Advice for hydrating a sick bearded dragon?

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morganmc

Member
Hello,

My bearded dragon is recovering from aspirating water last night (I've already had a vet visit & posted a thread about this!) but he is still quite dehydrated. He's on Carnivore Care as well as Baytril and Flagyl and I'm looking for advice on how to give him water, as baths are out of the question for right now (not trying to have a repeat of yesterday :? ) Could I give it to him using a plastic syringe? He's not really interested in eating any greens right now - usually, I try to give him water by including iceberg lettuce in his salads. I don't want to introduce any more water into his lungs, so any advice on how to safely keep him hydrated would be fantastic! Thanks in advance :)
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You can give by syringe but do it slowly -- little at a time -- let him swallow the water - go in from the side of his mouth and little at a time
Karrie
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
So he usually only drinks in the bath?
We taught our girl how to drink from a dropper by very slowly putting one drip at a time on the end of her nose
 

morganmc

Member
Original Poster
WinFam01":38v2aih0 said:
So he usually only drinks in the bath?
We taught our girl how to drink from a dropper by very slowly putting one drip at a time on the end of her nose

Not necessarily, while I would say a bulk of his water comes from his greens and direct water drinking is usually from baths, I have given him water like you're describing. I'm just a bit paranoid and wasn't sure if I should do anything differently since he aspirated so recently. I want to make sure I don't make it any worse!
 

morganmc

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":2itc1upz said:
You can give by syringe but do it slowly -- little at a time -- let him swallow the water - go in from the side of his mouth and little at a time
Karrie

Great, will do!
 

Shaun78

Hatchling Member
I just went through this myself. Do exactly what Karrie said. My dragon was so dehydrated they didn't think he'd make it. I gave him water through a syringe and after days of doing this (and the critical care food) the little guy pulled through. I also gave him daily baths just to keep his skin hydrated and clean. Good luck my friend. Let us know how it goes.
 

morganmc

Member
Original Poster
Shaun78":yrzs9y9n said:
I just went through this myself. Do exactly what Karrie said. My dragon was so dehydrated they didn't think he'd make it. I gave him water through a syringe and after days of doing this (and the critical care food) the little guy pulled through. I also gave him daily baths just to keep his skin hydrated and clean. Good luck my friend. Let us know how it goes.
Smokey is already doing much much better! Still not 100%, but he is steadily improving :)
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
Put an ice cube in front of them - chances are they’ve never seen an ice cube before, so they might lick it real quick.

It’s not gonna hydrate them very much, but it gets a few million molecules of H2O in.
 
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