How to Make a Johnson Fogger

Home Up

My friend Ruth gave me the basic idea for this fogger.  She says it’s called a Johnson fogger because the inventor was someone named Johnson.  Well my hat’s off to Mr. Johnson because this is one fantastic device.

The humidity for your Chameleon needs to be fairly high.  They are tropical creatures used to living in a rainforest after all.  A good fogging unit can provide the humidity that your Cham needs without soaking your living space.

You will need an ultrasonic humidifier.  Sunbeam model 696.5 is what I used.  This model is ideal because it has a large capacity tank, produces a nice dense fog and has a convenient round hole in the top.  I can’t imagine anyone using this device on humans but for Chams it’s wonderful.

The humidifier was purchased at Walmart.  In the winter months it's available in the humidifier section.  In summer months you can still find it at Walmart but you will have to go to the pharmacy.  Everything else was from Home Depot.

You will need a length of 2” PVC electrical conduit pipe or central vacuum pipe to run from the fogger into your cage.  You will need at least one joiner and one 90 degree elbow.

 

Here is a picture of the humidifier with it’s first section of pipe and a joiner on both ends.  One joiner pushes into the opening at the top of the humidifier to ensure a tight seal.

The joiner at the other end will hook onto a section of pipe that extends up through the base of my cage and inside the cage.  If you don’t have good access into the base of your cage, you may wish to run yours up the side of the cage and then into the cage.

 

 

Here is a close-up of one of the joiners which are available at Home Depot.  The pipe just pushes into the joiner which forms a remarkably solid and airtight seal.

 

 

  

The humidifier hooks into the PVC pipe extending up through the floor of the cage.  I made sure that the pipe wasn’t so long as to make it impossible to remove the humidifier for filling.  I also put the pipe in at a small angle which allows the tank to be removed easily.  The seal remains secure even when the pipe isn’t fully seated.

 Future projects may involve drilling a hole in the top of the humidifier and installing a funnel so that the tank doesn’t have to be removed for filling at all.

A further vertical run of pipe extends up through the base of the cage with a joiner.  It is important to remove the pipe and humidifier and clean it with Bleach at least once every 2 weeks.  Because the section of pipe that extends through the cage is secured with silicone to prevent leaking from the cage that section can not be removed.  For that reason I have kept it short.  I can clean it with a bottle cleaning brush.

 

 The vertical section of pipe extends up to the ceiling of the cage and then takes a 90 degree bend into a horizontal section.  I have drilled 3/8” holes at a 3” spacing along this section and have them angled out from the wall of the cage. 

 The end of the horizontal run is closed off with duct tape.  I punched a few holes in the duct tape and drilled a few very small drain holes along the horizontal run of pipe to allow condensed water to drain.

 

The entire unit is placed on a timer.  I run it for about 1 hour at a time 3 times a day.  Others recommend 2 hours in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon.  It is important that the cage has a chance to dry between uses to avoid fungal and bacterial infections which can cause foot and eye infections in your Chameleon.

Remember: