Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, told you I'd have questions. So not that I'm panicking or anything but, I have yet to see him drink and I assumed he'd be slightly dehydrated since I bought him at a reptile show on Sunday and didn't get him home until 7pm at night. I've been spraying him with warm water 3 times a day (well, twice so far today) and i've got a dripper on the top of the cage but I've never seen him drink. He's chasing down the crickets like crazy and has done some exploring around the cage but no drinking. Am I worrying too early? He's not skinny, his colour changes from either medium dark green to a light green, temps are fine, he's very alert, eyes not sunken in. BUT, I am new at this and I've read over and over how important it is to keep them hydrated so I'd rather catch this early. Thanks for any info, Lo
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1.0.0 Mali Uromastyx (Angus)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Eddie)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Stevie Ray)
2.0.0 Dogs (Black German Shepherd-Nicholas, Black Lab-Cooper)
1.1.0 Budgies (Kia and Simon)
0.0.25 Various Fishies (Freshwater)
2.1.0 Hubby and kids (Boy and a Girl)

An almost sure fire way is to check his urates from his droppings, if he is not getting enough water they will be yellow and if he is then they will be white. You said that you mist him 3x's a day? How long are these misting sessions for? Sometimes it can take a considerable amount of time (maybe up to 20-30min) to initiate the drinking response from the cham. Most everyones chams are different or are treated different, both of mine have different drinking habits, my female drinks after about 30 secconds of spraying non stop for 5-10 minutes. My male on the other hand runs away from the spray and only really starts drinking when I stop spraying, so I use a hand dripper and make sure he drinks from that. I also have a timed mister in the cages. Some people use automatic or DIY drippers, and also humidifiers to help keep their chams hydrated. Hopefully yours will come around quickly, I think he is still being shy towards you.

BEST OF LUCK!
Travis
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Lex and Cecily sittin in a tree.

Thanks for the info. His urates are white as snow! (so i guess that good) and how do you mist for that long and not flood the bottom of the cage or soak the walls or soak the table the cage is on? I keep a steady supply of paper towels on hand for all the over spraying. My other lizards (beardie and uro are more the 'hot and dry' kinda guys-----well the beardie has been trained to drink from a dish so that helps) Lo
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1.0.0 Mali Uromastyx (Angus)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Eddie)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Stevie Ray)
2.0.0 Dogs (Black German Shepherd-Nicholas, Black Lab-Cooper)
1.1.0 Budgies (Kia and Simon)
0.0.25 Various Fishies (Freshwater)
2.1.0 Hubby and kids (Boy and a Girl)

Well people put plastic containers at the bottom to catch drops from their drippers. I built my cage to catch all the excess water. Others have used lenolium flooring at the base of there cage with a hole and a bucket underneith.
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Lex and Cecily sittin in a tree.