Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male peach w/c and he must be approx going on a year now (if that matters) He is only about 24inches long but that doesnt matter either. What I am noticing is that he is submersing himself in his waterdish completly. Head and nose is under too. He is now going in to the second hour of doing this.
He seems peaceful and enjoying it from the regular psycotic activity he usually displays so Im letting him be. He has moved to a different location in the water bowl over the last hour, but I dont know if he came up to surface first.
Now, my question is, how long can they go without taking a breath? What is he really doing? there is no way a reptile would spend an hour without taking a breath just to soak himself... would he? I Know there is nothing wrong with him, my water drags and savannah used to do it when they were younger, but not this long. Is it some form of unknown reptile meditation?

Hah, i dont really know whats going on, if anyone really knows the answer, id love to hear it.
Thanks in advance
-Josh
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1.0 Savanah Monitor
1.0 Peach Throat Monitor
2.2 Water Dragons
0.1 Veiled Chameleon
0.1.1 Cornsnakes (charcoal/anerythristic)
0.0.1 Honduran Milksnake (tangerine)
1.1 Spotted Python
27 Rats (pets-believe it or not)
1 dog
2 birds
1 ferret
15 degu's
33gal FW aquarium
10gal SW ''
...and a heck of a lot of mice

I couldn't say why he's soaking but he probably keeps his head under because he thinks no one can see him that way. I didn't think they could hold their breath for an hour, but at any rate he's not going to drown himself.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

You have 24 pet rats??? Why??? What am I not understanding? Any pics?? I am VERY open minded.

All the best,
Michelle

A degu looks like a giant gerbil but is really a smaller relative of the chinchilla. They're from South American. They are very cute.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

1) hiding (no other suitable hiding places)
2) too hot (no suitable cooler places to go)
3) too dry (no suitable moister places to go)

I have also seen a gravid jobiensis that did spend some time in the water, possibly because the water supports the weight more comfortably, but it could be one of the previous (3) items. She stopped before I could nail down the cause.

Mostly (1), for me, has been the most common cause. Hides that are disturbed are not trusted. I have seen them do this, to hide from another in the same enclosure. I have also seen it when there were pinhead cricket population explosions in the enclosures, thus their hides become uncomfortable. Of course the hides can be directly related to (2) and (3), they need hides across temp and humidity ranges.

It really could be a million things, you will have to figure out which it is, hopefully this will give you an idea on where to start looking. I do not think jobiensis doing this is normal though.

I doubt very highly that it will drown, and they are sneaky, I'm not sure how long they can hold their breath, but I would bet it is not holding it's breath for that entire time.

Good Luck,

--Robert

I agree Robert hides, temps, are probably the reason. Submersed in water gives it security..