Do you Bowl or Spray (water)

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Desdemona

Member
The petstore said the dragon should have a bowl of water at all times where as I see some owners just spray the dragon a couple of times a day? Which do you prefer and why?
 

ziggy23

Gray-bearded Member
I just do baths. I occasionally will put a cake pan of water in their tanks if I slack on the baths. They never drank anything when I misted and would run from it. I don't keep a water dish in there all the time because my tank is rather high. It's inconvenient getting it in and out every day and difficult to not spill it all over the place. When they did have a permanent water dish, they only used it like once a month. I finally decided to not mess with it.

with bowls and spraying, there is a risk of too high humidity. And many dragons won't drink from a dish. It's not really the natural way they get their water. Some figure it out, but many don't. If you don't have humidity problems, there's nothing wrong with having a water dish. It's just they might not ever use it. Many people keep one just so they have the choice.
 

Desdemona

Member
Original Poster
How often do you give your dragons a bath? It's just a shallow tub of water right? Do you give them a rock or something to perch on out of the water? I guess that might defeat the point. I have sprayed mine but she just looks at me like, "WTF?" haha. (we are sailors in this house).
 

ziggy23

Gray-bearded Member
I give mine a bath about every 2-3 days. I don't put a rock or anything on it. My dragons are larger and enjoy their baths now. They either relax for a bit or splash and swim around.
 

OgleRpets

Sub-Adult Member
My Lucius has his own 13x9 pyrex water bowl in his 75 gallon tank at all times and I change the water every morning. He sometimes uses it to drink from and sometimes uses it to potty. He also gets a bath 2-4 times a week. I've never really understood the whole spraying or misting as that raises the humidity a ton.
 

BeardedDragon6

Juvie Member
my dragon used his water dish as a toilet, the dish was huge and there was lots of water, and in the summer he felt kinda hot and jumped into the dish filled with water, he splashed all over the corner where his dish was and then... he pooped in it :lol: im not using a dish anymore as he used it as a toilet 5 days in a row :lol: :lol:
 

Desdemona

Member
Original Poster
This time she/he (my friend thinks she looks like a he, though I've no clue what she is basing this off of, but she is a big BD fan/owner). Pooped on the side. Do they often poop in the same location? If so I can just put paper towels down in that spot.

The guy at the pet store said not to handle her for seven days. That doesn't go with the bath every two or three days thing. I don't want to dehydrate her. I did spray her a little bit earlier just because it made me feel better, haha.

Ignore the petstore guy and give her a bath?
 

ziggy23

Gray-bearded Member
I handled mine from day one.

Many do become potty trained, either going in one spot or in the bath. But with hatchlings it usually takes them a while to make the connection.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
I like to spray, but that doesn't mean the entire cage. Just very gently on the tip of the nose and they begin to lick as it drips down. It may raise humidity in some of the Critter Condo type cages, but not in any of my home made vivs or aquariums with screen tops. I've never had a dragon get a respiratory infection from spraying by the way...but I can understand the caution because someone might think to spray the way you would for a tropical terrarium, spraying down the entire cage, which is not the case.Baths are good for helping with shedding but should always be warm, shallow and supervised. Baths are fine, I think,once or twice a week. If you read around the forum you will see several posts about coughing and choking, almost drowning. I think everyone has heard of someone posting about a drowning, or near drowning, so caution is in order. Probably not a good idea to bathe a sleepy, sick, sluggish dragon. If they are impacted, supervised warm baths can help, but so can giving them a few drops of vegetable oil.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
To see how careful you have to be bathing [ and why I choose to spray] see the threads " Help, beardie drowning...help beardie retching....and help, breathing problems. These are all reasons to be careful, limit baths and think about spraying for hydration.
 

quigleysmom

Juvie Member
I give mine water out of a spray bottle. He will start smacking his lips when he is thirsty and he knows his spray bottle when I show it to him. I drop one drop at a time until he stops licking them off his nose. I also add water to the bottom of his veggies in the morning so he is getting water from that as well as the water content of the vegetables themselves. I also give him a soak twice per week or more if he is shedding.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yeah, great idea with the water in the veggies. Lots of leafy veggies aids in hydration and are so good for the dragons. Dragons that eat lots of veggies rarely get impactions. Never give up on offering the vegs.
 

flnatv

Member
I do the bowl, spray, and baths.
I have seen him/her drink out of the bowl, but he/she loves the spray. We are going through our first shed so I am giving baths about 2x week or when she seems itchy.

I am one that feels like there should always be another option... I may not spray when she is thirsty... so at least she has the option of the bowl. Guess I should add... the bowl is a little one her whole body cannot fit in it and it is only at max. 1/2 inch deep.
 

Desdemona

Member
Original Poster
I have been putting her vegies in shallow water to keep them fresh, so she has that option. I gave her a bath yesterday but all she did was stand in the water and look at me and my son. She doesn't seem very responsive in some ways. She just stands and looks around unless she is getting fed. Is that normal? She will stick her tongue out a little when she is out. I can't tell if she is enjoying herself, is frightened ot just plain doesn't care either way.
 

ziggy23

Gray-bearded Member
that's not a bad response. Some dragons absolutely hate it and will struggle the entire time to get out. Sometimes my dragons just sit around, and sometimes they swim and splash.
 
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