Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've just added a warm humidifyer to my screened cage because of low humidity and temperature. now with the added humidity, the top part is dripping wet and mold is forming. am i overdoing it? it's on 24hrs with the top part canopied to retain humidity & temp. should i put it on a timer instead?
thx,
ivanhoe
1.0 veiled

I think the warm air humidifer is a bad idea for directly inside the Veiled's enclosure. It's ok to have it going in the same room he is in but not directly in his cage. These are dry climate chameleons from Yemen. His cage should not be dripping wet and mold is certainly not a good thing to get growing. Remember, chameleons are sensitive to respiratory ailments.

To remedy his heat issues just add a higher wattage Basking bulb (check out the Mercury Vapor Bulbs)and a ceramic heat bulb. Connect the ceramic bulb to a thermostat to regulate the temps better. At night turn off the basking Mercury Vapor bulb and leave the ceramic bulb running (and turn down the heat 10 degrees or so). The ceramic bulbs do not put out any light so it won't affect his sleep cycle.

Keeping it on 24 hours a day is not a good idea. Veilds do ok even with low humidity that is why people say they are a good starter cham. I would keep it on a timer and let it go on a few times a day. Also you dont have to purchase a ceramic heater the night drop in temp is actually good for them. Also you should consider the Mercury bulb if he has a big cage, if not just cycle the humidifier and you should be fine with an incandescant bulb

i will add a timer on the humidity unit. the ceramic heater was on my mind especially when the basking lights are not lasting very long. i will change my spider plant to a pothos, i've got to get him to eat some veggies or is it greens.
thx,
ivanhoe

The key here is cycling the humidifier so the cage humidity level is higher at some times than others. The cage and plants need to dry out for a while every day to control molds. When people say "veileds are from low humidity areas" this is not really true. Veileds are from humid river valleys near coastlines, not true deserts. What we mean by "low humidity" for a cham means a level of about 50%. That is high in comparison to the average house level and very high in comparison to a desert adjacent to those river habitats where you find veileds. A "high humidity" cham is one that can handle humidities of 80% or higher. Whether you use a warm or cool mist humidifier is not as critical as cycling it. You could put the unit in the cage if it is large enough...again that is not the critical point (but you may have mechanical problems with the unit if it gets too wet). Here's what I do. Run the humidifier until the most sheltered part of the cage reaches 70% or more. Shut off the unit and time how long it takes for this area of the cage to get TOO dry again. This will tell you how long you need to run the unit for, and how often you will want it to cycle during 24 hours. Then get a multiple setting appliance timer and control the humidifier with that.

thx,
i've been cycling manually at the mean time. i will be looking into a timer for the humidifyer. i will tube it into the cage for ease of cleaning when the holidays are over.
ivanhoe