Water Bottle

[STUTFL]

This isn't a "serious" question (as in something I'm actually considering and need expert advice on), just a random thought, so I'm putting it in gen. discussion instead of care/husbandry.

D'you think a gecko could figure out a typical ball-bearing-style water bottle? Would it just disregard it, would it try to climb it, try to eat it? :tongue3: Would their big tongues get caught in the tube? :laugh:

I had hamsters and mice for a long time, and while the water bottles were a big, leaking pain-in-the-behind and I'm glad to be done with them, I was always impressed how quickly the critters figured out how to use them. I wondered whether the risk of an animal drowning in/dirtying the water was the only factor in choosing bottles over dishes as standard, or if there's something else as well.


All thoughts, musings, and speculations-with-no-basis-in-fact are welcome so long as it remains clear that I'm not actually planning on replacing my gecko's dish with a hamster bottle. :tongue3:

Discuss!

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I don't know of any lizards that use a water bottle, but it would be interesting to try it with leos since they aren't really soakers. Something would have to attract them to it. Interesting tho... some animals are more trainable than others.

 

[ez2animate]

Well, since Leo's don't really need water anyways, it probably wouldn't even be worth it to try. Just get a Gatorade cap in there once or twice a week.

 

[STUTFL]

I've had geckos and hamsters, and I'd have to say geckos seem at *least* as smart as hamsters, if that has any relevance. :laugh: And they're both desert animals with relatively low water consumption. However, while hamsters and other mammals appear to draw on the "nursing" instinct when drinking from something like that (many a time I've seen a hamster with its little paws in the air, seemingly trying to "knead" more water out of the spout), I wonder how a reptile would react to having to more or less suck on a bottle. :laugh:
I believe my gecko would be deeply offended.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I just got our kids some new water dishes because I had never seen them drink and they made little thirsty gestures. Misting wasnt a good option with so many tubs. One of the girls went right to the dish and began to drink. Then she propped up to rest a while and drank some more. I wonder if the supplements make them thirsty since its a dry powder.

It's worth giving the bottle a test. Some may take to it, ya never know