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You may think it’s hard to be excited by bowls and similar reptile products. But it might be time to think again. Manufacturers have come out with plenty of innovative products in this category that double as décor elements, serve keepers of specialized species or reduce the need for live food.

Functional Décor

Most herp keepers want their pets’ food and water bowls to blend into the terrarium décor. There are a number of products that satisfy that desire.

Fluker’s Repti-Bowls and Corner Bowls have a natural rocky appearance. They are durable and easy to clean. The Corner Bowls fit flush against the terrarium corner.

Zilla’s Terraced Dish also offers a natural appearance. The shallow steps grant better access to the food or water inside and make it an especially good choice for tortoises and smaller reptile species. The heavy foundation makes the Terraced Dish resistant to tipping. The surface is easy to clean and bacteria resistant. It’s available in three sizes.

If your customers want a fascinating centerpiece for their terrariums, you can steer them toward Zoo Med’s Repti Rapid LED Waterfalls. They light up the terrarium with waterproof LEDs while providing water and humidity to the herp. Separate power cords let the owner control the LED and waterfall independently. It’s available in rock and wood styles and three sizes.

An innovative way to feed reptiles while adding a décor element to a terrarium is Exo Terra’s Termite Hill Cricket Feeder. The crickets emerge from the feeder slowly replicating natural feeding conditions reptiles would encounter in their habitats. Owners can add powdered supplements to the feeder so the crickets emerge coated in vitamins and minerals. It blends perfectly into the habitat.
For keepers who are more interested in unique or showy terrarium fixtures, Zoo Med offers the Glo-Bowls. These food and water dishes glow in the dark creating a fascinating landscape for the terrarium viewer. The bowls’ surface is resistant to bacterial growth. Glo-Bowls are made in the U.S.A. and are made from 100 percent recycled plastic. They come in four sizes.

Many herp keepers would prefer to not feed live food to their pets. However, most species of lizards and frogs will only eat live insects. Exo Terra’s Vivicator may be the solution these keepers are looking for. It’s a remote controlled vibrating feeding dish. The vibrations cause nonliving food to move around to stimulate feeding behavior from insectivorous herps. It’s battery operated and easy to clean.

Catering to Chameleons

Chameleons have some specialized needs when it comes to hydration. They generally will only drink moving, dripping water. Manufacturers have made several products to meet this need.

BioBubble offers the Cantina Drinking Fountain to keep chameleons hydrated and healthy. A water pump provides constantly circulating water that trickles down artificial leaves, providing chameleons and other tree-dwelling lizards with a natural drinking experience. The sound of the water trickling seems to attract chameleons.

“How many years have [chameleon keepers] all ripped our hair out to mist and to get water moving in the units and begging and pleading with our chamelons to drink and stay hydrated?” said Steve Berlin, vice president sales and marketing, BioBubble Pets. “But here through that drinking fountain it’s amazing to watch your customer install it and literally watch the chameleon just be-line—as fast a chameleon can be-line—to the drinking fountain and start drinking from it.”

Also for chameleons and other arboreal and high-humidity herps is the Dripper Plant from Exo Terra. This realistic plant supplies continuously dripping water to entice these pets to lap water up off the large leaves. It includes a water pump, looks natural in the terrarium and comes in two sizes.

All arboreal herps can benefit from Exo Terra’s Canopy Combo Dish. This food and water dish combination can be mounted at any height in the terrarium with the included self-adhesive clip. The small compartment can hold prepared foods or fruit while the large compartment holds water. Steps prevent feeder insects from drowning in the water.

The Canopy Worm Dish, also from Exo Terra, provides an elevated place for herps to dine. Mealworms cannot escape from the bowl. It comes with a self-adhesive clip.

Both the Canopy Combo Dish and the Canopy Worm Dish have a naturalistic rocky appearance that will blend into the terrarium décor.
Zoo Med’s Mealworm Feeder works well for both arboreal insect eaters and terrestrial insect eaters. It suction cups to the side of the terrarium. The pet will wait excitedly as the mealworms slowly drop out of the small holes in the bottom, providing a naturalistic hunting experience.

Just for Turtles

Turtles have been not been left out of the innovation in feeding products.

Zoo Med offers the Floating Turtle Feeder to increase the feeding time fun for both owner and turtle. The fish-shaped feeder floats on the water and releases food pellets when the turtle bumps into it. It’s translucent, so the turtle can see the food inside, encouraging it to figure out how to get at the food. This provides a more enriching foraging experience for the turtle than just dumping pellets into the tank.
For customers with busy lifestyles or who are going on vacation, the Exo Terra Turtle Feeder might just be the product they need. The programmable feeder can feed turtles up to four times daily. It accommodates most varieties of pellets. Portion size and feeding times are easy to adjust. Using the Turtle Feeder can help reduce the risk of overfeeding and fouling the water. It runs on batteries.
With all the innovation in this category, the water bowl is now far from boring.