Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does your monitor enjoy the bathtub as much as ours?!

Just thought I'd post some recent pics I just captured of Modo sleeping in the bathtub!

Enjoy~

Mary.

They actually avoid the water, even get a bit startled if misted. They only seem to use the water to drink from or to wipe their face on after a meal.

If I even get a drop on them, they all do this movement with their arms like they are trying to bat the water away.

I wonder, are these animals that are pictured in some sort of tub, actually asleep or have given up on life and accepted that they are going to die, like when people post monitors asleep in their hands?

I tend to think that that is the case.

-Jeff

i don't think they gave up the will to live. I think its a behavior thats indeed stress induced. They, the monitors, realize there is nothing they can do. In this case, theres nothing to climb on, nothing but the drain that their claws will hold on to. There is no sense in swimming, theres no where to swim to. So they go into neutral(sorta) My simple guess is, they hope to float until the water levels recede. Same for the floating bathtub savs.

This behavior is very common with many reptiles. For instance if you find larger monitors in nature that are not up to full metabolism, they lay down and do not run. Or commonly when you catch wild monitors, they stop fighting after you get their feet off the ground. This goes for many other types of reptiles.

This is also very common with captives and beginer keepers, They somehow think you can take a wild animal and rub its head and it will go to sleep. You read this many times a year here on KS. They rub their Savs head and it magically falls to sleep on their lap. If navity was pain, these folks would be screaming.(quote, from Joseph Lazlo, to Erine Wagner) Remember the old saying, if your flip a bluebelly(western fence lizard) over and rub its belly it will fall asleep. Also said about toads. Folks these animals are not asleep. They are stressed to a point of not having options to take.

And finally I agree, my croc monitors did not care for misting, rain or sitting in water. You have to dehydrate the beans out of them to get them to sit in water. Cheers

True enough... I soak most of my lizards, finding it a decent way to hydrate and loosen sheds similar to Proexotics.. but I've witnessed the behavior before.. the only lizard that seems to enjoy it is my Tegu and before, my Monkey skink and the Chameleons.. all Tropicals..
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2.3 Leos
2.0 Beardie
1.1 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
1.1 Ackies
0.1 Giant BW Tegu
Thousands of Roaches, T's, and Scorps.
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D

Please to not take this badly, but the best way to re-hydrate a monitor is to not dehydrate them. Make the cage so it allows them to be normal and not get dehydrated. Cheers

Understood, and I try not to tamper with them, and instead allow them to drink freely as they've learned to do.. But as I noted earlier, it still helps with shedding.. Which, granted, could also be done simpler by increasing the humidity.. I'm trying to get the right balance, any idea on the percentage for the average Savannah?
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2.3 Leos
2.0 Beardie
1.1 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
1.1 Ackies
0.1 Giant BW Tegu
Thousands of Roaches, T's, and Scorps.
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D

I had a wild-caught salvadorii that would jumped into its large water tub out of shear fear. It would lie mtionless at the bottom for about 20 minutes after it was handled. I've never had a tame and established monitor do that yet.

Matt

Just so you know, Crocodile Monitors are from Indonesia and surrounding islands, which are areas that receive a high amount of rainfall, and they are almost always found near water. Most arboreal lizards and monitors when cornered, will jump into the water and swim. I have kept numerous Croc monitors, and they all love the water. -Michele

I have large tubs of water in my Argus cage, he seems to love swiming and likes to turd in there also. The humidity is always around 65-85%... so I dont think that is the problem.
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0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor
0.0.1 ArgusXflavi Cross monitor
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)