Water Importance

[guidofatherof5]

Watching my large groups of snakes has shown me the importance water plays in their lives. My garters drink a lot of water. I try very hard to change all water dishes everyday. Yes, I'm guilty of letting a few of them go an extra day if they have not been used as a toilet but never any longer than that. I know that they can go a long time without drinking and I know that they will drink from any source of water in the wild. Much of this water unfit for human consumption.
Many of my snakes come out and gather around the water dish when I fill them. I think they are hoping there will be some fish in all that splashing.
I guess the reason for this thread was to stress the importance water plays in their lives.
Since they are in our care, it should be the importance of available, clean, fresh water.

[ConcinusMan]

When it comes to birds and water loving reptiles, it's the #1 concern. Fresh, clean water. Change frequently, and even use a little bleach to clean the container. For snakes, and even birds, this is the most important thing. Food and proper nutrition / climate comes second.

[wadih]

I fully agree with you, two months ago one of my snakes had strange kind of pimples and after I asked for help in the urgent care forum some of the friends suggested to keep the snake in dry place so I started to minimize the quantity of water in the aquarium. Although the treatment worked fine, it was so clear that the snake was suffering from lack of water and as soon as I introduce the small quantity of water I used to put, the snake used to jump inserting his head in the water and drinking as much as possible from it.

[guidofatherof5]

I think many times food sources gets the attention and I felt water should have its due.
I love to watch my large groups of babies. Their water dishes are centrally located and seem to always have a visitor. Some of my adults seem to get in the water and do laps. They stop and rest on the water dish edge. Then, catch a few more laps. I think water is enjoyable to them. If not, it sure is enjoyable to me to watch them.
I wish I could give them very large water sources.

[ConcinusMan]

Well wadih, your friend wasn't totally wrong. Often those "pimples" you speak of are caused by a constantly moist substrate. I've seen it happen time and time again. Garter snakes seem especially prone to that problem. Overcrowding and/or constantly moist substrate will cause skin infections like you described. They look like pimples, usually on the belly, and they are filled with pus. This is why you should never use aquarium gravel or other non-absorbant substrate. Recommended substrates can be found here in the forum.

You never want to deprive garters of a source of fresh water to drink. And you always want to have a bowl of water big enough for them to curl up in and soak. However, if you can't keep the substrate dry, then your setup needs to be re-designed or re-evaluated. Even "aquatic" species of garters require no more water or moisture than terrestrial species, and ALL need to have a clean dry substrate to lie on. Even if they love to soak, they should always have a clean dry place to go when they are done with their bath.

It's clear that you may have taken the "treatment" a little too far. You're learning from the experience and that's what matters. Also you have this community of experienced garter keepers you can draw on, so stick around, and ask lots of questions, whether you think the question is stupid, or not.

Basically, like I said, you need a clean, dry surface for the snakes to live on, but they should always have the option of a good soak in the "tub" too. Glad to hear the infection cleared up. Often times, even after correcting the condition that caused the infection, it won't clear up without more aggressive treatment. In advanced cases, I resorted to scrub downs using "Hibiclens" (active ingredient Chorhexidine). Yes, I know it's poison, but it worked. The snakes I speak of were doomed to certain death if I didn't do something. They recovered. (and heck no, they weren't my snakes. I was just helping out others)

Anyway, during treatment, the snakes were kept in sterile containers, sterilized daily while the snakes were being treated with the antiseptic, and were offered the opportunity to drink twice daily.

[Lovok]

The subject of water has been on my mind lately, so it's a neat coincidence I'm finding this now. Scylla seems to have little to no interest in it, for drinking or anything else. I've had three different types of water dishes for her (a Tupperware lid, a microwave/ceramic plate, and the current habitat dish I got at a reptile trade show). She just seems so atypical from what I've read here about other easterners. She's only ever used it as a toilet once, has never soaked in it, and though I know she drinks, I rarely ever see her drinking. I change the water every other day because her tank doesn't have a particulate substrate, nor anything else that would foul the water (grass, bark, plant parts, etc.). I'm starting to think I have one flaky garter! :-)

[guidofatherof5]

The subject of water has been on my mind lately, so it's a neat coincidence I'm finding this now. Scylla seems to have little to no interest in it, for drinking or anything else. I've had three different types of water dishes for her (a Tupperware lid, a microwave/ceramic plate, and the current habitat dish I got at a reptile trade show). She just seems so atypical from what I've read here about other easterners. She's only ever used it as a toilet once, has never soaked in it, and though I know she drinks, I rarely ever see her drinking. I change the water every other day because her tank doesn't have a particulate substrate, nor anything else that would foul the water (grass, bark, plant parts, etc.). I'm starting to think I have one flaky garter! :-)

Unless you're watching her all the time, you might be surprised how much time Scylla spend in it. She may require less water time or it's just a personnality thing. Flaky! I doubt it.
Does she use all 3 as a toilet or does she have a favorite?

[Lovok]

I have her tank in my bedroom. I live in a house w/ a roommate who's tolerant of her, but wouldn't handle her if his life depended on it, so I keep her where I'm sure if she escapes, she'll still likely to be somewhere I can track her down (which has already happened once LOL). She's on my dresser by the foot end of the bed, so I can lay & watch her as I watch TV, which is as relaxing as watching fish! So I do see her activities pretty often. I've the one water dish for her now- this one:

Zoo Med Repti Ramp Bowl at PETCO

If she's using it as a pool, she's really on the down low with it. One of the days when I was cleaning her tank, I put some water in the bath tub and let her swim around for about half an hour. She didn't seem real happy about it, but I think it just scared her from being in such a different environment with different smells. I had a lot of fun watching her though. LOL Once I took her out and was holding her again, she calmed down in no time at all. I think I'll probably let her swim like that a little more often since she doesn't seem to use the dish.

She's come a long way since July when I found her. She'll wrap around my fingers and crawl all around my hands, and very rarely does she "bolt" like she used to. Her eating habits have changed too since the weather's gotten colder. I think she's got an "internal clock" that's telling her she should be hibernating, but she isn't, so she's adjusting by not eating as much or being as active in her tank.

I know she knows where the water is, and she can get to it, so as long as I keep it fresh and available, I'm not going to worry too much about it. But she does seem to have an on-going development to her personality. I'm finding garters have a way of keeping owners on their toes that way, don't they? LOL

[ConcinusMan]

I'm going to assume this is an adult or near adult when you got her and that you haven't had her very long (less than 2 years). If so, you two are still developing your relationship. That's why you're noticing the "on-going development to her personality". Part of it is her growing accustom to you, part of it is you're getting to know her. If she's wild-caught then yes, there's going to be some internal clock telling her it's winter but that shouldn't have an influence next winter. Unless you have some full spectrum lighting and set the day length to that of summer,(along with the temperature) there's going to be a seasonal change in behavior. Even when I didn't full-out brumate my garters, I went ahead and let the days get short, and kept them a bit cooler. It's good you're so aware of these observations. It's important for you to know what's "normal" for each snake as an individual. That way, you know when something isn't right with her.

Anyway, the ramp dishes are good choice for garters as long as their big enough for the snake to curl up in, and just make sure she always has water and that it's clean and don't fret over whether she uses it or not. Keep a good humidity gauge in there too and be sure that her humidity stays 50%-70%. Sometimes in the winter the air just gets to darn dry so if it's below 50 you might want to give her a mist now and then.

[drache]

some of my garters like to bathe a lot, others don't, but they all get dishes large enough so they can if they want to
I did have an incident with blisters in a garter that liked to soak too much
she was housed with two others on the same dry substrate and there were no mites or anything - she just liked to soak, and she was the only one with blisters
when I discovered the three blisters, I separated her and gave her a water bowl too small for her to get much more than her head into and treated the blisters with nolvasan ointment (chlorhexidine); they took a long time to go away and left some scarring
I don't bathe my reptiles in the bathtub, because I think there's probably a lot of chemical residues from our soaps and stuff, even though we use unscented, relatively benign products
I have a large under bed storage sterilite container that's almost as big as the bathtub and fits right in it, so I can tilt and dump when I'm done; I also use a tap water detoxifier, and when I clean the container I use the same stuff I use on enclosures and cage furnishings