Question about bathing***

Hi everyone, I got my baby bearded dragon January 5th, 2017 and he's starting to get a little used to everything but not quite yet. When do you guys think a good time to give him his first bath would be? Thank you!

I gave mine a bath at 4 weeks

Okay good to know. Is he/she more social with you now? Or still getting used to things?

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

Not necessary to routinely bath beardies , they are evolved to live in the harsh deserts , tropical savannahs and woodlands in central Australia where droughts are the rule and they can go their entire lives never seeing heavy rain, running or standing water.

Context and natural habitat of central and rankins bearded dragons : Our deserts (Australia) are very low lying cf with the high altitude/ higher latitude rain-shadow deserts in Nth America, so wild beardies never experience freezing conditions even in the dead of winter( most of their natural range being located in the low latitudes mostly north of the Tropic of Capricorn) and frosty nights even in winter are very rare.
The earth is also closer to the sun by several million km in the Southern Summer and beardies experience extremes in UV (UVI > 14 most days and for most the day in the warm months).

Beardies only need bathing if
>> they have soiled themselves
>> they have a stubborn area of shed that needs soaking to loosen up
>> they are too hot in heat wave conditions (to help them thermoregulate
>> they are slightly or mildly impacted (a luke warm soak with gentle tummy rubbing can help get the poo moving , but 0.02ml of olive oil given orally by syringe does the job too
>> they are injured (an open injury from a bite by another beardie say) needs to washed /soaked in a very dilute solution of beta-deine to help fight infection of the injury

Contrary to a widely held belief, beardies DO NOT absorb water through their skin when being bathed , NOR do they take in water via the vent , only way a beardie will hydrate while bathing is if it drinks the bath water.

Some keepers train their beardies to poo in the bath. This is not necessary.

My two youngest beardies have not had a bath since I bought them from the breeder at 5 weeks old , they are now 14 months old, and do not smell and very healthy (thriving).
My 4 yr old girl Rex has only had a few baths in her life with us, a couple of times when shedding , and once when I thought she was impacted.

Whitneyhight001":19ahm7yx said:

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

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Was your baby very skittish when you first got her? I try to hold mine everyday for 10 min, but today he wouldn't let me hold him. Every time I tried to scoop my hand underneath him in a slow way, he would freak out and run.

Jacob1289":10eb0hpt said:

Whitneyhight001":10eb0hpt said:

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

Click to expand...

Was your baby very skittish when you first got her? I try to hold mine everyday for 10 min, but today he wouldn't let me hold him. Every time I tried to scoop my hand underneath him in a slow way, he would freak out and run.

Click to expand...

Not directed at me but my experience with Rex and Puff , then Peppa and Toothless, as newly adopted very young hatchlings (Rex and Puff were both 6 weeks old , Peppa and Toothless were 5 weeks old) was that Puff and Peppa were not skittish at all infact they were really into snuggles and seemed to really like being petted and handled from the get go, Rex was quite standoffish initially but would come to my hand for a tasty silkworm and was very comfortable with being handled (provided it came with a food bribe initially) within a month or so, Toothless was much more skittish (I suspect the breeder didn't handle him as much as she did Peppa (who was one of her favorate hatchings) and he's retreat to the area of his rearing tub where he was hard to reach and when out he was very rambunctious and would only sit still if I retrained him (weight of my wrist on his tail while he was on tummy / chest) and only long enough to accept a few bonding food treats (crickets give by hand), Toothless has been and still is a real livewire but eventually he grew to enjoy daddy snuggles (esp if I was stroking him under his chin, one of his fav things from the getgo)). Peppa on the other hand has always LOVED snuggles and being held and petted right from the getgo.

My advice is take it in small steps and at the new hatchling's own pace, it's just a matter of developing a trusting bond and relationship with the hatchling, food treats and handfeeding bonding sessions seem to work wonders with lizards IME.

If the skittish hatchling backs off - take the hint and leave it be for a while and come back for another try when it's relaxed (is basking) or it's sleepy.
NEVER chase a skittish lizard , it will only see you a terrify looming figure and your hand as a 5 headed monster.
I found using a long stick and slipping it under the skittish hatchling's front legs and chest worked well , they instinctively hold on, and you can if you move the stick gently and slowly then lift the hatchling a little way off the "ground" and draw it slowly closer to where you can pet it and may slip you hand under it's front legs and body , a lizard who is not well supported will not be a happy lizard.

Babies can be spritzed daily to allow them to drink the water droplets that fall on = around them. This is the method that many or most breeders use to give the babies a drink. In the wild they would get water from that dew appears on plants + other objects, in the a.m. Babies usually need some type of hydration, so spraying or dripping water on the snout is very effective. Most babies will drink that way, all of mine did [ I raised them for over 20 years right from the egg ] Adults drink far less, mine will drink about every 7-10 days when I use this method.

kingofnobbys":2l3df0zs said:

Jacob1289":2l3df0zs said:

Whitneyhight001":2l3df0zs said:

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

Click to expand...

Was your baby very skittish when you first got her? I try to hold mine everyday for 10 min, but today he wouldn't let me hold him. Every time I tried to scoop my hand underneath him in a slow way, he would freak out and run.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Yes mine does that some days! I try to go to bed at 12:00 and that's the best time I can actually rub her for her to stay calm because she's sleepy. I tried bringing her out last week to just let her socialize but she jumped and started running and it scared me lol. But she gets kinda jumpy randomly... or she will back away from my hand and look up at it but she's never done anything haha. Here is a picture of her..

Whitneyhight001":1qrqjp6g said:

kingofnobbys":1qrqjp6g said:

Jacob1289":1qrqjp6g said:

Whitneyhight001":1qrqjp6g said:

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

Click to expand...

Was your baby very skittish when you first got her? I try to hold mine everyday for 10 min, but today he wouldn't let me hold him. Every time I tried to scoop my hand underneath him in a slow way, he would freak out and run.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Yes mine does that some days! I try to go to bed at 12:00 and that's the best time I can actually rub her for her to stay calm because she's sleepy. I tried bringing her out last week to just let her socialize but she jumped and started running and it scared me lol. But she gets kinda jumpy randomly... or she will back away from my hand and look up at it but she's never done anything haha. Here is a picture of her..

Click to expand...

Aw! Looks a lot like mine mines orange and he's shedding right now. His legs look crazy right now..

I never have regularly given my rankins baths it's unnecessary and I think it's a bit silly so many people do it.
As AHBD mentioned I use to spritz my babies I hatched twice a day though.

Jacob1289":264v6v97 said:

Whitneyhight001":264v6v97 said:

kingofnobbys":264v6v97 said:

Jacob1289":264v6v97 said:

Whitneyhight001":264v6v97 said:

Yes! She's a lot more social now.. it's slowly gaining her trust

Click to expand...

Was your baby very skittish when you first got her? I try to hold mine everyday for 10 min, but today he wouldn't let me hold him. Every time I tried to scoop my hand underneath him in a slow way, he would freak out and run.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Yes mine does that some days! I try to go to bed at 12:00 and that's the best time I can actually rub her for her to stay calm because she's sleepy. I tried bringing her out last week to just let her socialize but she jumped and started running and it scared me lol. But she gets kinda jumpy randomly... or she will back away from my hand and look up at it but she's never done anything haha. Here is a picture of her..

Click to expand...

Aw! Looks a lot like mine mines orange and he's shedding right now. His legs look crazy right now..

Click to expand...

I don't think it's unnecessary.. mine loves to drink it and loves to swim in it plus it's bonding time and mine gets pissed when I spray her with the sprayer.. but everybody's different

Yes, it is unnecessary even if you dragon likes to drink the water. If your providing veggies then they should stay hydrated. But babies benefit from being spritzed, they dehydrate quicker.

Rankins":1qn2zz2h said:

Yes, it is unnecessary even if you dragon likes to drink the water. If your providing veggies then they should stay hydrated. But babies benefit from being spritzed, they dehydrate quicker.

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Mine hates veggies. Today I made him a salad with papaya and he didn't even touch it, maybe ate a piece. The past few days he's been not touching his salad. But eats 40 crickets a day

If the dragon is ignoring vegetables then spritzing works. I don't think baths are bad unless the dragon aspirates on bath water, which has happened plenty of times to members of this forum.
But baths are not necessary if the dragons are staying hydrated via vegetables or spritzing.