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Can I Get My Veiled Cham to Drink Out of a Bowl??

SaveFerris Oct 04, 2003 10:19 AM

She loves to sip out of leaves but it would be so much easier if she just recognized water in a dish.

What about a green leaf shaped saucer? An artificial leaf cup clipped to a branch?

Replies (7)

iwana Oct 04, 2003 10:39 AM

Chams don't seem to recognize water unless it's dripping from something, doesn't matter if it's a leaf or a branch or anything else. The drop of water falling from something is what gets their attention. Also, if you look at the shape of their head, it is perfectly designed to funnel water into their mouth. Whenever they get misted, water droplets run down their cask and assumulate on the bottom rim of their lip, making the cham open his mouth like he's smaking his lips. It's really quite a miracle of nature.

Hope this helps, although it unfortunately isn't the answer you were looking for! By the way, drippers work well for providing a water source to your cham, they are inexpensive, and not really any more difficult than having a water dish in the terrarium.

Julie, Justin and Frasier the Veiled.

SaveFerris Oct 04, 2003 10:59 AM

I use a misting system now. The thing with a constant drip system is that it accumulates in the dish at the bottom of the cage (which is smaller than most drip systems) and I have to dump it out often.

It would just be convenient if she could see all that water down there in a nice clean bowl.

iwana Oct 04, 2003 12:28 PM

Do you have any live plants in his set-up? If not, you could put one under the mister and have it not only provide drinking water for your cham, but water the plant at the same time. Plus the plant gives him extra hide spots, cleans the air and helps raise humidity, too.

How often does your mister go off? Initially, I had it going several times a day, which ended up being way too much (drowned the plants and Frasier didn't need that much misting anyway) so I reduced it to four times a day, one minute at a time. Turned out perfectly. Frasier gets enough water and the plants below (golden pothos and chinese evergreen) get enough water too. Self-maintaining environment. Yeay!

Julie, Justin and Frasier the Veiled.

lele Oct 04, 2003 12:35 PM

ditto on the drip/plant set up. I just bought a hamster water bottle b/c a few folks here (and i've read) that they are attracted to the shiny ball at the tip. I haven't seen her use it (just set it up today) and am not sure about the best location for it, yet.

At the herp show I went to recently a woman selling veiled's said hers drank out of a bowl and said that she "trained" them early by putting a potho leaf in a bowl over time. Not sure if it'll work but it was her claim. I might try it at some point just to see, but then again it is not how they would drink in the wild.

lele

>>Do you have any live plants in his set-up? If not, you could put one under the mister and have it not only provide drinking water for your cham, but water the plant at the same time. Plus the plant gives him extra hide spots, cleans the air and helps raise humidity, too.
>>
>>How often does your mister go off? Initially, I had it going several times a day, which ended up being way too much (drowned the plants and Frasier didn't need that much misting anyway) so I reduced it to four times a day, one minute at a time. Turned out perfectly. Frasier gets enough water and the plants below (golden pothos and chinese evergreen) get enough water too. Self-maintaining environment. Yeay!
>>
>>Julie, Justin and Frasier the Veiled.

spydergirl Oct 04, 2003 01:37 PM

I got my chameleons from that lady(i dont recommend her) and they are infact "bowl trained" i mist my chams mostly for humidity and for the live plants, but i have a leaf-shaped bird feeder on the side of the cages and have their water in there,i have another on the other side for worms.they drink fine,and i have had them for 4 months,with no dehydration. i see all of them taking sips in the morning,and have to refill it the next. so i knwo they are definately still drinking form the bowl.

JamieWhitehouse Oct 04, 2003 03:06 PM

I think it is more simpler and more natural for a chameleon to drink from a dripper or from droplets on leafs. But there is a way to train chameleon to bowl feed and from what i have heard it is quite sucessful. The method is to put an airstone in the water, and them will make it bubble and splater a bit which will catch the chameleons eye. Then after a couple of months, if it drinks out the bowl with the airstone in, then take the airstone out, and see what happens.
hope this helped

>>I got my chameleons from that lady(i dont recommend her) and they are infact "bowl trained" i mist my chams mostly for humidity and for the live plants, but i have a leaf-shaped bird feeder on the side of the cages and have their water in there,i have another on the other side for worms.they drink fine,and i have had them for 4 months,with no dehydration. i see all of them taking sips in the morning,and have to refill it the next. so i knwo they are definately still drinking form the bowl.
-----
-Jamie Whitehouse
-corn_snake_123@msn.com
-formally known as corn_snake_123

SaveFerris Oct 04, 2003 03:24 PM

Can you post a pic of your setup?

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