[D.B.Johnson]

Well, it isn't that I never believed in them, but I saw something today that convinced me that Uroplatus really use them. I've always really just been a sprayer with my leaf tails. Not terribly long ago, I decided 'I want to believe' (for any X-Files people) so I started putting a water dish in with one of my LTC fimbriatus. I remember hearing/reading somewhere that they will soak their cloacas in water to hydrate themselves. I never saw him have any interest in the dish, certainly never saw him drink from it. Once or twice I saw him at night with his lower half a bit down in the water, but I thought it was probably just that he was crawling around and happened to be there when I looked in on him.

Yesterday, He was going into shed. I had taken the water dish out a few days before to clean it and had neglected to put it back for some reason. I thought I'd replace it since it may boost the humidity a little bit during the shed cycle, and it has probably been a little dry recently because of cold weather out and central heating running more. This morning I found him spending the daylight hours soaking in the dish, which I have never seen before. It has to be a pretty deliberate choice on his part because the dish is on the floor and he never spends the day down there. I have had him for probably six years or so and have never seen him spend the day near the floor like that.

I still haven't seen him drinking from it though...

[Harley_Davidson]

OMG that is too cute! Thanks for the tip. I will make sure and put a water dish in my new guy's tank when I get him next week.

[Salzy]

I've never seen any of my Uroplatus drink or soak in their water dishes...at least that I can remember. You never know what they might be doing at night though, so I'd say it's always a good idea to keep water bowls with them.

Great job capturing this and showing us. It's a little bit of proof anyway for those of us that are skeptical.

[cricket4u]

Cute! why drink when I can dip

[Riverside Reptiles]

I look at water dishes this way...what's it going to hurt? In nature, geckos come across puddles of standing water all the time, be it a puddle of water or just a bowl shaped leaf that has retained some rain. You have to figure that they utilize them at least some of the time.

[miguel camacho!]

The primary reason I've avoided water dishes for so long is basically everyone's complaint: they poop in them, seemingly deliberately. I somehow missed the hydration through vent soaking topic if it's been mentioned before. Interesting, and perhaps this provides some insight as to why exactly their poop seems to appear disproportionately in water bowls. I still worry about transmission of parasites via dirty water, but I'm going to give water bowls a try after seeing this. And maybe if I can get some IR light, I'll try to get some DVR footage aimed at it.

I also just started to wonder if soaking thru the vent would allow parasite transmission, or if this method somehow prevents various life stages of various parasites from actually getting into the animal.

[Suspensefulsteve]

My U. fimbriatus make great use out of a water bowl and if they don't use it, there's no harm in having it in the enclosure.

[Harley_Davidson]

Oh my! The more I see on here about the Uroplatus the more excited I get...... Oh Friday the 13th hurry up and come LOL....hmmmmm I may have to call him Jason!

[rhacoboy]

I use them for all of my adult Uroplatus. I've seen a few of the species drink from it.

I agree with the overall census; it can't hurt.

-Armen

[Hannibal]

Thanks for sharing, guess I'll have to make my water bowls bigger.