Drinking

[KerrySmith]

My brothers bearded dragon is almost a year old now. I am usually in charge of bathing and giving water to him. I usually give him water every couple of days with a dropper/sprayer, and usually he would drink it. But about a month ago he just stopped drinking it. He won’t open his mouth when I try to spray him, and he won’t drink in the bath like he used to.

The other day I saw this thing that if you carefully pinch your beardies skin and it stays, it is dehydrated. And I think mine is! have tried every single method out there. He also hasent shedded in this time. Other than this he is acting completely normal, besides the fact that I saw him digging in the corner of his cage a couple of days ago. I was wondering if there was a way to sort of safely make him drink water? I don’t know what to do! Please help!

 

[BeardedDragonDude]

I wouldn't let him drink any of the bath water as it could have bacteria in it. What I did for awhile was I took a syringe with a 2 inch hose on it and filled it with water. Then I slowly rested the syringe on her mouth and let some of the water out. Another thing you can do is turn on the water from your faucet, and slowly put your bearded dragon's mouth in the water. Make sure the water is barely flowing, still enough to get your bearded dragon to drink but not drown it. Only bad thing is if the bearded dragon gets used to the water from the faucet it might only drink from the faucet. He might be starting to brumate as well. Typically they don't drink or eat as much because they're going into a semi-hibernation. Feel free to ask any other questions!

 

[BeardedDragonDude]

I wouldn't have him drink too much though, he could get addicted.

 

[KerrySmith]

I wouldn't let him drink any of the bath water as it could have bacteria in it. What I did for awhile was I took a syringe with a 2 inch hose on it and filled it with water. Then I slowly rested the syringe on her mouth and let some of the water out. Another thing you can do is turn on the water from your faucet, and slowly put your bearded dragon's mouth in the water. Make sure the water is barely flowing, still enough to get your bearded dragon to drink but not drown it. Only bad thing is if the bearded dragon gets used to the water from the faucet it might only drink from the faucet. He might be starting to brumate as well. Typically they don't drink or eat as much because they're going into a semi-hibernation. Feel free to ask any other questions!

Ok thanks! I have tried those, and they haven’t really worked. Just one more question: If he doesn’t drink in the next week should I take him to the vet?

 

[BeardedDragonDude]

Ok thanks! I have tried those, and they haven’t really worked. Just one more question: If he doesn’t drink in the next week should I take him to the vet?

You need to be watching him, he could be drinking when you're not looking. But if you are watching and he doesn't drink any, you might want to take him in. Also does your cage have water he can drink from at all times? I'm assuming you do, but I've seen a lot of people that water them only when they want to.