Who doesn't use a water bowl?

[liv]

Mine don't tip it but sometimes my pastel finds away to drag all her paper towels and shmush them into her water bowl... I have no idea why or how.

[Daybreaker]

I use bowls: some are well mannered enough to have plastic crock bowls and the ones that are bad about tipping have the heavier ceramic ones. I just feel better with them having access to fresh water

[Artemille]

My adults have ceramic bowls that are 5-6" wide and 2 1/2" tall. The babies have ~4" ceramic bowls with rubber non-slip bases. They're all on aspen about 1/2" with bare tub floor under the water bowl and the tubs have flat bottoms. I've never seen mine move their bowls more than an inch to squeeze around it. Honestly I think I manage to spill more aspen bits into their water bowl than they do.

I've seen mine drink, and I can't predict when they may happen to want a drink, so they always have fresh water.

[CrystalRose]

Ella loves to drop her rat in her water. So what I do now is,I take the bowl out before I feed her. Then I put it back in once she's done eating. She's never knocked it over so I leave it in there unless it's time to feed her.

[Alicia]

All that water dish spilling seems super weird to me. I use ceramic dishes, also, and very, very rarely have spills. I literally can't think of the last time one of my snake has managed to spill a correctly sized dish. When someone does have some kind of water dish problem, it's usually piling substrate into it.

But as far as drinking goes, I see them drink all the time. Usually right after I change everyone's water. The bold snakes come out and start drinking before I'm done, the shier critters creep out to drink as soon as I back away. Water dishes get cleaned and changed at least twice a week and my animals definitely seem to anticipate it. FWIW, I'm on a well. The dishes get filled straight from the fridge (which is filtered, unlike the tap) and comes out at a pretty chilly 54-56 degrees. The snakes drink it immediately and have yet to a have a problem as a result.

4. I've seen people on here before mention that balls get most of the moisture they need from their food. This makes sense because people are also always saying they spend a majority of their time in rodent burrows/termite mounds and moving to new ones to look for food. So for a majority of the time, when in the burrows, they wouldn't have access to any water, correct?
.

For some reason, I really, really wanted to address this, because I'm curious about something. How many radio telemetry studies have been done on ball pythons? What were and where are the results? I tried Googling it and nothing

I think they're in burrows most of their time, too. At least, during the time humans are awake and looking for them. . . . They're certainly found most often in burrows. But they're not there constantly. I would be surprised if they didn't move around more and hunted primarily as ambush predators, like most (all?) other species of python and leave their favorite burrows when they felt hungry or thirsty. They definitely wait in a classic python ambush position to be fed. So, I dunno. Just a thought, tossing it out there.

I was thinking what if you only kept a water dish in their tub while they were going through a shed cycle? That's really the main time when higher humidity is most important to them. Semi-recently i've expanded into the world of tarantulas and learned a lot. Like balls, T's get a lot of their moisture from their prey. With that said, some species still need additional moisture so I provide them with a water dish. But on the flip side, some species don't need any water dish and get all the moisture they need from their food. Comparing that to bps, i'm just thinking maybe they're a species of snake that doesn't need a water dish. Does anyone know of other species of snake that are commonly kept without a water dish because the snakes simply don't need it?

For me, I wouldn't make a habit of it, just because they're not a desert species. I have a rosy boa, who does not always have access to water, but they're a very different animal. Ball Pythons (mine, anyway, who are very well behaved) drink a lot and pee regularly -- more often as youngsters, about one or twice a week for the adults. That tells me it's natural to them to have access to liquid water and like snakes of all kind,s, really love fresh water especially. Offering a smaller amount of water and changing it more frequently, maybe, might help with the spillage?

[DooLittle]

*knocks on wood* I don't have any bowl tippers. Occasionally they will push their towels around and get them in their bowl like a sponge. But I could count that on one hand. Mine all have water dishes. I have caught all of mine drinking. Usually after eating is when I catch them drinking. I feed live. Dont know if that makes any difference. But maybe since the rat isnt wet they need to "wash it down"?

[M&H]

I recently cracked a few of my ceramic bowls so had to make a trip to the dollar store. They only had a few so I had to pick up a new one. Apparently these are harder to flip and I have one in my big girl's cage. She is 26 lbs and I have seen her push it around especially around dinner time. She has yet to flip it thank goodness. Maybe could try those? I've seen all my snakes drink, including the ball pythons, although some more than others.


This is her with the bowl. I have another one with her body on it. She was actually trying to hold onto it as I was pulling her out to clean. That one has poop though and no one wants to see that.

[bcr229]

I have two regular "tippers" in my BP rack. They get these water dishes for now: http://www.petco.com/product/119462/...oodWaterDishes - and they don't tip. Even my BCI's, which are much bigger and stronger than my BP's, don't dump them.

[Dave Green]

I use large bowls that when tipped hit the ceiling of the bin before they spill. I also only put an inch or so of water in them so if they soak very little, or no, water is spilled.

[Neal]

Yea, I've never had bowl tippers either but then again I use the ceramic bowls. They seem to do the trick for me at least.