Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a cross that i've had a few months and was wondering how important it is to soak them one a week. the reason i ask is i havent handled him cause he isnt ready, but while i clean his cage i have been strokin him on his side,he has become tolerant of it, i've done this for a month and now i can stroke him on the sides without him shagassin for his barrow, but i dont wanna pick him up when he doesnt want me to , take him out his cage , stick him in water, get him out and put him in his cage, that seems like it would be workin aginist the litte amount of trust he has built for me. what do yall think should i do it anyway or not.i mean he does have a big enough water bowl he could soak himself if he wanted to

So why tell him when you want him to? If he can soak on his own let him, if he doesnt then dont worry about it, people on the bearded dragon forum here like to soak their animals because they think it does them some good for moisture retention or replacement. Thats what dirt does it retains moisture and prevents dehydartion as well provides a home they recognize, and gives them exercise, as well many other things.

thnx. i probly wasnt gonna do it anyway unless everybody jumped me for not soakin him.

If your husbandry is anything close to correct then there is no need to soak your animals. Though some may disagree, i personally view all this soaking of animals as a band-aid to poor husbandry. You say you have a large water dish which is great but what is more important i think is having a burrowable substrate where they can go down and absorb moisture and escape the heat.

For example: they say savannah monitors like to soak in their water dishes but i have yet to see mine soak or even take a drink in my presence and has never had a problem shedding. So it makes one wonder about the husbandry of the ones who are saying all of this.

So basically if your aren't noticing any shedding problems or the monitor sleeping in its water dish or any other signs of dehydration then whatever you've been doing up until now isn't broke so theres no need to fix it.

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James Grigsby - " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

yea he has extensive barrows,and i pour his water bowl out in the cage to keep it moist.

hate to sound stupid but what is,or what kind of shedding problems?

As you may know monitors do not shed like snakes who shed their entire coats at once. They(monitors) shed in patches but when they are deprived of a sufficient supply/amount of moisture you'll then notice 2 to 3 coats of dead skin on certain parts of your monitors body that it isnt able to shed(fall of on its own)and then soaking would be beneficial in loosening up those layers of skin/scales as well as raising the overall cage humidity.
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James Grigsby - " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)