# WATER!? bearded dragon!?



## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

HEY BEARDIE PEEPLE!!
thanks for reading! im getting a new beardie soon, and im wondering...
what water do i let it drink?! i have heard that you shud give it bottled water, i really dont know! can u give it tap water?
thank you!!:whistling2:
I NEED ADVICE ASAP!!!! PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT!!!


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## casperclone (Sep 17, 2007)

cococrazy said:


> HEY BEARDIE PEEPLE!!
> thanks for reading! im getting a new beardie soon, and im wondering...
> what water do i let it drink?! i have heard that you shud give it bottled water, i really dont know! can u give it tap water?
> thank you!!:whistling2:
> I NEED ADVICE ASAP!!!! PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT!!!


 
Well u dont wanna b givin it frosen water :lol2:

Ive never heard of an incident where tapwater causes em any harm, wat my beardie has. If u cant afford to keep buyin bottled water but dont wanna give it tap.
You can boil water in the kettle the jus leave it till it cool use it till its all gone then do the same.


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

hey! thanx 4 da info. yuh-duh not frozen water!! lol, thnx


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

had you thought about how to offer the beardie the water?


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

i know how, most of them dnt drink from dishes or wateva, so you can mist them, u can use a dropper thingy and put it on their nose so they lick it. X~X


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## howieherp (Feb 21, 2008)

What I do with my beardies is dab my finger in water and they will happily drink the drops off my finger, my male beardie (finny) will even drink from the tap as its pouring.


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## daz30347 (Aug 30, 2007)

no misting, it causes respiratory problems, and the dropper i have never used so can not comment on, HTH Daz


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## PsyKoViggy (Jan 6, 2008)

What water do you use for bathing them? 
Would imagine bottled water for that would cost a lot.


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

yes pipettes or syringes are ideal.
Theres been a couple threads over the last few days about water, seems you can either use tapwater and leave it to stand for a day in an open lidded container, or treat it with drops, [or both] or boil it aswell as leaving or drops... or buy bottled water... 

best thing is to come up with what routine suits you best and try your best to stick to that and not compromise too much.

Many keepers who use water straight from the tap have no problems, but I think its worth treating the water or otherwise eliminating as much of the chlorine etc as you can.


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## suez (Jul 8, 2007)

lots of people have different opinions about water and how to treat it i use calcimize conditioner as well as my water being filtered as we have very limy AWFUL water here it tastes bad out of the tap i dont drink it so dont expect my critters too.However some people strongly beleive the additives in our water protect us from bacteria and therefore it will protect our animals.The choice is yours realy


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

********!*

thank you!! cant wait to get my beardie! i have done about 3 months of research on them so hopefully ill be good!! have had reptiles b4 so nothing grusome like feediing anythin will creep me out, unlike MUM!! :lol2: thx!! X~X


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

thank you!! i will be sending some pics when i get my beardie!
thx!! X~X


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

can you bat beardies in lyke a sink, at the rite tep, can that be tap water? X~X


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Yes you can just use tap water to bathe them and it should not be too hot.While in the bath you could try dripping water infront of their faces and let some touch their snout so drip the water infront of them , you can also wiggle your finger around in the water so they are more inclined to start drinking.I have done this with both my BD's and they now both drink from still water  .

EDIT: Don't make the water deep just enough to cover their sides , then when they get used to it you can increase the water level so it covers some of their back and also *never* leave your BD unsupervised when you are bathing it.


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## ashy (Mar 27, 2008)

Hi
I spoke to a guy in Aus and as a rule of thumb,beardies don`t need added water.They live in areas where they would rarely see a puddle never mind a big dish full. An adult should get all there water from the fresh greens you feed them.Light misting the greens would be sufficient.
Some beardies like baths some dont.If they do go in the bath they should be able to easily put their feet on the floor and the water should be "luke warm" . People do this to aid bowel movement or to help with shedding,some mist them.Please note that your beardie should be fullly dry afterwards.
The Aussie guy lives in the same area where beardies are so I trust him.He has over 30 years experience of keeping BD`s and tons of other reptiles and currently has 33 bd`s with a clutch of eggs on the way.God knows how many other reps too.
Please do alot of research and don`t beleive everything a rep shop or pet shop tells you.They are often wrong/misguided.
You can pm me if you like and I will try to help you or contact this guy for you.
Obviously there will be people experienced in keeping bds on this forum too:up:


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

ashy said:


> Obviously there will be people experienced in keeping bds on this forum too:up:


(cough) Hades Dragons (cough) .


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

thank you!!! i know, some of the tank at my shop dont look very gd, the beardies there dnt have anything to climb on, which i think looks good and s good for the beardies! when i get this beardie, its gonna be pampered and mega well looked after!!! lol xmuahx X~X


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## casperclone (Sep 17, 2007)

m9 drinks outta a water dish, jus wat the beardie prefers i spose


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## Uncle Les (Dec 29, 2007)

I have never seen mine drink from the water dish or soak in it. It has used it as a toilet a few times though.


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

kaimarion said:


> (cough) Hades Dragons (cough) .


Cheers for the vote of confidence, but I think you're exaggerating a bit there - I definitely don't have the 30 years of experience that the Aussie guy mentioned earlier has - I've only been involved in reptiles for just over 10 years, including a break for a couple of years before starting with beardies! I haven't yet had chance to even get out to Australia to them in the wild - I rely on advice from contacts and relatives living out there to send me photos / descriptions, and then give me feedback on setups etc!


*Back on topic:*

I use tap water for baths, and a mix of tap water, stood water and bottled water for their water dishes. Usually their dishes are only filled a couple of times per week - the rest of the time they get their water from their food. If you get them used to drinking from standing water when they are young, they seem to carry on into adulthood. I find spraying them in the bath also gets them going - after a few baths like that, they usually drink unprompted.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

so how many are against sprayin them in their vivs where they can dry off under their bulb?how many do it?mine doesnt drink from bowls or dropper.doesn like baths


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

Hi,

I swore I’d not join any more forums but as my name seems to crop up a little I felt I’d join in (very occasionally).
I’m the “Rick” who has been corresponding with Hadesdragons recently and gets a mention in his post on substrate, I also provided the Brumation sticky and one or two members here already know me from another UK forum which I moderate (when I’m not moderating an Australian site!)
It seems to me that there is an important point being missed here – that is, why water in the first place. General Australian practice followed on the site I moderate and indeed elsewhere here, is to provide a dish of tap water and leave it at that. Bathing when dirty or constipated, misting to help with a bad shed and basically that’s it. If you study the areas they live in open water is pretty scarce, likewise rainfall in summer so they have evolved to obtain sufficient fluids from live food and vegetation, therefore if you feed a well balanced diet including properly gut loaded live food additional water is not needed. 
Given this, the question should more correctly be – should I provide water and if so in what form?
If anyone is interested I can provide links to a couple of sites which will give climatic conditions and the general areas in which you’ll find beardies – information which really should be looked at when trying to provide a micro-climate for your pet.


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## exoticsandtropics (Mar 11, 2007)

water


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

> "should I provide water and if so in what form?"


OK I'll clarify this - Misting, Bowl of water, regular bathing etc..


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

rick01 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I swore I’d not join any more forums but as my name seems to crop up a little I felt I’d join in (very occasionally).
> I’m the “Rick” who has been corresponding with Hadesdragons recently and gets a mention in his post on substrate, I also provided the Brumation sticky and one or two members here already know me from another UK forum which I moderate (when I’m not moderating an Australian site!)


Nice to see you on here Rick - sorry if you felt somewhat pressured to join... :blush:


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

Just couldn't help myself:lolsign: and thought that this could be a subject where people could be shown how to think about and question some of the ideas bandied around about reps. in general and beardies in particular:smile:
As I said - if everything is done right then water really doesn't come into it other than as a sop to our own concience.

Rick


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## cococrazy (Feb 13, 2008)

*!!!!thank You!!!!*

wow:lol2: DIDNT KNOW JUST ONE OF MY QUESTIONS COULD GET LYKE, LOADS OF REPLYs!!! thank you so much!!! at least now i know, plz all vote in my poll, and to those who have, thank you!!
X~X xmuahx X~X
___________________________
soon to have 2 beardies
1 corn snake
2 brothers


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

So you change "what water?" to "should we give water and in what form?" only to then say 
"yes, a bowl of water, mist if needed in shed, bath etc"

Sorry if I have missed the point but I feel a lot of people were already at that, and the answer is yes do offer water...if they dont drink much or at all [be it from a bowl, or from drip feeding with a pipette] then fine ,but offer it atleast twice a week.

Also if anyone is to take the opinion of not to offer water, please atleast be well aware of the signs of dehydration.

I do agree that misting the veg is a good way of getting extra water into a dragon, however it only stays wet so long so may not be of benefit to most. Although its good when a dragon tucks in as soon as it hits the viv floor of course.
However then you may end up with a beardie with runny poo due to the excess water it has had to take in along with the veg.

Everything has its benefits, and everything can be flawed.

Anyway..Rick..I dont know if you gave your response in regards to the water treatment?
Im sure water in Australia out of the tap is nicer than ours however.


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

Hi Dean,

The response was more to get people thinking about the whole water idea. 
In fact I do say


> General Australian practice followed on the site I moderate and indeed elsewhere here, is to provide a dish of tap water and leave it at that


 ie tap water is OK, provide it (and by extension change it regularly) but don't expect it to be used. Time and again I run into the statement "my beardie's not drinking what should I do" and variations, hence my post about the actual need for water in a properly set up and fed dragon's den. I agree people should be aware of dehydration but water is not the imperative that people are sometimes led to believe.

That being said - our water gets the same treatment as yours, flouride for healthy teeth and other stuff to strain out the dead Possums and Roos:whistling2: .It's still piped to us in a mix of plastic, ceramic, iron & I believe wooden! pipes in some places. So, it goes from quite nice to quite nasty:smile: at times (that's when we can actually get it!)


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## SaichyBoy (Mar 13, 2008)

Whats the time in aus. Rick?...

Edit. Sorry I'm interested...


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

We're 11 hours ahead of you.


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

rick01 said:


> Hi Dean,
> 
> The response was more to get people thinking about the whole water idea.
> In fact I do say ie tap water is OK, provide it (and by extension change it regularly) but don't expect it to be used. Time and again I run into the statement "my beardie's not drinking what should I do" and variations, hence my post about the actual need for water in a properly set up and fed dragon's den. I agree people should be aware of dehydration but water is not the imperative that people are sometimes led to believe.
> ...


Hey.
Cool dude, thanks for your response.
Out of all our lizards, the uromastyx is VERY rarely offered any form of water other than what comes from his veg with the bearded dragons being the second least offered...Whereas our rankins drink from a bowl so its just a case of a shallow dish in at all times, without too much fuss if it wasnt for a day, the beardies we have simply cannot grasp a water bowl idea so we offer them water via a pipette erm..whenever we think to do it.. which is usually every 2-3 days.
They usually will drink a fair bit [say 50-100ml] about once a week, I believe if i didnt the lizards would become dehydrated and I also believe all my husbandry to be accurate.

Defo the case though that on days/weeks where more veg is consumed then less water is drunk when offered..but I am not confident enough with this to offer water less often.

I understand the wanting to get people to think about a question, its a reasonable expectation you are right.


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

DeanThorpe said:


> Hey.
> Cool dude, thanks for your response.
> Out of all our lizards, the uromastyx is VERY rarely offered any form of water other than what comes from his veg with the bearded dragons being the second least offered...Whereas our rankins drink from a bowl so its just a case of a shallow dish in at all times, without too much fuss if it wasnt for a day, the beardies we have simply cannot grasp a water bowl idea so we offer them water via a pipette erm..whenever we think to do it.. which is usually every 2-3 days.
> They usually will drink a fair bit [say 50-100ml] about once a week, I believe if i didnt the lizards would become dehydrated and I also believe all my husbandry to be accurate.
> ...


50-100ml of water per week?! So after a drink they gain 50-100g? (1ml = 1g in terms of water density) That's far more than any of mine drink; 10-15ml (measured in grams of weight gain) is usually the maximum!

As said earlier, I keep a dish of water in my vivs that some use; some don't (I really need to upload some videos of them drinking - they look pretty cool when they finally do it!) I generally allow it to dry out for a couple of days between refilling it. They are bathed "as needed" - when they look dirty, are shedding, or look like they have too much energy and could use a swim to calm down! Typically this is once every couple of weeks (more often as the weather gets warmer).


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

they look amazing when drinking from a bowl and mine do nothing else BUT bowl drink hehe
x


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## rick01 (Apr 3, 2008)

> and mine do nothing else BUT bowl drink hehe


This is where I wonder if someone crossed them with water dragons after we stopped allowing their exportmg: :lol2:I suppose it's around 30 odd years since we closed the borders so it's quite possible some traits have been reinforced since then by a degree of inbreeding.


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