Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Lele I took your advice and used a dripper for about a week and he did not drink from it at all, and I tried to use an eye dropper and he almost fell off his plant from trying to attack it. What should I do? should I just mist him constantly until he finally drinks?

i hate the term "misting"....try just lightly touching the handle so larger drops come out...you may have to do this for several minutes, maybe even up to 10 minutes before he begins to drink...i have a jacksons which i sometimes swear are semi-aquatic but even he sometimes will "zone out" and not drink for a good five minutes...be patient and be gentle with the water...make sure the water is warm also...he will drink just stay with it

I know it's not the politically correct (or traditional) thing for me to say, but veileds don't always physically drink. I have several and most of them get enough moisture from fat silkworms, occasional pieces of romaine and the light mistings once a day, plus 60% humidity that they don't always want to drink straight water. I still offer it to them, but I rarely see a veiled chameleon drink more than a few drops, if anything.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

i couldn't get my cham to stay put in front of a mister for ten minutes.. he doesn't like to have a hand around in his cage at all and tries to get as far away from it as possible.

he drinks from leaves though..

My panther (who is well over a year) is a bit stupid. I love her to death, but she's just dumb when it comes to water. When I shower her she starts drinking RIGHT when I turn the shower off... doesn't matter how long she's in there. When i fill her dripper, she stands away from it and tries to shoot the drops.. unfortunately she has incredibly bad timing and always hits it BETWEEN drops, lol. She drinks a bit if i spray right in her face, but if i spray too hard she gets pissy.
ONE thing that sometimes works is to have her dripper right over a shallow dish with a few fake vines or leaves in it. Just use a little water in the dripper, and maybe he'll see the dripping and lick the leaves, or the puddle in the dish will grab his attention bc of the drips ,and he'll drink from that.
Other than that, just give him lots of silkies and veggies and fruits like tyler said!
good luck!!

water does seem to be a stumper when it comes to chams. Everyone's seems to have different habits. I have had Luna for nearly a year and although she has been offered a dripper many times (days on end) it wasn't until after she laid her eggs has she gotten in to a routine - thank goodness! I tried the dripper in a few different places this time around and we have both settled on the far back left corner. In the morning, once she sees me, she goes right back there and looks up until I have turned it on. Then she just sits under it and the water rolls down her face. Since she has that funny crooked mouth the water just sort of slides right into it! LOL!

I recently worked out a good humidifier setup. It's on top of the cage on a board and I aim it at the ceiling (covered with a piece of plastic so I don't mess it up) and I also have a plastic mat set upright so the water is confined and doesn't land on my MV bulb/fixture. it works great b/c it just pours into the cage and Luna has made it clear that she really likes it, too! Sometimes I enclose the cage with the shower curtain and the humidity goes up to 90%. then I let it come back down. I will take pix so this makes sense. the point is....yes, there is one....that with the humidity being better regulated I don't worry nearly as much about her hydration.

I have almost never seen Luna drink per se, like off a leaf, but if it is rolling down her face she sort of sucks it in - yours may be doing that, too. How does his urates look (color)? and are his eyes nice and buggy?

sorry this was so damn long! ;-/
lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

He does have urates now it's very slimey and watery and it's a yellowish white color and there's not very much of it. His eyes look normal.

it orange that you have to watch for but creamy is OK. he may be sucking in water when you mist or from the dripper and you just don't see him do it. Leave the dripper in the same place so he knows he can go there - he'll get the hang of!
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

okay, thank you so much