Your thoughts about waterfalls in the terrarium?

I know water dishes and waterfalls are controversial due to the increase in humidity and risk of RI, but I was wondering what your thoughts would be about a waterfall I was thinking about. Milo loves drinking water if it's moving, but he hates his baths. I mean, he will jump and panic most of the time during his bath because he really just doesn't like them. I've tried putting him in gentle showers too and he goes insane, as in, tries to climb up the shower curtain like Spiderman. I still will give him baths weekly, but I was looking for another way to make sure he's constantly hydrated. He doesn't get any water from greens or fruits because he doesn't eat them (and he's currently on roach strike, so no water from them either), so I was thinking a small waterfall would be beneficial for him, and I think it's something he would actually love. He loves to put his nose in the water, but just doesn't like being in it completely. I was bathing him every other day for 2 weeks to ensure he was hydrated (this was during his recent hunger strike) but he really hated it. I felt bad for the poor guy getting that upset over his bath time, so I do it only once a week now.

I have a glass tank with very little ventilation, so my chances of too high of humidity does increase. The top cover I made is just a piece of wood with his light cut outs. There are spaces where air is released, so it's not like there's no ventilation, but it's a small amount. However, I had planned on running the waterfall 1 hour in the afternoon, and 1 hour at night. So 2 hours out of the 11 hours that his lights are on. I wouldn't think that would raise his humidity too high, would it? I know many will say not to risk it, but honestly, Milo not getting enough water does worry me. I know they're desert animals and don't even need much water, but it would put me at ease knowing he has a fresh source just in case. Plus, he seems to love drinking it, as long as it's moving one water or the other. I sometimes don't have the 15-20 minutes to stand there stirring water around for him to drink everyday, especially with my school starting up. Let's just say, I'm trying to make him more independent.

What are your thoughts about running the waterfall 1-2 hours a day max? And it'd be the tiniest waterfall I can find so it wouldn't be a huge amount of water or anything. I'm curious to see if this would work.

A waterfall is a VERY BAD idea for a beardie enclosure.

Will increase the enclosure humidity significantly and you run a greater risk of your beardie developing RIs.

Beardies are evolved to be a savannah, dry woodland and desert dwellers - low humidity not much if any running water , and very little still water (ponds etc about).

Yes, like I said, I know their requirements and the humidity factor. My question was if any one thought running it even 1 hour a day would raise the humidity to dangerous levels. It would not be on constantly, no way haha. I only wanted to consider it because he loves drinking but hates his baths so much. I at one point had a shallow dish of water in his tank that did nothing to the humidity, but he made too much of a mess with it so it was removed.

By the way, if it helps, I'll be moving to California where the humidity is already very low. I wonder if that would increase the success rate a waterfall could have lol. Anyways, I'd like to hear other opinions as well and again, it would only be running 1-2 hours a day. I'm only asking because I feel like that small amount of time wouldn't be enough to raise the humidity levels greatly, but better safe to ask just in case.

My complaint with fountains is they are kind of obnoxious to clean. The pump especially gets crud in it and the water won't be as fresh as you'd think unless you are fastidious. Some folks use those reptile branded fountains and the lizards use them but you'll need to make sure your not causing a humidity or moisture problem to grow fungus/bacteria.

It sounds like fountain or not you want more ventilation in your setup. Good airflow and fresh air is still pretty important. You could try something like a computer fan to help out if you can't modify things too much.

I have considered a dripper for pepper, but haven't gotten around to making one. Basically a small flow of water would drip into the water dish and cause the movement so you don't need to stand there. It's not as splashy or complex as a fountain.

Taterbug":2xa1h8u0 said:

My complaint with fountains is they are kind of obnoxious to clean. The pump especially gets crud in it and the water won't be as fresh as you'd think unless you are fastidious. Some folks use those reptile branded fountains and the lizards use them but you'll need to make sure your not causing a humidity or moisture problem to grow fungus/bacteria.

It sounds like fountain or not you want more ventilation in your setup. Good airflow and fresh air is still pretty important. You could try something like a computer fan to help out if you can't modify things too much.

I have considered a dripper for pepper, but haven't gotten around to making one. Basically a small flow of water would drip into the water dish and cause the movement so you don't need to stand there. It's not as splashy or complex as a fountain.

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Oh gosh, I didn't even consider that. That doesn't sound like it'd be too fun to clean every few days... I have fish aquariums, so I know how unpleasant cleaning their filter and equipment can be. Might need to reconsider this one lol.

As for the dripper you were talking about, that could actually work. He just needs to see movement of the water one way or another. I'm going to look into this and see if there's an easy DIY dripper I can throw together. Thanks for the idea!