Why I now believe in water dishes...

[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:lol:

 

[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! :rofl:

 

[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.

 

[pakinjak]

I have seen my Uroplatus drink from their water bowls multiple times. I may not remember right here, but I want to say that the fimbriatus do it more than the other species. I've never seen my sikorae drink, but the henks and fimbs certainly do.

I don't think I buy the "hydrating through the vent" thing. Seems a lot more effective to me just to lick it up, and if they do get hydrated somehow it would be purely incidental. I'm not talking about just uroplatus here, but everything I've ever kept from leopard geckos to rhacs to uros poops in the water sometimes. I think it's got more to do with it simply feeling good than anything else.

 

[Salzy]

Not only that (and not to sound weird here) but think about humans too...I don't think anyone can say that they haven't felt the need to urinate when they are in the shower, the bath, or swimming. There is just something with water that stimulates expulsion. I'm sure it's the same with any species that comes into regular contact with water.

 

[D.B.Johnson]

I have seen my Uroplatus drink from their water bowls multiple times. I may not remember right here, but I want to say that the fimbriatus do it more than the other species. I've never seen my sikorae drink, but the henks and fimbs certainly do.

I don't think I buy the "hydrating through the vent" thing. Seems a lot more effective to me just to lick it up, and if they do get hydrated somehow it would be purely incidental.

I don't disagree with you. I would like to say that the vent soaking behavior seems deliberate to me. Maybe it doesn't have too much to do with hydration. I am sure I saw the vent soaking thing mentioned before somewhere, though. You can take that with a grain of salt since I don't have any reference. I did at least find this quote from a past post by miguel camacho (Mike), that made me feel not too crazy...

Scott Pfaff of Riverbanks Zoo has assured me that at least some of the Uroplatus will soak in water dishes.

The thread can be found herehttp://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/leaf-tailed-geckos-uroplatus/48056-uroplatus-hydration-drinking-standing-water-video-project-nightcam.html

I do actually think my fim probably has lapped water from the dish, but I haven't seen it. On a side note, I've been putting the water in his enclosure for maybe 5 months or so, and he has only pooped in it about twice as I recall. Actually, after I took the pic in the first post, he continued to soak for a few more hours and then climbed back up the branch in the middle of the afternoon (without ever leaving me any gifts in there).

 

[miguel camacho!]

Haha! I love it when people remember what I said in the past better than I do! Scott Pfaff has also told me his keeper, Sean Foley (I believe that's his name) also highly highly HIGHLY recommends rain chambers. The problem is I've struggled in figuring out a DIY design for one in a cost effective manner.

 

[PassPort]

Not only that (and not to sound weird here) but think about humans too...I don't think anyone can say that they haven't felt the need to urinate when they are in the shower, the bath, or swimming. There is just something with water that stimulates expulsion. I'm sure it's the same with any species that comes into regular contact with water.

Kyle poops in the bathtub.....:biggrin:

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Kyle poops in the bathtub.....:biggrin:

Who doesn't?

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

...Sean Foley (I believe that's his name) also highly highly HIGHLY recommends rain chambers. The problem is I've struggled in figuring out a DIY design for one in a cost effective manner.

Seems like a lot of frog people would have figured that out by now? Have you done much searching around for info from that group of folks? I did a quickie google search and came up with this:
Multiple Use Rain Chambers by Hank Gibson - talk to the frog
Didn't really have time to investigate much more beyond that. But it seems like it wouldn't be all that hard to do (depending on what you're considering "cost effective").

 

[D.B.Johnson]

Kyle poops in the bathtub.....:biggrin:

"It's all pipes!"
--George Costanza

 

[miguel camacho!]

Thanks, Ethan...but you overestimate what I consider cost-effective. This poor student was trying to make due with materials I already had.

 

[JMorash]

I've notice the behavior in Rhacodactylus as well. My female cresties do it all the time during breeding season or around exam time when I get a little slack on spraying them!

Interesting stuff!

Jmorash