This video provides a step-by-step guide on how to provide proper hydration to your chameleon. Chameleons drink water by licking droplets off leaves, and they need a lot of water to stay adequately hydrated. The general recommendation in the chameleon hobby right now is to mist 2-4 minutes in the morning before lights turn on and 2-4 minutes at night after lights turn off. Avoid spraying your chameleon directly.
Wild chameleons get hydrated from four primary moisture sources: fog, rain, and mist. To give water to a chameleon, provide a drip system or mist the habitat regularly. Alternatively, place a shallow water dish in the enclosure. Chameleons require various methods to feed water, such as spray bottles, drip systems, waterfalls, ice cubes, hamster bottles, foggers, and automated watering systems.
To keep your chameleon hydrated, provide a misting system or a dripper to ensure a constant supply of water. Maintain a humidity level of 50-70 in the cage. Misting can be anything from a simple hand mister to a high-end automatic misting system. Misters send a fine mist spray into the cage and coat the leaves with water. The water should be running freely down the leaves and branches for several minutes, and the process should be repeated during the day.
The best way to have the dripper positioned over numerous leaves with a trickle down effect is to place a large plant in the tub, aim the shower head against the wall, and run the water so that only a fine mist reaches the chameleon. The water should be room temperature.
In summary, it is essential to provide proper hydration to your chameleon by providing them with water, proper humidity levels, and proper watering systems.
📹 How to water your chameleon | Humidity, misting, and hydration
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📹 Your Chameleon Hydration Strategy!
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I’ve had my first chameleon for about 3 weeks now and I have to say this has been one of the biggest learning curves I’ve ever had with an animal. I thought I had the enclosure ready. I had so many adjustments I had to do to get it just right. This has been such a good help, along with the Chameleon Academy/ Bill Strand! Thank you for articles like this. I’m not a person that can read a care sheet and get it. I need visual!
Your articles are proving incredibly helpful, thank you so much. I recently adopted my first veiled chameleon. I’ve kept herps for decades but chameleons are a very different beast. One thing I did with my Reptibreeze is I parked a rabbit cage tray under the enclosure to catch the water. Keep up the amazing work, I’m so grateful for what you do.
I have been perusal your articles since before I got my veiled chameleon and you have informed me in so many different ways I had been wanting a chameleon for about 4years now and I finally got one 9/12/20 and I love her her name is Zara and she is doing fantastic I did all my research for 2-3 years and I believe it payed off and made me a better pet owner love your articles
I live in Mauritius, an island not far from Madagascar and we are used to see lots of different chameleons in the wild and I just recently got a female panther one which I am really fond of. She is about 6 months old now and I would like to know something, should we get the same setup like you showed in some of your articles? We have nearly the same temperature as Madagascar, so I was wondering maybe we already had the right environment for them to live. I am getting her a quite huge screen cage soon that I will leave outside during the day and keep her in my room at night in a smaller one, only for her to sleep, is this ok? Thank you very much for your articles it is really helping.
Such great information! I’m taking care of one and the instructions they gave us is to go every other day, alternate the lights (red and white) and feed. My concern is, the lights are on even at night, there’s no mister only a humidifier we turn on every visit and no real plants. And the food count seems to be the same every time we go. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you so much for making these articles, i feel a lot more confident taking care of my new chameleon now!! I want to use this bottled water that is processed by RO, but the ingredients include Calcium Chloride which sounds close to chlorine to me which I know to be bad for them. Should I use reptisafe to purify this water or is it okay to just give it the way it is? Is reptisafe good to use at all? (i’ve gotten mixed replies on this and I trust your content the most) Thank you for all the articles!
Hello.. Working on throwing my enclosure together and your website has been a great help! I’ve got a reptibreeze 2x2x4 enclosure and biggest concern is misting/fogging. Can you bypass a mister and go with a programmable fogger running after the lights go off and running every couple hours until 1/2 hour before lights come on in the morning? Thanks!!
I have been perusal your articles since adopting my panther chameleon about a year ago. I only use real plants and have had a huge problem with “fruit” flies. I don’t like to cut back on his humidity but I am pulling at strings to gain control. I am from Maine and don’t have an issue at keeping levels where he needs to be but having all the flies is not making having Caesar enjoyable. Any ideas are super appreciated!
Great article, I do have a couple of questions. First is poop cleanup, with the water systems I imagine things can get all over and being difficult to clean? I am still doing research before I get my new friend, but I am wanting to make a self sustaining environment as much as possible, and also incorporate ways he might be able to travel outside his enclosure to a tree or plant that’ll be in his corner. Obviously smells and cleanup I could use some information on and any other tips for safety. Also I have heard on some websites and breeders pages that chameleons do eat vegetation and you want to sprinkle calcium powder on it, I would rather stick to bugs and natural ideas, so is there a way to avoid that? And last I know you mentioned about water features and bacteria and such, and I am a person who believes washing your hands to much or often is bad and germs actually make you stronger, and I can’t imagine the wild being bacteria free, but yes they don’t probably have to sit in it and I get that, but is maybe having more cleanup plants or something workable? And I kinda am wondering about maybe mushrooms at bottom of enclosure? Just trying to come up with a total fun ecosystem with variety and freedom for my new friend, but also needing to know about the absolute don’t’z 🤓✌️ Definitely really appreciated that you corrected and admitted past misconceptions and I will be a new subscriber because of that 👊 Thanks for everything 🖖
Getting a brita filter (the kind that screws on to your sink) is so handy for humans and pets. I also add one drop of reptisafe but maybe I’ll cut that out. Never felt great about it since they drink that water too. Also, going to make a homemade dripper. I have the big dripper and it only drips super fast and aggressively or almost nothing at all. There’s no in between so I usually don’t use it much anyway
@Neptune The Chameleon if I’m misting half hour hour before and after lights then shouldn’t my chameleon be sleeping and therefore not be able to drink the water or not realize it? For the dripper how long should it be dripping for? Should I move my dripper around to different areas of the enclosure or keep it in the same spot with the best dripping position? Thank you for the content. These are genuine questions I can’t find direct answers to in any other articles unless I missed something.
I have a 5 month old Veiled and when he drinks it’s my favourite thing to watch, also I’ve seen he wants to be out a lot and just chill on me, should I be worried he wants to be out so much (he doesn’t show stress) or is it when I’ve handled him and he’s just built a bond round me 😓. Also thank u for the vid ^_^
My veiled chameleon is outside in a fully screened cage, porch is also screened. But Florida is usually 70-78% humidity and usually 80-85 degrees out. Is it to hot out for him? He does have shade from live plants on his cage. I had him in the house the first two weeks but my apartment is dark I felt like he didn’t have enough light or warmth (inside is between 70-75. He seemed to want to come out to go outside for sun. He was going to the bottom of the cage for three days and screen walking until I moved the cage outside. Haven’t seen him do it since so far.
Re perusal all your articles. At first because I’m getting yet another chameleon and it’s been awhile since I’ve had a baby (aside from one all my chams are old farts now. With my Meller’s being the oldest at 12½) and now I’m just rewatching the rest for fun. Lol, do chams drink water. My youngest likes to drink while vertical in full faceplant into a leaf mode like someone who has had a little too much fun on a Friday night.
Ive got an infestation of white mites. Is this harmful to my chameleon or just a nuisance to me? How do i get rid of them without demolishing the set up, it is a bioactive setup and i have a veiled chameleon. During the winter the heat kept his humidity low so i ran the fogger a lot at night and the soil stayed moist but not wet, lately between the fogger and watering its caused a 1/4 inch of water to collect in the area with the clay balls.
I just watched your cage review pt,2 article and I’m gonna try and find some better plants and some branches for him so he has more privacy cause he only has two plants and he dosen’t have that much privacy. Also I try not to spray the cmahemlon himself too much just a little bit as it scares him, also I’m gonna try and get a mist king. Also I’m glad I don’t have a carpet thing in his cage. I’m gonna turn his humidifier up a little bit and turn it up some more at night for him. I wanna have a cage like Neptune’s cause he likes hiding in his plants in his cage he loves them. Also his humidifier is a little warm bt I tried to keep it a little bit cold.
Hi I am getting a yeman very shortly all tank is set up I am getting a heck of a lot of conflicting advice from several sources some are with you. With misting with lights off but many are with the opinion of misting with lights been on for 30min before misting and 2 hours before lights out both have valid reasons but which one is correct advice ??
@Neptune the Chameleon oh, I’m just devastated right now! I inherited a 2 yo cham from a friend whose brother didn’t want to keep him. Rango appears to be undersized for a mature veiled and after getting the care run down from the previous owners, I sized it up against the info in the veiled group I follow on FB and it was way off. He came with a 20x20x4 screened cage, T5 UVB tube and a 60 w heat lamp all of which I kept, but his diet and nutrition was crap. I’ve been cautious as I’ve introduced supplements and gut loaded bugs over the past 3 months and he’s been fine. I also have a ReptiRain that runs for 1 min – 20 mins before lights on in am and 20 min after lights off in pm…..but in the last 24-48 hrs he’s tanked big time, major decline. I’m at a total loss as to what’s wrong. 😭😭😭
Hi I been perusal your vids I have a dripper I out ice cubes on top of my screen cage I covered 2 sides with shower curtain got a mistking I mist 4 min b4 lights on mist 3am for 1 min and mist 2 min b4 lights out but my 6 minth old panther skittlez his urate is tan to orangy his eyes ate nice and round not suken in at all ..wht else can I do for hydration?should I be worried?thanks
So, my wife and I decided that we wanted to purchase a panther chameleon and build a furniture quality enclosure for him. Obviously, research comes before the enclosure build and the enclosure comes BEFORE the animal. We aren’t rich by any means but, we would be able to afford top of the line accessories for the enclosure and build it any way we want (with the chameleon’s needs before our aesthetic preference). I’m sad to say, after tons of research, that we will not be building an enclosure or purchasing a chameleon since there is really no way to mitigate water escaping onto the walls while providing the proper ventilation as well as maintaining the “furniture quality” appearance of the enclosure. It’s a little sad since I’ve wanted a panther chameleon since I was a kid, but I’m not willing to sacrifice his quality of life to keep water off the walls. It’s a shame because he would have had a great life but, sometimes providing the best thing for an animal is NOT purchasing the animal in the first place.
I need a little help I’m a new owner and she is exploring finally it’s only been a couple days but she hasn’t made her way to the bottom for water. I do spray and stuff I just don’t know like when they are dehydrated and what to look for. We have a brute filter also need to know if that’s ok. Mainly JW if she will find her water at the bottom eventually lol I worry she’s not getting what she needs. Also using 50 watt bulb and 12 hours with that and then we cut it off at bed is that normal too? One more thing is the temp in my apt gonna be a huge issue I keep it around 72 or 73 plus she has the heat Lamp just wanna make sure that’s cool
Why do you say spray before lights are on and after their off when in the article your misting system is going when the lights are on ? I get the respiratory issues you pointed out but I keep getting conflicting reports on that subject.. I know the plants with get burnt leaves with lights on but I’m just confused
One thing I worry about for my little Jackson is, whenever he poops I don’t see the white part anymore and he’s usually always drinking and his eyes aren’t sunken they are perfectly normal. But when he does poop there like whitish liquid. He does have hornworms but more dubbias and super worms more often. Is it ok if his poop has like a watery whitish part to it along with the normal feces? Oh also ps he does drink sometimes from his branches or he likes drinking from a syringe by hand when I drip I on his lip or on a leaf near him.
I got given a chameleon it had been fed on just mealworms and it had a waterfall in the bottom of its tank I’ve had him a week spraying his enclosure morning and night and now I’ve taken all the darkling beetles and meal worms out of its enclosure it was infested 😢 I think I got them all I know I might have missed some eggs so I’ll keep an eye on it I’ve been feeding grasshopper and crickets and he loves them and will just keep eating if you let him which I suppose at the moment with him looking thin and dehydrated is a good thing he’s already shed head to toe with him now being misted I’m worried that he’s dehydrated though I’m hoping the misting and him now having plants will help in new to reptile keeping and I want him to be happy and healthy
Live plants are great BUT you really need to becareful cause chams tend to go to bottom and eat the bark and i notice at end of vid your real plants also have perlite and if neptune swallows that no good and im talking from experience i have over 50 chams and ive got more than one doing that. So i modified them if youd like to know wat i did to my real plants ask me its definitely worked for me soo far
My experience with misters is a nightmare. I just purchased my 4th Monsoon after the Mist King went haywire. Most common problems I’m having are the nozzles plugging almost weekly. I guess I don’t understand how to clean them correctly so I keep buying new. Caps flying off blowing water everywhere, actually caused the heat lamp to explode; That scared me out of a dead sleep, I could imagine how my poor Cham felt. The hoses themselves split last week; You bet my humidity level was over 90% that day..
I need advice about my jackson chameleons food diet 🙁 my parents are not allowing him to get the nutrition he needs, all he eats is crickets and mealworms i feel terrible, they wont even let me get things he NEEDS to stay healthy, do you think I can message you my email so we can talk about it? all my mom and dad do is curse and say i dont need it, im scared he is going to die 🙁
Also my sister keeops taking him out without even asking me when he dosen’t want to. And Yknow how they grab the water? SHE ALMOST DROPPED HIM IN THE DRAIN BECAUSE SHE WAS TRYING TO MAKE GIM DO THE WATER THING AND HE WAS PROBABLY HORRIFIED. It makes me mad when she takes tons of pictures because I got him for myself not for her to shine her picture phone light in his eyeballs. And I keep being told to put my hand around him and my fingers in front of him to pick him up?! Dosen’t that scare them?
Your article has some counterintuitive discrepancies. In the beginning you urge a day time humidity of 50-60 percent. But later you also talk about this new daytime “hot and dry” concept and urge people to neglect an afternoon misting session. Saying we should only mist just prior lights on and then just prior to bed. Leaving a 12 hour daytime window at ambient household humidity (30-45%). Usually an enclosure will dry out and reach ambient humidity within an hour of misting leaving an 11 hour period during the day that can be as low as 30% in an average household depending on the climate you live in. That counters the 50-60% daytime humidity you claim in the beginning.
Hey I have a question if anybody can answer for me that has chameleons!!!! I water my Chamaeleon about every day when his water tank that he drinks out of is full and I let it drip slowly so he can look at it so he can drink it. But I never see him drink it and I never see him drink like dogs or catch the little drops like he supposed to I’m just kind of concerned on what I should do I don’t have an exotic animal vet clinic in my town and I’m just really upset and I’m really worried!! What could I do different please tell me and if trolls say I have to get rid of him I’m not going to I need it for 1 billion bucks because I’m so attached to my Chamaeleon I had to save him from a pet store because the people in the pet store are idiots and they put him in a tank with other reptiles that could easily injure him I got him around July on my birthday and he’s only six weeks old and he loves me. And I love him too he doesn’t really care for other people he does but he prefers to be around me it’s just his facial expressions it’s all about facial expressions but other than all of that I’m just worried on what I could do for him to drink so he doesn’t die of hydration
What!? 😂 in Florida we have wild chameleons living all over south Florida… they thrive here. If you’re in Florida – keep your chameleon outside & free range like I do and they will be happy. In drier climate keep chameleon 100% humidity at night… 70% is not enough -hence why they veiled in this article is lacking color on his face 😞
didn’t have much faith ill be honest. I’m like how the heck is it gonna drink if he’s sleeping. followed your schedule exactly and boom. bright colors when the fog came through and drinking in his sleep. eyes still closed and visual swallowing and mouth opening. best article for watering schedule out there. thanks alot
When I have a busy day that I cant mist my chameleon (I mist him myself 2-3 times a day) I give him hornworms when I get home & that has worked for him before he wouldnt poop just once in a while now I’ve been finding his poop & it’s been big w some wetness.. he loves superworms too I’ll open his cage to put his bugs in the cup & he will run away but if he sees a superworm he will be like “hold up wait a minute” & turn around to get it from my hand/fingers 😂 they’re like humans they know what they love, I like that hes comfortable w me now & will eat from my hand my mom thinks its nasty but I think it’s pretty cool.. on hot days I have his cage outside & just mist the whole cage to where the netting of the cage gets drops of water he loves being in the sun.
Question if anyone has an answer. Let me know if my method sounds reasonable to you. We keep our veiled chameleon in our bedroom. We live in the PNW, US so it is naturally pretty humid here. Our bedroom is connected to the bathroom and my boyfriend takes a shower every morning, and I take one every evening. The shower noticeably raises the humidity in our bedroom for a short while.. Also, I am misting the enclosure manually with a mister bottle in the morning, after turning the small daylight lamp on (I have two UVB and one basking light), and at night after turning the basking light and the large tube UVB light off (again, only leaving the small daylight light on). I also provide a homemade dripper at all times, and catch the drops in a cup underneath and strategically placed. So far she seems to be well hydrated. Although I notice after my shower at night sometimes she is raising her nose in the air, as though she may be having a hard time breathing.. We’re wondering if she is not in the best spot. Although, her nose tipping thing doesn’t last very long and she otherwise seems very healthy. Hopefully someone reads this long post and makes a comment, I plan on asking around about this. We’d like to get an automatic system set up eventually, but we’ve only had her for about a week and it will take some time before we’re fully set up. Thanks in advance! And thanks for this informative article!