Should I wake him up to bathe?

[schwemermatt]

I'm quite certain lucky is in brumation and this is the first time we've seen this. Do we still get him out to bathe him? He is mostly asleep but eyes will open if he hears me make noise like when I put his food dish next to him it made noise. he didn't touch it but i still tried.
He hasn't had a bowel mvmt in weeks and he did have some crickets and superworms about 10 days ago. Shouldn't he have gone to the bathroom since then to get all that out?

 

[Jaskotch]

I would bring mine out once a week for a 15 minute soak when he was brumating. Sometimes he would eat a little before going back to sleep, and I didn't worry about it because eventually, he pooped. They do require some hydration, in nature they would be getting it from the ground but in captivity we have to provide it.

 

[diamc]

It's VERY important that he poop especially since he ate 10 supers. It will be much healthier for him to get that passed so yes, you do need to wake him up and bathe him. Not a good idea to let him go back to sleep until he has a poop and gets totally cleaned out.

All beardies should have a poop before they are allowed to brumate because if they aren't basking and have all that food in their bellies, it could rot which is NOT good.

 

[schwemermatt]

Thank you for all the advise. I did bathe him yesterday and he drank some of the water. When I put him back, I put him on his basking spot and he stayed for a while. Then several hours later he pooped a big one. Haha.

This morning he was in hiding and now tonight he's all alert and basking. He's been quite active tonight.

 

[diamc]

That's good that you bathed him yesterday and he drank. Great that he cleaned himself out too, he must feel better and I'm sure you do too.

If this is his first brumation, it's not unusual for them to go up & down. It's always a good idea to make sure they are all cleaned out each time before letting them sleep a lot. A bath once a wk regardless is a good idea.
Just curious, how old is he?

 

[schwemermatt]

He is 2-3. We got him a few mts ago from a local person. He said he was 2 or 3