well. Yesterday I watched him eat all the crickets I put in his deli cup, and he even took one from my fingers. However, I don't know if he's drinking any water. I spray him in the morning around 10am, and in the afternoon around 3...he runs away! He hates it...I have even warmed the water up so it's not cold. I have a dripper that I turn on for a while as well, on a very very slow drip...he runs away. How do I know if he's drinking anything ?

thanks!
Caroline

 

[JohnDoe]

First check his urate it should be white if its orange or pink he is going to be dehydrated. thats the first sign and the eyes will tell you as well if they look sunk in dehydrated as well. The best bet is just to spray/ mist a lot through out the day before i got my mist system i was misting 5 times a day about 8 oz a time

And dont spray directly at your lil guy, mainly up in the air or around the enclosure

 

[deadhd5]

How long are your mistings? Many chameleons won't begin to drink into a few minutes in. I would up your misting time.

However, they are shy drinkers and you may never see them drink. I have three and I can count the times I have seen them drink on one hand. Everytime I have seen them was when I "walked in" on them in the act.

If the urates are bone white, you have nothing to worry about. If they are orange, increase misting, humidity, and the drip rate from your dripper.

 

[perca05]

urates?

How do you check for that? I see black poop in the cage...do they do 2 different poops? One white and one black?

 

[carol5208]

they pee and poop all in one. The white part comes off first and then the dark part. Sometimes it breaks apart and the white part falls onto a leaf or in a pot, etc.

 

[Elizadolots]

Yeah, I describe it as sort of like bird poop. You should see a white portion.

Make sure your dripper is hitting leaves. It's best if it bounces off those leaves onto other leaves. You want there to be lots of "water on leaf" action to entice your baby to drink.

I agree you should mist for longer. I would recommend misting at least 32 ounces at a time. You might want to look into pump misters to make that a bit easier. You can find them in most garden departments. "Garden Sprayers" is the classic name.

 

[Bush baby]

It has been my experience that Veileds can go without water much longer than other cham species, due to the nature of their natural habitat. They are much more proficient at getting their water needs met via their foods (crickets, veggies, etc) . I kept a Veiled for 7 years once i can count on one hand the amount of times i actually saw him drink water i sprayed into his enclosure. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't spray daily, it just means don't worry about it so much.