Beardie Won’t Drink?

[Mking0347]

I’ve had my Beardie for quite some time now, 5 months I believe, and she’s been fantastic! Eats well, poops well, I’ve never had a problem. However, I’ve started to notice she absolutely WILL NOT drink.

I bathe her every now and then, atleast once a week if not more. Never, in all of those times bathing, have I EVER seen her drink a drop of water. She’ll just sit there, swim around, or attempt to climb out. Trying to administer droplets of water using a spray bottle or a syringe doesn’t work either. She simply ignores the water until I go away. The only way I’m actually hydrating her is through bath times and spraying her kale with water before she eats; and she’s not an avid vegetable eater quite yet anyway.

I’m wondering, how can I get her to drink? Could her breeders never taught her what a spray bottle is?

 

[JessPets]

Believe it or not, many beardies will not drink water! Your best bet is dribbling some on her snout, nose, but not too much! If she won't drink, it's not usually too big of a problem, as long as her feeders are properly gut-loaded, and her veggies are moisturized. Also, kale isn't too great of a green to feed. Try collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and dandelion greens. Other great foods can be found on this list: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[PodunkKhaleesi]

The majority of a beardie’s hydration comes from its food, which is why it’s so important to offer a variety of veggies and gutloaded insects. I give my salads a light misting of water before offering them to my dragons (which has the added benefit of keeping the greens fresh for much longer as well as upping the hydration factor). Vegetables like butternut squash and feeders like hornworms have a high water content, so if dehydration is ever a concern (due to illness, etc.) then you can focus on giving your beardie more of these foods. While there are dragons that will drink in a bath or lap up water droplets placed on their snout, most seem to prefer getting the majority of their moisture from their diet.

 

[EllenD]

That's completely normal. Only one of my 4 will ever drink, and only if a bowl is in his enclosure, and not often. None of the others drink at all, and the one who does will not do it in a bath or when I drip it on his snout. They really have no concept of standing water, as there is little to no standing water in the Australian Desert where they originate from. They get most all of their hydration from their live insects (this is why you never feed them dead or freeze-dried insects, only live) as babies and juveniles, and from their greens and veggies as adults.

FYI, if you are keeping a water bowl in his tank and he never drinks from it, just remove it, as it will cause more harm than good. It's not uncommon for them to fall asleep in a water bowl for long periods of time, which can chill them and end very badly. Make sure he gets at least 2 live feeding sessions every single day, both lasting 15-20 minutes, where he is allowed to eat as many live insects as he wants to, and put his fresh daily greens in his tank only after he eats his first live insect feeding session. He may not eat many greens or veggies either, if any, until he's at least a year old, this is also normal, they need tons and tons of live insects up until at least a year old, so they grow and develop properly. Gut load the live insects he eats with the fresh greens you want him to eat so that he gets them that way.