Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, everyone seems to think that showering with your chameleon or putting your chameleon in a hot shower and letting him get some steam and mist is very important. I don't shower my two veileds, and never have, but am wondering if I really need to. I'm a bit hesitant to go so far as to shower with them, because I don't really think that they NEED it.

Does anyone have chameleons that they don't shower and yet they are perfectly healthy?

Thanks.

Of course you don't NEED to!
Putting a cham on a plant in a warm shower is only used for DESPERATE dehydration circumstances, and even then, a shower stresses out a cham quite a bit.
I have never showered my trio of veileds, and they are fine. Veileds get most of their water from their food, they are good at retaining it (they're a deset species) but don't stop misting or water drippers!

Most people don't shower their chams regularly, and it isn't necessary unless the cham is very dehydrated.

If your chams are well hydrated then you don't have to shower them. I shower mine b/c she rarely uses her dripper, and she will drink in the shower. I was nervous about it at first, but i set it on equal amts of hot and cold water, and just enough so that the pressure can take the water up to the shower nozzle (basically a tiny twist of hot and cold). It sprays lightly that way, and looks almost like rain falling rather than a pressurized shower. She doesn't mind it, i have a small hybiscus that i killed that has no leaves and she sits on it in the shower.
If your chams will take water other ways I wouldn't worry about it. If one or both look dehydrated at all or start to get orange urates then you might want to try it out.
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~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

According to the ADCHAM profile on veiled chameleons,
"veiled chameleons come from Saudia Arabia and Yemen"
so "it is sometimes assumed that their hydration requirements
are less demanding than those of most other chameleons.
The fact is, however, that these animals are most abundant
in mountainous coastal regions where rainfall can be heavy and
even in the absence of rain, fog conditions create significant
condensation. The animals drink the dew off of leaves and other
wet surfaces. Veiled chameleons require the same regimen of
misting and drip systems as do most other chameleons."

In an article by Mike Fry it says..."those animals more common
in the pet trade generally originated from the more lush areas
of Yemen."

In spite of the above, I have never showered a veiled chameleon.
I mist them well and have drippers going every day to provide
water for them. They all willingly drink well every day.
I have had males live to be over 8 years old and my females
almost all live to be over 5.

Just my 2 cents worth!