Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Question: how do people out there deal with excess water from the dripper? Pet stores sell screen cages with PVC floors and drip bottles as if that's all you need. But where does the water go?

I read caresheets at websites of reputable breeders, and they talk about letting the dripper drip into a potted plant to catch excess water. But the amount of dripping water needed by an adult panther will--in just a few days--overflow the plant pot, cover the floor of an aluminum screen cage, and end up all over my hardwood apartment floor. I have tried placing the dripper so that water drips across some leaves and into a plastic container, but all the chameleon has to do is climb across those branches and the water is now dripping onto the cage floor and soon onto the hardwood floors.

Any ideas? I'm looking for an "attractive" answer since my wife and I live in a small apartment and I can't hide the cage in a garage.

I have two types of cages, thus two solutions.

For the solid bottomed cages, I keep a towel on the bottom of the cages. Ontop of the towel I have a large (3/4 the size of the floor space, and about 2 inches deep) plastic container on the bottom of the cage. Water falls from the dripper, onto leaves and branches, and eventually into this plastic container. The towel soaks up what little moisture may fall outside the plastic container. I empty the plastic container daily, and steam-clean them weekly. I wash/replace the towels weekly.

In the case of female inhabitants, there is a larger plastic bin in each of the cages, which is full of a sand mixture. When the lid is off to permit nesting, most of the water falls into the nesting bin. Which is fine, as this keeps the sand moist. But if there is quite a bit of water (for instance she is taking longer to lay than anticipated, so the nesting bin is catching water for more days) I simply put a smaller plastic catch bin on top of the sand. It catches most but not all, which is perfect. There is very little that escapes to the bottom, as the sandbox is almost the same size as the bottom, with cloth tucked around the edges to ensure she doesnt squeeze into a tight place and hurt herself.

For the cages with coated-wire bottoms, there is a similar arrangement. The water makes its way to the bottom, and drips through. Underneath is another catch tray, this time slightly larger overall than the cage bottom. Which is emptied and cleaned on the same daily /weekly schedule. It's a bit easier with no towels to change.

I dont use many live plants. But those that I have are suspended half-way up the height of the cage. The bottoms are angled such that the water naturally gravitates to drip directly over the catch bins.
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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada