Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When i bought my veiled chameleon in august, the breeder i purchased her from had them kept in a nice cage, all screen with plants and everything. Its a really healthy chameleon and everything, but i was just wondering about some of the facts about her. The breeder told me what i needed to know for the most part, and that i should only listen to what shes telling and not that of anything on the internet, because it is wrong. I find, for the most part, that her info and the info on the net is about the same, so i trust her. However, she told me to NEVER MIST THEM, and she made this seem the most important issue. I think she said that it would be harmful to their skin, or something, i dont quite remember exactly. She had a dish of water in the cage when i bought the cham, and she said i could do the same thing as long as i use a drip system, just to get the chameleon to see where it is. so i did. My only problem is that i have never actually seen the cham drink, but i trust that she does because, well, shes still alive. Id like to get your opinions about watering/misting veileds. Is it wrong? Should i do it?
>>The chameleon is about 6 months old i believe, and eats great. shes in a 30g tall aquarium with vines and branches and everything (btw, im working on building a screen cage).
Sorry for the long post..
thanks a lot for any help!

Hi-

Well fist off GET HER OUT OF THE GLASS TANK! Second, the breeder telling you not to mist is WRONG! Misting plays a very important role in good health, by maintaining proper humidity and time for the chameleon to drink water drops off leafs. Even though Veileds do okay with low humidity compared to other species, they still need misting. Misting will also help flush anything out of their eyes, and keep your plants healthy. The only reason I could see the breeder saying not to mist the chameleon is because you are keeping her in a glass tank, which will cause problems with older chameleons with excess moisture and poor air circulation along with high temps. This will lead to URI (upper repertory infection) amoung other things. Even then the breeder is WRONG! Bottom line get her out of the glass tank and into an all screen cage ASAP and start misting ASAP! As for the water source, chameleon will not drink from standing water, they need a dripper or automatic misting system. The dripper should drip over a plant with lots of leafs such as a ficus where the chameleon can lick the water drops. I have lots of excellent info on my site, with pics and link to other chameleon sites. I even have cage plans on it for you. They are step by step with pics of each step. Hope this helps!
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John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
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