Someone recommended that Clyde get a shower once a week. It sounds odd to me, but then I'm so new at this that the idea of powdering crickets was foreign to me less than a month ago. Considering how Clyde seems to hate being misted, I believe he would really hate showers. The idea it seems, is to put Clyde on a plant and put the plant in the shower. Then run the shower luke warm for about 30 minutes. I can just envision little chameleon shower caps for only 9.95 at the pet store. So, should Clyde be looking for a shower cap or just get misted down regularly?

I have read this too, but not to place the shower head directly on him, aim it at something else so that he just gets a slight mist onto him, its to help with shedding, and the humidity caused would help him, I myself have never done this as my cham sheds perfectly without it, if you can get humidity to about 80% during his shed cycle you should be ok, I dont think many chams would take likely to being shoved in the bathroom and showered, I just mist the cage daily and hang damp towels during his shedding... the only time he is removed from his enviroment is when doing a thorough clean of his cage and he he placed on his tree outside the cage..

aim the shower stream at the shower wall and let the water bounce onto the plant and the cham itself. Lukewarm water for like 20 mins. Make sure you keep and eye on it b/c they like to toddle off if your not careful.

this info has all been taken from a caresheet, i have no experience with chams whatsoever.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

It sounds a little crazy, but think about it - a lot of chams come from areas that get enormous amounts of rainfall - climates that are hard to reproduce in a captive environment. It's hard to duplicate 100 inches of rainfall in your house. Showering, when done properly can help. My Panther (which does not need excessive humidity) has started to take to this, but not with the shower head - I have to use my spray bottle and very lightly mist him. It's taken a few times, but now he orients himself towards me and slowly drinks as I mist him very lightly with lukewarm water. He also cleans his eyes, which are quite critical to chams, like they are to us.

Clyde takes off on a dead chameleon run when I start to mist him. He generally will climb up his grape vine and then give up and let me mist away. He will usually take a few sips and close his eyes. I'm not sure how a cham looks when cleaning his eyes, so is blinking a bit, cleaning? I'm quite sure he doesn't appreciate all the effort I put into his misting. I know he likes water though, he drinks from his leaf bowl and goes wading in it every so often. His leaf bowl is one of his favorite haunts, if not his very favorite.

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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Dundee)
1.0.0 Chow/mix Dog (Simba)
1.0.0 Russian Hamster (Bear)
1.1.0 Parakeets (Little Tweet and Feathers)
0.1.0 Long hair gray calico cat (Opal)
0.0.3 Red-eared slider turtles (Mommy, Daddy, Robbie)
0.0.16 Fishy Friends - misc. tropical fish

If he's drinking from a bowl you're lucky - most chams won't do this. Your life will be easier...

I'm not sure he knows it's a bowl and not some strange leaf. I don't remember who made it, but it looks a lot like a real leaf that might have fallen off a tree. A very stiff, made of some type of plastic/resin, real leaf.
If I find the manufacturers name I'll let you know. I have a leaf positioned over the bowl and make sure that Clyde see's the water drip off it into the bowl while I mist/torment him. He did seem better about getting misted today. Maybe just my wishful thinking..... We'll see tomorrow!

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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Dundee)
1.0.0 Chow/mix Dog (Simba)
1.0.0 Russian Hamster (Bear)
1.1.0 Parakeets (Little Tweet and Feathers)
0.1.0 Long hair gray calico cat (Opal)
0.0.3 Red-eared slider turtles (Mommy, Daddy, Robbie)
0.0.16 Fishy Friends - misc. tropical fish

Are you using warm water when you mist? In order to have it be lukewarm or maybe just a little warmer when coming through a mister, you need to use very warm/hot water - test it on your hand. If you're misting with cold water, your cham is not going to settle into it no matter how much he gets used to it... My cham does not "like" it either, but he will settle down and use this water to rinse his eyes, and sometimes he'll start drinking as well.

Spike's "shower" is me movng him to the tub on a fake plant and manually misting him lightly for about 15 or 20 minutes. He's getting better with it, and the last couple times has actually oriented himself to the mister in order to have the spray hit him straight on.

I've been doing this once a week with him.

Here he is after a shower last week:

Oh yes! The water's as warm as I can get it without putting it on the stove! It sprays luke warm. I think he is getting used to it. He can't hate water too much since he was caught wading in his leaf bowl again today. My wife is the Grim Reaper of Crickets and called me in to finally see him shoot a cricket. What a tongue! This is probably old news but I have just never seen it happen. I feel like a proud papa!

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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Dundee)
1.0.0 Chow/mix Dog (Simba)
1.0.0 Russian Hamster (Bear)
1.1.0 Parakeets (Little Tweet and Feathers)
0.1.0 Long hair gray calico cat (Opal)
0.0.3 Red-eared slider turtles (Mommy, Daddy, Robbie)
0.0.16 Fishy Friends - misc. tropical fish