Question for thoes of you that remove water bowls for pairing?

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Originally Posted by Mike@OutbackReptiles

A snake with an RI will smear it everywhere... removing the water bowl is just silly. It's like letting two kids with chicken pox play together as long as they don't share drinks.

A ball python can go a few weeks without water... But of course its not recommended... we just leave our water bowls in. No real reason to remove it.

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What you are describing is a more advanced case of an RI which I would imagine no one in their right mind would pair together. What you want to protect against is the RI that has not yet been noticed. They dont start out spewing mucos everywhere;)

But to each his own. One thing for sure is it cant hurt to remove bowl so why not?

I leave the water bowls in as i dont cool. Snake room stays in the 80s all year so a RI happening is very slim from breeding.

Ive noticed the females drinking more right after lockups. So i keep it in and change the water the day they separate with fresh cold water.

Based on Kara's recommendation, I remove water dishes during breeding. They are only paired for 3 days and then they go back. Most of the leading reptile vets (Dr. Stahl, Dr. Jacobson) also recommend this to reduce the risk of RI's being spread from one animal to another. It's also why it's so important when you are changing water dishes during your normal cleaning not to "thumb" into one water dish and then "thumb" into the next.

I believe Dr. Scott Stahl also covered this on Reptile Radio as one means of RI transmission in snakes.

Others may find it silly, I prefer to think of it as prudent.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Based on Kara's recommendation, I remove water dishes during breeding. They are only paired for 3 days and then they go back. Most of the leading reptile vets (Dr. Stahl, Dr. Jacobson) also recommend this to reduce the risk of RI's being spread from one animal to another. It's also why it's so important when you are changing water dishes during your normal cleaning not to "thumb" into one water dish and then "thumb" into the next.

I believe Dr. Scott Stahl also covered this on Reptile Radio as one means of RI transmission in snakes.

Others may find it silly, I prefer to think of it as prudent.

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Thats why i have purell on hand at all times. Before i go from one snake to another i wash with the hand sanitizer. Even when its jsut for cleaning or changing water

Semi related, semi-unrelated, but just from casual observation, I rarely ever see my pythons/boa drink, but my colubrids drink all the time. Does anyone know if colubrids actually need more water, or maybe it's just because they tend to be more active and perhaps stumble upon it more?

wow there is a lot of great info in this thread that i never even knew about, thank you for sharing everyone!

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

What you are describing is a more advanced case of an RI which I would imagine no one in their right mind would pair together. What you want to protect against is the RI that has not yet been noticed. They dont start out spewing mucos everywhere;)

But to each his own. One thing for sure is it cant hurt to remove bowl so why not?

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I was talking about the general smearing of germs as the snake moves around the cage... just because they arent spewing mucus doesnt mean they arent depositing small amounts of saliva all over the walls of the cage/tub

Ok the pairing is off...
now they can go like 3 days w/o water right? (they both ate nice jucy and wet rats)

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Originally Posted by reptidude1

Ok the pairing is off...
now they can go like 3 days w/o water right? (they both ate nice jucy and wet rats)

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They will be fine;)

I'd rather let the snakes have access to fresh water than worry about a breeding pair sharing germs through a water bowl. Maybe once someone shows me a study with evidence that removing water bowls from a breeding couple reducing the incidence of RI, I'll change my toon. But right now it seems to me that if there is an RI problem in a breeding colony, steps need to be taken that involve a lot more than water bowl management. I don't care what the big boys are saying, I still think it's silly.