How do I push fluids?

[dylankw]

My dragon has been having issues with hard urates for a while and oftentimes will not poop unless she is given a bath. I have done some research and found that the problem is probably caused by dehydration. My question is how do I get her to intake more fluids? She normally eats greens (mustard/collard/turnip) and crickets with some wax worms every few weeks. What can I do to get more water into her?

Thanks,

Dylankw

 

[Luthien]

There's 5 things you can do to get more water into your beardie.

Misting - Get a normal everyday spray bottle, fill it with warm water and mist your dragon down daily. At first he most likely won't like it and try to run away but be persistent. Sometimes we have to be just as stubborn as our dragons are

Baths - Give your dragon a bath every week (even twice a week if you can) along with misting every day. A dragons skin is made to soak up the water and that will hydrate him as well.

Dripping water - From the spray bottle or just off of your finger try dripping water onto your dragon's nose. This is how they get water in the wild, they stand under a plant leaf in early morning and let the dew drip onto their noses then lick it off.

Water Bowl - Contrary to belief some dragon's do like drinking from water bowls. Try putting a shallow dish of water in the tank with your dragon

Lettuce - It has no nutritional value to it but it's packed with water so try mixing in some lettuce with his other greens.

 

[Mirrorakay]

A while back Zeke was having issues with hard urates, but he refused to drink any water. Some of the suggestions people gave me were to put extra water on his salads as his feeders. Zeke also gets between 3-4 baths a week, roughly 20 minutes each time. This resolved his issue with dehydration. Also, Zeke is slowly starting to drink water from his baths. Maybe once or twice a month he will take a drink. With him it was just a matter of splashing around in the bath enough for him to become interested in drinking.

 

[dylankw]

What type of lettuce? Iceberg? :-/ or leaf? We have done baths, but they never last 20 min. I usually put her in the sink and scoop water onto her back. She will just sit there for a few minutes and then without fail she will all of a sudden start trying with all she is worth to climb out. That is usually when I end the bath.

 

[Gail]

Romain is best, iceburg can make the stool too watery which can increase dehydration. Misting greens, more frequent baths and water by mouth really are the best ways to increase hydration. I do not believe in misting the dragon or its cage, its like taking a shower when you are thirsty. Dragons have thick skin to help hold in moisture, its myth that they soak water in through the skin.
You can also feed silkworms or hornworms, alternately, you can use a syringe w/needle to inject water into feeders. It works well with roaches and supers, not sure what would happen with a cricket.

How much calcium do you use? Over use can also make the urates hard.

 

[Mirrorakay]

Normally if Zeke starts to get fussy, I picked him up for a moment before slowly putting him back in the water. I do this as much as necessary to get him through 20 minutes of bath time. It took a while, but now he peacefully sits through his baths. You just have to be stubborn. Also, try upping or lowering the temp of the bath water a little bit. That may help make your dragon more comfortable. I found out Zeke is in the market for warmer baths.

 

[dylankw]

OK I will try a combination of misting greens, a little romain, and upping bath time. As for calcium, I thought that could be causing it, so we cut back considerable and even have stopped for a while.

 

[lauraj1055]

I syringe feed them water when I give them their liquid calcium 3x a week. I give them each 5mls of water after they have their calcium.

 

[AtlasStrike]

Charlie got used to being syringe fed fluids when he was on Albon and I was pushing fluids and probiotics into him to make sure the meds didn't take too much out of him. He gives me the stink eye when I drip water on his nose, but he will take 1ml syringes full of unflavored pedialyte like a champ, he is not so fond of tap water.

I usually do baths once or twice a week and a bit of unflavored pedialyte mixed with water every once in a while when he looks more wrinkly than I think he should. I feel like syringe "training" is a useful behavior to encourage should anything ever happen and Charlie needs to be force or assist fed.