Dripper

In the picture: 1 protective caps, 2 ventilation hole, 3 drip chamber, 4 roller clamp

Drippers are perfect to ensure your chameleon’s water supply inside a cage. In a well equipped cage with soil and well rooted plants, the end of the dripper’s tube can simply be fixed on the top of the cage and then drop on the leaves. Many chameleons are not really encouraged to drink by raining systems, but a dripper might tempt them to drink additionally. The water should drop onto the soil and thus plants are easily watered daily, too.

Old NaCl bottle, open cut on top

Dripper do-it-yourself

Necessary material:

• PET bottle or old infusion bottle
• Scissors or knife
• Infusion set (available in pharmacies)
• String or wire to fix it

Drill a hole in the cap of an empty, cleaned PET bottle. In case of old infusion bottles, you can cut a hole in the top to flush the bottle and be able to reuse it. Then simply put the infusion set into the cap or the infusion bottel rubber.

Filling the dripping chamber

Using the dripper

Fill the bottle with water and fix it with a string or wire above the cage (e.g. where you got your lightning setup) to avoid restricting the space inside the cage and to have a sufficient gradient. The end of the tube should be inside the cage. Press the drip chamber one or two times with your fingers until it is half filled. In some infusion sets, you can open a small ventilation hole above the drip chamber. The roller clamp enables you to adjust the dripping speed: Push the roll down to let it drop slower, and push it up to make it drip quicker.

If it’s not dropping: May it be that the tube, the drip chamber or the bottle neck is clogged? Ist the bottle high enough in contrast to the end of the tube? Is the roller clamp open? Is there air inside the drip chamber or the bottle itself?

You can use bottles and infusion sets several times before throwing them away. Costs for a complete dripper are less than 1 €, ready bought dripper cost a lot more and are not easy to clean. With this simple, self-made dripper you do not only have a great water supply for your chameleon, but also a cheap and more hygienic alternative.