Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I'm convinced that having a self-contained misting system will be the way for me to go...Since I'm not usually at home that much with football and a girlfriend, I'm going to have to having something that will work without me around. In the past I've done the hand misting but I was at the house around my chams all day so it was fun to give them a daily shower. I'm building my cages this weekend and while I'm at Home Depot (or Lowe's, it's just right across the street) I'm going to pick up the things I need for that misting system. If you would, could you give me a list of supplies that you or anyone used for building those garden pump misting systems. Also, do you know of any websites with details on how to build them..It would be greatly appreciated.
--Cory

I don't know much about misting systems, but i nkow someone wrote a huge message on how to build one. What you would need though, would probably be something like this:
-Pvc tubing/piping
-elbow joints for the piping
-adapter to attatch pvc to your water supply
-misting nozzles
-on/off lever in case of a malfuntction or something else
-the automatic vavles & timers

If you go to the garden section of lowe's or home depot, ask the garden people about making a misting system, at least one person should know how to make one because yhey are used in greenhouses and indoor gardens. They should be able to give you the supplies you need.
Look at the posts about the misting systems and maybe some other people with misting system experience will post a reply to this.
Hope it turns out well!

Hi there,

To build the same type of system I did, you will need the following:

- A pump-up garden sprayer with a pressure release valve; the capacity you get will be up to you, but because there really isn't a big price difference between a 1-gallon and a 2-gallon, you will probably want to go with a 2-gallon;
- A solenoid sprinkler valve (about $10 if you don't get the one with the flow control, which isn't really necessary);
- A sprinkler timer (the cheapest is $20);
- Some 1/4" irrigation tubing;
- Some dripper heads (these come with 1/4" barb fittings);
- Some plant foggers, adjustable misters, etc. (with 1/4" barb fittings);
- Some 1/4" T's and elbows to connect your drippers, foggers and/or misters.

Depending on the valve's opening, you will need adapters to connect the pump to the valve and then the valve to the 1/4" tubing. We used a valve with a 3/4" pipe thread and the pump-up sprayer came with a 3/8" tube, so we used an adapter with a 3/4" male pipe thread and 3/8" barb fitting to hook up the sprayer to the valve. Then, we used a 1/4" female compression adapter to connect the 1/4" tubing; these come with 3/4" female hose thread, so we needed an adapter to connect the hose thread to the pipe thread.

When shopping for foggers and misters, make sure they have a rate of 0.5 GPH (gallons per hour). Anything more than that is way too much for a chameleon set-up; you will end up with a flood in no time. If you can't find anything at Home Depot, you can order a good misting kit at www.barrs.com.

Hope this helps and keep us updated on your progress!

-----
Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

Thanks iwana...I'll prolly put that stuff together this weekend. Both my father and grandfather (whom I'm building the cages with) are both plumbers, so we should have no problem finding all the parts we need and getting them together. I'll keep you all updated.
--cory

if ur gonna have ur cage inside then try iwana's setup. if uyr cage is gonna be outside then just take a look at the one i have lowere done on the forum.

let me try posting a link, its got a lot of sub posting to it to show more pics of what im talking about.
Link

-----
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)

We buy those pumping pressurized sprayers that people use for gardening and chemicals for their gardens. You can get them from anywhere in price ranges of $5-100 depending on how big and elaborate the sprayer is. We buy the small Spray-Doc from wally-mart....20 bucks and you're in. you just pump a few times and we can spray 6 chameleon cages without having to pump again. Works wonders. We also use it to mist the cresteds, the tokay and anyone who might be having a shedding problem.

We found this is the cheapest and easiest way to do things...the chams get misted 2-3 times a day. and the sprayer we bought only has to be filled with water once every few days.
-----
Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

here's links to a couple typical ones........

Here's a link to a really elaborate one for $70
www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1750105160.1077779893@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadckkkdelhhcgelceffdfgidgjk.0&MID=9876

Here's a link for a cheapy one...$14
www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1750105160.1077779893@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadckkkdelhhcgelceffdfgidgjk.0&MID=9876

Here's what we pretty much use:
www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1750105160.1077779893@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadckkkdelhhcgelceffdfgidgjk.0&MID=9876

Hope all of those work for you but you probably already get the idea.
-----
Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

np
-----
Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

I made my own AUTOMATIC DRIP system.

1 pond water pump -- $15
plastic tubing -- $3

its an underwater pump so it sits in a bucket and pushes the water out at a really weak rate. You can adjust the pressure of the dripping by adding a fish aquarium flow valve that any aquarium store has.

The electric pump is on a timer so it drips water only during the day. slow and steady.

its a really cheap pump. hardly any power you can get them at any pet store. but its perfect for a dripper.

I got the pressure perfect by using a valve that attches to the outgoing water tube and splits it off into 3 other tubes. 2 tubes are on full to release some pressure and points back into the water supply and the 3rd tube goes down over my cage. it drips very slowly on a timer. easy!

.

How high does the pump have to push the water? I always thought those pumps weren't strong enough to lift the water very high. Posting a pic would be great, for those just wanting a simple drip system.
-----
Julie Williams
www.baskingwonders.com

I posted a diagram at the top of this page in a new post. check it out!

The pump that i have is weak so it will push water up the tube no more than about 10 inches. straight up. after that point I have mine set up to level off and go down into the cage so its not a problem.