Won't drink

[BabyCham96]

My lovely little guy won't drink when I mist and he won't drink when I do a cup with a hole punched in it for his dripper. The only time he does drink is when I place my hand in the cage and and mist the the bottle into my hand and he drinks the puddle that forms or he drinks the drops that come off the nozzle of the bottle. While it is very adorable and a little bonding for us, I can't do this as much a he needs to drink. Is there a way I can get him to drink without me?

 

[Jared910]

He should be drinking off of the leaves that are left behind after you mist. He could possibly he doing it after you leave and you just don't notice. Check his poops and if the white part seems tinted yellow/orange than that is a sign he is dehydrated. My cham wouldn't drink out of a dripper and wouldn't drink off of leaves when i hand misted if i was around him. I've since got a mistking that goes off several times a day and although i never see him drinking, his poop shows that he isn't dehydrated. Chams are all very different, I recommend getting an automatic misting system if you can afford it. The hand misting can only go so far and theres bound to be times when you aren't home for a day. Plus, it guarantees that your cham gets many opportunities to drink throughout the day.

 

[BabyCham96]

He should be drinking off of the leaves that are left behind after you mist. He could possibly he doing it after you leave and you just don't notice. Check his poops and if the white part seems tinted yellow/orange than that is a sign he is dehydrated. My cham wouldn't drink out of a dripper and wouldn't drink off of leaves when i hand misted if i was around him. I've since got a mistking that goes off several times a day and although i never see him drinking, his poop shows that he isn't dehydrated. Chams are all very different, I recommend getting an automatic misting system if you can afford it. The hand misting can only go so far and theres bound to be times when you aren't home for a day. Plus, it guarantees that your cham gets many opportunities to drink throughout the day.

His poops have been a little orange, that's why I was concerned. I cleaned his cage out today and there weren't many poops but a couple were orange tinted. How much it's the mister system you use? And what is it called so I can look to invest!

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

How long do you most for? My guy takes a long time to get into the drinking mood. Sometimes up to 15 minutes.

 

[BabyCham96]

How long do you most for? My guy takes a long time to get into the drinking mood. Sometimes up to 15 minutes.

I mist for 3 minutes and then walk away just in case he won't drink with me around and I do that about 5 times a day up until yesterday when he started drinking from my hand

 

[jamest0o0]

Add hornworms to his diet for reassurance. Just because there's orange doesn't for sure mean he's dehydrated. If they don't poop for a few days sometimes part of it will have some orange. I like to make sure the end of the urate is white. If the entire thing is orange that could mean dehydration.

 

[BabyCham96]

Add hornworms to his diet for reassurance. Just because there's orange doesn't for sure mean he's dehydrated. If they don't poop for a few days sometimes part of it will have some orange. I like to make sure the end of the urate is white. If the entire thing is orange that could mean dehydration.

I've been meaning to add hornworms to his diet but I wasn't sure because he's still very small and the hornworms are so big compared to him i didn't want him to choke. Butt he hasn't really been eating, i also thought about dubia roaches instead of crickets.

 

[jamest0o0]

I'd keep crickets, but just add roaches into the rotation. Roaches are excellent, but many chams don't like them(honestly.. can we blame them lol), mine eats maybe 2-3 roaches a week if I'm VERY lucky. He readily accepts crickets and worms of any sort though. Blacksoldier fly larvae, butterworms, silkworms, and hornworms are all my favorites outside of crickets and roaches as the staples. You can get the small hornworms and feed them when they're a more manageable size, put them in the fridge 1 day in 1 day out to slow their growth. They are soft and easier to digest, so you don't have to use the eye length rule with them, just use common sense. If the worm is bigger than your cham or the same length don't feed it lol. Can you fill out the help form?

 

[BabyCham96]

I'd keep crickets, but just add roaches into the rotation. Roaches are excellent, but many chams don't like them(honestly.. can we blame them lol), mine eats maybe 2-3 roaches a week if I'm VERY lucky. He readily accepts crickets and worms of any sort though. Blacksoldier fly larvae, butterworms, silkworms, and hornworms are all my favorites outside of crickets and roaches as the staples. You can get the small hornworms and feed them when they're a more manageable size, put them in the fridge 1 day in 1 day out to slow their growth. They are soft and easier to digest, so you don't have to use the eye length rule with them, just use common sense. If the worm is bigger than your cham or the same length don't feed it lol. Can you fill out the help form?

I finally got him to drink from misting!

 

[BabyCham96]

It won't let me post the video but I got it on video of him drinking