Watering Technique problems?

[Jamescoop]

Hey-

Ive been misting my chameleons with a hand bottle, for about half a bottle of water per cage (about 2-3 min, 2 cages right next to eachother get overspray). There are 2 baby veileds and one juvenile veiled. I do not see them go for the water though, they more like run away even though i try not to spray right on them. Im wondering if they seek out the water after im done spraying, cause it still drips off everything, or if i need to continue to spray until i see them go for it.

The other thing is one of them isnt really eating, because i usually put a few tiny crickets into the cage and alternate that with cup feeding every other day. One has never really liked the cup feed, and ive never seen her eat the past few days.

J

 

[lonomac]

Mine does the same when misting. He seems to only go for water if its dripping. Hes very picky..

 

[Smitty]

I hand mist mine and have a dripper going all the time. I've seen him drink from the water coming off the dripper but every time I hand mist he turns brown and runs around trying to get away. Today, for the first time, he hissed at me too. I think he is taking cues from my dog from when I give him a bath...

I've been using a hand sprayer like a water bottle. This weekend I'm going to get one of the pump sprayers from lowes and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Kam808]

Try misting with warm/hot water if you dont already.

 

[Hempa]

My cham isnt that happy either when I start spraying. But usually she finds a spot in/under one of the plants. And when she gets there a spray at her again. Then the water hits her and the leaves around her and she starts to drink.

You can also spray so the water runs in front of your chams this usually gets their attention and gets the drinking reflex to start.

But keep track on the poo. If the urates is white they get enough water but if its going towards orange they need more.

 

[Tygerr]

What type of sprayer are you using?

Make sure you get one of those pump-up hand sprayers that send out a continuous mist spray, like this:

,
and not one of those trigger sprayers that have a squirt-squirt type misting action.

Like Hempa said, the chams usually retreat when the water starts spraying, but if you leave the mist spray flowing continuously for a few minutes, eventually the cham will begin to start lapping up water from the leaves, or licking water droplets off its lips as they roll down the cham's face. Sometimes the cham will even venture out directly back into the spray, and allow itself to get quite wet, and also clean its eyes (you will see eye-bulging).

But the key is to keep the misting session going for quite a while. You need to mist them for at least 15-20 minutes at a time. And I think it's a good idea not to stop misting until you actually see them drinking water in the way I described.