Drinking, or investigating??

SinLA

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In the 8 months I have had Fezzik I have never, once, seen him appear to drink from a water bowl (he gets soaked most days, so I'm not really worried about hydration). however now I have "Fezzik-Cam" and I caught this on tape (so to speak). What do you think - is this actually drinking, or just "investigating" with his beak? (see video, not photo, which is just for lols)

 

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Ray--Opo

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The way I understand it, is they drink through their nose. In the 5 1/2 years, I have seen Opo drink 3 times. I have 3 water bowls around the backyard. I just keep them clean.
 

Tom

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Definitely not drinking. I don't think the water is deep enough for him to drink. They must submerge their nor stiles and their whole mouth in order to generate suction and pull water in. When they drink, they submerge their head and leave it there for anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes or more sometimes. Their head is still and you can see their throat pumping.

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SinLA

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Hmmm, @Tom do I need a deeper water bowl? If it is filled to the top he can definitely get his nose fully submerged if he so chose (which as far as I can tell, he does not choose). He gets soaked regularly and I spray his food, so I'm not super anxious about him being dehydrated, but I'd like to make sure he has what he needs...
 

Tom

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Hmmm, @Tom do I need a deeper water bowl? If it is filled to the top he can definitely get his nose fully submerged if he so chose (which as far as I can tell, he does not choose). He gets soaked regularly and I spray his food, so I'm not super anxious about him being dehydrated, but I'd like to make sure he has what he needs...
My preference is to use terra cotta saucers and sink them into the substrate. As seen in my two pictures, the tortoises walk to the edge of the bowl and stick their head down into it to drink. These are biggun's in the pics, but it works the same for little ones. I don't like a water bowl to have a lip that they have to go up and over.
 

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