Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering the proper way to mist my chameleon. Also what temperature range the "Basking" spot should be. Many people have told me many different things but i wantd to hear from actual owners. Veiled Chameleon!!!!!

The best way to mist your cham would be with a pump-up garden sprayer of just about any "duty" (heavy duty etc.)

You should be able to get one at a nursery or garden store. I got mine for under 30$ and it's a one-gallon pump up.

You can, for under 2$ get a hand sprayer, hard on the hands, but good for one or two chams and doesnt hold much water.

Fill up your bottle with HOT water, it will cool down to a warm temp as it travels through the air. Best way to mist would be to mist the cham directly until he/she is all wet, and if he/she drinks off their lips then keep a-goin. Do that for a minute or two, then mist all of the leaves heavily. The direct misting should be done at least once every day, the other misting doesn't need hot water if you're only spraying the leaves. You CAN use hot water if you want.

For a veiled, 95-100F is a good basking temp. Use a 75 watt bulb for that, it should get it in that range with a reflector lamp (just use a clear house bulb).

hope that clears some stuff up, sorry about the detail. gotta make sure everything's 100%!

Alright, I have to throw this out there coz I'm a little confused... Everything I have read calls for a basking temp of somewhere between 90-100 degrees... This weekend, the vet I went to for my male veiled (not my normal vet, but one that is reputed to be very knowledgeable(sp?! that just doens't look correct to me) about herps) said that 95-100 is too hot for a veiled and I should take the temp down... then he proceeded to tell me that my humidity (at about 60-70%) is also too high (again contrary to what I have read)... tho, he also could not find any veiled cham care sheets online or in his office (he swears he has some)... I ended up giving some suggestions... anyway, my dillemma is: who's right? (I'll settle for a consensus of one answer or the other)
Thanks!
Also, a caution about the hot water idea... water that is "warm" to us can end up bruning a cham if their body temp is a lot lower than the water you are spraying. I would suggest a temp more on the warm side to avoid any potential injury...

Honestly as far as veileds go, you can't screw up much in the ways of humidity. My house is 35-45% humidity at the moment, being wintertime in Canada (yay 6 months of winter...:|) and my veileds are superduper. They simply drink more often and I run a humidifier half of the day or so to raise the humidity 5 or 6%.

Basking temps: EVERYONE I have talked to has said 95 degrees F. It depends on the air temp, as with every chameleon species. If the air temp is 80, keep the basking temp aound 90F, if the air temp is 65-70, keep it around 95-100F.

Remember there are many vets that don't know their stuff and you're better off learning from experienced owners (of one I am not, but I have been on the forum for almost a year, and there are some very nice and experienced keepers here.)

Was the vet a herp vet or a normal "dog or cat" vet? If they were a normal vet, I would say scrap just about anything he has to say unless he wants to write up his own little bibliography of where he gets his stuff.

Not to trash the vet or anything but there ARE some vets that are wrong.