Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd post some pics of Frasier's misting set-up to follow up with the threads below from epollak and John_Smith concerning misting and dripper set-ups.

We had initially gotten a Rainmaker Junior and set up two misting nozzles in Frasier's cage, one on each end. We had programmed the timer to start the misters 8 times a day for 1 minute at a time, which proved to be way too much; the plants were flooded with water and because Frasier's cage has a solid floor, setting up a drainage system would not have been a simple task.

So, we simply reduced the number of cycles to 4 times a day, which was perfect for maintaining humidity and keeping the plants happy. The little bit of water that accumulated on the floor had time to evaporate during the day.

The problem we had noticed with the misting was that Frasier hated having the mist touch his body, despite the fact that the mist was so fine that you could not even see it. However, I have often observed Frasier lapping water droplets off the leaves of his plants (I work from home), so we were assured that Frasier was getting enough water anyway.

Just recently, the pump for our Rainmaker died and so we were forced to replace the current misting system with something else. We weren't very happy with the amount of noise the pump produced, so we were less than willing to spend another $50 or so to replace the pump. We had often heard of setting up a misting system using a sprinkler valve and timer, so we decided to try that. We ended up having to order these online because there are no irrigation products available in Vermont (not much of a demand for it, I guess), so while we waited for that, I misted the cage by hand, the same way the misting system was before -- 4 times a day, for 1-2 minutes at a time.

This is when I noticed that the misting alone wasn't giving Frasier as much water as he wanted, because whenever I offered him the water by letting the water dribble out of the nozzle over his mouth, he seemed pretty thirsty. Because I was providing as much water as the misting system was, this told me that the misting system alone wasn't enough.

We wanted to continue with misting because it makes the plants lush and raises humidity, so we decided to keep the current system, but simply add a dripper head. Because we were ordering irrigation parts anyway, we went ahead and ordered some. While we were shopping, we also found these nifty plant foggers and decided to give those a try, too.

We ended up leaving one of the Rainmaker nozzles in its place (on the left side), but removed the one on the right and replaced that with a dripper head; the head has 8 outlets and has an adjustable flow rate. The pic shows what the drip looks like when it is turned up all the way, but we set it so that it just lets out a steady stream:

Here is a close-up of the Rainmaker nozzle:

We installed one of the plant foggers on the wall in the middle of the cage and we angled it so that it sprays to the side. This allows the chinese evergreen (the big plant on the floor) to get covered in mist and at the same time, Frasier doesn't get any mist on him when he is basking:

Here is the entire set-up:

Sorry for the verbal diarrhea, this happens to be something I've been researching a lot lately and I was excited to share my findings.

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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

Nice setup...How much did your entire system cost? I really need to build a nice timed system for the pair of veileds I'm getting in a few weeks. I'm going to use a resevoir though, because it'd be hard to hook water up to my room. If anyone has had any luck building resevoir type misting systems, let me know I'd appreciate it. Also it looks very wet on the bottom of your cage there...Or am i just seeing things? Hope you aren't worried about bacteria or the floor rotting.
Cory

Hi,

The pic makes it look wetter than it really is, but there is more water down there than usual, because of when I took the picture and let the dripper run at full capacity. Normally, the little bit of water that makes it down there has time to evaporate between mistings.

This misting system is hooked up to a garden sprayer and the entire set-up cost me about $60. I had taken some pics while I was assembling it:

I ended up having to use a reducer to connect the valve to the pump-up sprayer. It's a bit messy, but it works.

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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

i got the same valve but with the flow control, and the same timer, is that the 4 station or the 6. i gonna try and hooking up a dripper that goes off too with the misting with all this new info that i hear that the cham doesnt drink when the misting going off and all. but i like the setup
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1.0. Vield Chameleon(Jessy James)
1.1.3 Sugar gliders(Bonnie & Clyde)
2.0 Ferrets(Butch & Sundance)
1.1.3 Parakeets(Prettyboy,Sassy)
1.0 Doberman (Aries)
1.1 Cats(Riley, Zoe)

I got the 6-station timer because the 4-station one was on back order, and it was only $3 more to get the 6-station. I ordered it and the valve from Home Depot's web site (www.homedepot.com).

So far, I really like this set-up a lot! So much better than the pump-operated system... I don't hear the thing going off at all, just a slight "click" when the valve opens and closes. Very, very cool.

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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

thats what i loved about it too and the fact that u dont have to refill anything, i noticed that u had yours hooked up inside, how did u do that
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1.0. Vield Chameleon(Jessy James)
1.1.3 Sugar gliders(Bonnie & Clyde)
2.0 Ferrets(Butch & Sundance)
1.1.3 Parakeets(Prettyboy,Sassy)
1.0 Doberman (Aries)
1.1 Cats(Riley, Zoe)

That is a really nice looking setup. It has given me a bunch of ideas on how to proceed when the time comes.

It looks like there isn't a constant water source. Are you refilling the pump? How often? What type of pump is that-it looks like a pump for spraying insects and stuff.

Again, I like the setup and the idea of having a mister AND a dripper run off the same line.

>>thats what i loved about it too and the fact that u dont have to refill anything, i noticed that u had yours hooked up inside, how did u do that
>>-----
>>1.0. Vield Chameleon(Jessy James)
>>1.1.3 Sugar gliders(Bonnie & Clyde)
>>2.0 Ferrets(Butch & Sundance)
>>1.1.3 Parakeets(Prettyboy,Sassy)
>>1.0 Doberman (Aries)
>>1.1 Cats(Riley, Zoe)
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1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charlie)
0.1 Corn Snake (Diamond)
1.1 Felines (Blacky and Princes)
1.0 Canine (Skeeter)
2.0 Cockatiels

It is set up to a garden sprayer (3-gallon, if I remember right). We only have to refill every few days; not a biggie. Eventually, it will be patched into our water system, but, with us in an apartment right now, and not being able to hook into the water system without having to pay a nice damages fee when we move out, we have to go with a pump-based system.

Either way, the wicked nice thing about this system is that it is silent (save for a tiny little "pop" when the solenoid opens the valve, and the actual sound of the mist spraying). Beats the bejeezus out of the comparative roar of a piston or diaphragm pump.
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Justin, Julie and the menagerie...
www.baskingwonders.com

We used some barb adapters to attach the valve to a pump-up garden sprayer. We have to refill it, but only every couple of days. Once we move into our house, we hope to hook the system up to our house plumbing, maybe set it up with a Y and have both hot and cold water going in there, so that the animals aren't being misted with cold water. What do you think?

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Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

sound laike a good idea, let me now how it works when u get it and i wanna see some pics. good luck
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1.0. Vield Chameleon(Jessy James)
1.1.3 Sugar gliders(Bonnie & Clyde)
2.0 Ferrets(Butch & Sundance)
1.1.3 Parakeets(Prettyboy,Sassy)
1.0 Doberman (Aries)
1.1 Cats(Riley, Zoe)