do beardies need water?

[Reticsrule]

i have had my bearded dragon for about 2 years now and he has never taken a drink of water in his life. he runs through the water like he doesnt even realize its there. if he would drink it i wouldnt mind giving it to him but im sick of him running through it and spilling it all over the place and never using it. i want to take it out of his cage but my mom insists that "he likes to soak in it" so i should leave it in there. i totally disagree with her and i want to know if he needs a water bowl in his cage.

[spidersweb]

they do need water to drink i give mine water once a week

[Lrptls]

i know we're talking about totaly different species here but these are still desert animals. i never gave my mali uro water, i had her for years and her previous owner had never given her water. her food was always very fresh and sprayed with water to make it very moist. plus once a month she got to take a bath where she would just soak in a bath tub filled with about 2 inches of water. she very much enjoyed it too! shed instantly fall asleep and you could tell her body was soaking in water and she would drink it a little. i'v also heard about other owners doing the same for beardies, just the not giving them wate part, i dont know about soaking them, if they enjoy it why not let them though.

[Reticsrule]

its really weird he just acts like the water isnt there. he runs straight through it making a mess of his whole cage. what im asking is being that he never actually drinks from the water bowl can i take that out but continue to mist him? im just getting aggravated with cleaning out the water dish all the time and he doesnt even use it.

[crankyboy]

I have 4 bearded dragons in 2 seperate enclosures. Each enclosure has a large water dish, 3 of them completely ignore it. But one of them jumps in and kinda swims around for 10 minutes or so, it's really cute. In my opinion, as long as they are getting a moisture rich high quality veggie diet, they don't desperately need a water bowl. But it also couldn't hurt.....

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/crankyboy/BeardedLadies01.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/crankyboy/Jasper01.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

[Reticsrule]

my dragon also refuses to eat ANY type of vegetables. he is perfectly healthy on a diet of superworms every day. its really a mystery to me how he gets enough water in his body because he doent drink from his water bowl, i dont think he drinks the water off of himself when i mist him, and i dont think superworms contain a lot of water (i could be wrong though).

[boywithscales]

this is interesting, ive owned my beardie for about 5 years, and ive never bothered to give him a water bowl, the only time ive left a bowl of water with him was whenever im away for more then 2 days, and i think i do this more for my relief then his. As long as your beardie is getting enough vegetable matter and his bugs are gutloaded before you feed him hell do great. once every couple weeks ill spray my beardie down for about 5 minutes, he doesnt seem to enjoy this but i do it anyway. These animals get all there water from there prey in the wild, ther masters of concerving water.

[Reticsrule]

the thing is, my beardie also refuses to eat vegetables. however, even though he doesnt eat vegetables and he doesnt drink from his water bowl he seems to be 100% healthy. as of now i still have the bowl in there with him, but i would like to take it out if it is not necessary.

[peterm15]

i offer every few days around 6.. i give more greens and fill the bottom of the dish with water.. he often eats a few peices of greens and then continues to dring all the water up.. he doesnt lap it up... he sucks.. lol.. they do not need it to live they get theres from food.. but its better to offer anyways.. if you fear there not getting enough( which is why i mix greans in) give bath often to moisten the skin.. itll keep them from getting de hydrated

[Reticsrule]

but if mine doesnt drink from the water bowl and acts like its not even there, what is the point of it even being in his cage? sorry for the continuous questioning but i would really like to remove it from his cage if there is no benefit of it being in there. thanks:)

[Jayson]

I have never put water in with my beardies nor do i ever mist them, but they do get lots of greens in their diet

[peterm15]

I have never put water in with my beardies nor do i ever mist them, but they do get lots of greens in their diet

and thats whats matters.. see mine does dring from it.. thats why i offer.. just like my chameleon will drink from standing as well.. maybe im just lucks.. i still dont offer standing for my cham.. i use a dripper

[spidersweb]

i dont have water in my beardies cage

[pollywog]

I use a squueze bottle with a small spout and let the water drip onto the beardies head. Once they realize its water they start to open and close their mouths sort of gulping it as it flows down their head to their mouths. I don't generally use a water dish as they only defecate in it and I certainly don't want them to drink from it after that! But I also feed fresh lettuce in the morning and meal worms in the afternoon which both provide a lot of moisture for them.

Cheers.

[Reticsrule]

ok im looking for a final answer here. despite the fact that my beardie does not eat any vegetables, is it ok to remove his water bowl since he does not use it? the logical answer seems to be yes because it is not helping him in any way that i can think of but maybe theres some kind of hidden reason.

[ord]

Ill make this easy for you. No you do not need standing wter in the tank. If it was a baby Id say yes but if yours is two years old, you dont need it. What I think you do need to do is once a week place your beardy in a rubbermaid with a couple inches of water in it. Your dragon will play in the water, most liekly go to the bathroom and if its thirsty, it will drink. Dont take it out after 2 minutes. Leave it in the water for at least 10 to 15 minute. You really should try to get your dragon to eat tsome veggies. Feeding super worms every day is hard on their digestive tract because of the shell. If youve been feeding it nothing but worms, its not really looking at the salad as food. If your dragon is healthy, dont feed it anything at all but salad and when it gets hungry, trust me, itll eat the salad. Veggies offer a lot to the dragons nutrition wise and does offer a fair ammount of their moisture intake. Hope this helps some. Jim Dyke. The Dragons Tale.

[boywithscales]

ok, reticsrule. Take the water dish out, and mist him once a week, and feed lots of greens.

[Reticsrule]

i mist him almost every day but he WILL NOT eat veggies. im not exatly sure why because he ate them when a first got him but for a year or so now he will not take them. i have never soaked him in water and i havent fed him vegetables in at least a year. he does seem to be 100% healthy though. i dont know how but apparently he is getting a sufficient amount of water through either the misting or the superworms.