Baths and Misting

I just tried to give Figment his first bath. I used a plastic shoebox and filled it with lukewarm water to about the height of his chest. Then I put Figment in.

He HATED it.

He kept trying to jump out and get away, and I didn't want him to form a negative association with water, so after a couple minutes I brought him back to his hab.

I'm a bit concerned about him being dehydrated, because even though he has a water dish in his hab, I've never seen him drink from it in the week I've had him.

I haven't tried misting him yet... is there a trick to it? How long should you spray a dragon? How often- daily? How do you know he's not thirsty any more? And should I wipe the hab dry afterwards, or take him out and mist him?

I just want to be sure he's getting enough water.

He's probably getting enough water from his diet, especially if he's taking any greens/veggies yet. Also, many feeders are mostly water.
https://www.reptifiles.com/feeder-insect-nutrition-facts-chart/

Personally, I wouldn't mist. They don't absorb water (I'm told) through their skin. I wouldn't hold him down in the bath, but I wouldn't let him learn that if he squirms enough he'll get his way. It might take a larger "bathtub" that he can't climb out of, but as long as the water level is where you put it, I'd leave him there until YOU decide (or he stops squirming and relents). :wink:

YMMV

Lots of dragons don't like baths. You can try once a week or so and he might get used to it, but if not, don't stress about it. They don't get any hydration from baths unless they actually drink in it anyways.
A healthy diet is a good way to give hydration

-Brandon

Young beardies don't need regular soaks unless they are dirty [ poo stains , hard shed at times ] But they will definitely benefit from extra hydration via spray bottle. When I was raising clutches of babies they all got sprayed + all drank the droplets, and that was every single day. They also ate greens from about 2-3 weeks of age. You don't need to spray the entire body unless you have very low humidity + want to help shedding. But you can very lightly spray or drip water on the snout to see if Fig will drink. Some breeders do that for all their babies while others don't. I feel that it's best to do so, as they get older they drink less bot all my adults still drink that way about every 7-10 days. Here's a video of a breeder using a spray bottle for babies :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN3tSmkZisM

Well, I tried misting with very warm water tonight. Figment closed his eyes and kept turning his head away, though I was using the "arc the spray up and let it drift down on his head" method. He did lick his lips after I stopped - once. Definitely wasn't drinking.

My question is this: he doesn't eat much greens or water-plumped Phoenix Worms. His diet is mostly crickets. He hates baths, and doesn't seem to know how to drink from misting. Do I keep going with one method or another, or trust that he's getting proper hydration from his diet? I'm not ignoring the advice I've already gotten; I'm just a super nervous new Beardie mom who wants to do the right thing.

On that note, I need to go moisten the water sponge for the crickets.

I have been told make sure your gut loading your crickets or staple feeder - feed those crickets carrots but dont feed the dragon carrots too much Vit A--- you can take drops of water and drop on his nose if hes thirsty he will drink the water keep doing it if he does till hes done
Karrie

They can get ample hydration from a proper diet. They also can get some benefit from supplemental water. If your guy isnt fond of baths or doesnt seem to drink while misting, dont worry about it.

You can watch his urates to make sure hes not getting dehydrated. From there you can make adjustments to his diet to get him so extra hydration.

Of course you can also continue trying to mist or bathe of he doesnt mind it. Sometimes it just takes awhile before it "clicks".

-Brandon

claudiusx":2n8v6z0l said:

They can get ample hydration from a proper diet. They also can get some benefit from supplemental water. If your guy isnt fond of baths or doesnt seem to drink while misting, dont worry about it.

You can watch his urates to make sure hes not getting dehydrated. From there you can make adjustments to his diet to get him so extra hydration.

Of course you can also continue trying to mist or bathe of he doesnt mind it. Sometimes it just takes awhile before it "clicks".

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Thanks, Brandon... I'll keep an eye on his urates (that's the white part of the poo, right?) and leave off the misting and bathing for now while I earn his trust. I'd rather he associate me with good things rather than bad for now! What in his urates would indicate dehydration?

~Chris

Hey Chris,

If the urate is white and not hard and chalky, he is decently hydrated. If they start becoming hard or chalk like, or develop an off color it could be a sign that he'd benefit from more water. The urate being discolored can be from over supplementing with calcium or vitamin powder too.

Part of being a beardie slave, looking at poo

-Brandon

claudiusx":3qf4fanc said:

Part of being a beardie slave, looking at poo

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And as you've undoubtedly become aware, part of being a parent too.

claudiusx":1qn59spt said:

Part of being a beardie slave, looking at poo

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Thanks for the poo note! ha I was curious what to look for other than to be completely grossed out. Barry likes to poo and then drag his tail through it.

I've been bathing Barry (my adult 3 yr beardie) nearly daily to every other day because he started shedding quite a bit about 2 weeks after I adopted him. I just fill my bath tub a small amount and plop him in. The first time he hated it. Wriggling and went in the shallow area and wouldn't move and was dodging when I tried to drip it over him. The next few times he'd stay in the deeper part with the water up to his elbows but still didn't like getting it on him. I started just putting him in and going about cleaning and resetting his hab.

2 weeks later, he actually seems like he looks forward to going in! He wiggles but now it's excitement. He gets in and actually splashes around the deeper water down and will lick the water occasionally. I've also put a few pieces of collard greens in and he bites at them too.

When he comes out, he gets a towel dry and either a bask outside or a superworm treat and back into his clean tank. This is always about an hour before "bedtime" or lights out so he has time to warm back up before sleeping.

I'm a newbie to beardie ownership but he seems to enjoy it and everything looks good with him too.

Some beardies that aren't raised with a spray bottle or eyedropper for drinking actually don't get what it is unless they are really thirsty, so lots of dragons don't drink the first few times you try it out. It's still best to try it at least once a week though, many dragons end up with kidney disease later in life that may be related to the " they get all their hydration from food " idea. Not that it will always be the case but some owners find that their dragons all of a sudden do want to drink, so it's best to offer it just like you offer veggies even when a dragon doesn't seem too interested. And it's not an actual misting, like you would do to a tropical tank. It's a slight direct stream on the nose or a dripping on the nose if using an eyedropper.

kreinmiller":ukhvtahq said:

When he comes out, he gets a towel dry

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To save on laundering that towel each time (in case there's still something "spreadable" on it :wink: ), paper towel should be just fine.