You might occasionally see your bearded dragon going for a swim in his favorite water bowl and wonder why. There are four common reasons why your bearded dragon is swimming in its water bowl, though there isn’t just one. Your bearded dragon might dive into the water bowl if he is thirsty and needs to drink water, or if he needs to cool off or shed.
Since they typically do it for their own well-being, you shouldn’t worry when you see them in their water bowl. Although bearded dragons are renowned for their active weird behaviors, the majority of these are not carried out without good reason. If you are a new bearded dragon owner, you should pay attention to your pet’s behavior and make an effort to take the right care of them. In this article, we will go over the specific causes of bearded dragons swimming in water bowls, as well as how to care for them to maintain their health. Continue to read.
My bearded dragon is swimming in the water bowl, why?
You might start to worry when you see that your bearded dragon unexpectedly goes for a swim in the water bowl and remains there for so long. However, the behavior is harmless; instead, your bearded dragon is just trying to relax, drinking water, and shedding. The most frequent causes of bearded dragons entering water bowls are
- Dehydration
- To drink water
- High – temperature
- Shedding
Dehydration
One of the main causes of bearded dragons entering the water bowl is dehydration. Your beardies may exhibit a number of signs of dehydration, such as wrinkled skin, a lack of appetite, sunken eyes, etc. With these indicators, you can tell that your bearded dragon is simply dehydrated, and they enter water bowls to aid in self-hydration.
Although dehydration is a frequent reason for your bearded dragon to get into water bowls, it should not be accepted as normal and simply ignored. To ensure that your beardies are always well-hydrated, you should take several precautions. The natural water content in food and misting your bearded dragon will help them stay hydrated and prevent dehydration.
To drink water
Your beardies might occasionally mock your worries by simply drinking from the water bowl. Since beardies don’t go to watering holes like other animals do, they are not well-trained to drink from bowls of water. They only quench their thirst by ingesting moist food, by rain, and also by morning dew on plants. They enter water bowls and drink through their vents, despite not having the polite habit of drinking from them.
Although it’s a common misconception, bearded dragons don’t actually drink water through their skin. They drink from their vent, which is frequently used for defecation and urination. Despite the fact that bearded dragons rarely drink from bowls, it is unquestionably a good sign if yours does.
Hot environment
Similar to humans, beardies will cool off by dipping into a nearby body of water when it gets too hot. Being intelligent creatures, bearded dragons know how to control their body temperature, and one of their methods is to submerge themselves in water bowls. In order to maintain their temperature, bearded dragons occasionally need to cool themselves off, even in ideal tank conditions and a healthy environment.
Your bearded dragon will struggle to regulate its temperature and may display odd behaviors if the temperature of its tank is not optimized. Always keep the cooling area at 75° to 80° and the basking area between 95° and 100°. If the temperature range in the tank is properly controlled, your beardies will enjoy staying there.
Shedding
Your beardies may enter the water bowl when they have a hard shed that needs to be slightly softened. Another frequent reason why your beardies might require a water bowl to jump in is shed. You can allow them to remain in it for a while if you are okay with them shedding in this manner.
However, you shouldn’t attempt to remove them because doing so could hurt your beardies and have an adverse effect. You can consider a number of different methods to aid your bearded dragons in shedding and keep them out of the water bowl.
Is it safe for my bearded dragon to lay in the water bowl?
Even though it’s not a big deal, your bearded dragons shouldn’t stay in the water bowl for too long. Beardies enjoy settling into a space and a particular temperature range. You ought to be worried about the dangers they might put themselves in if they stay in the water for an extended period of time.
For instance, when your bearded dragon is relaxing in the water bowls, they may be at risk of drowning. There are additional dangers as well, some of which could be harmful to their health. The following three factors make it risky for your beardie to lay in the water bowl for an extended period of time.
Risk of drowning
Although bearded dragons are undoubtedly intelligent animals, they are not equipped to survive in dangerous situations. Make sure that when your beardies are submerged in the water bowl, the water level is just covering their shoulders and not any higher. Any bowl that is too large will have higher water levels, making it difficult for your bearded dragon to escape. Purchase a sizable bowl for your beardies and make it simple for them to enter and exit the bowl so they can easily cool off.
Urine and feces
After a thorough bath, bearded dragons urinate and poop, and they may do the same when they spend a long time in the water bowl. But in this instance, it is unhygienic and unhealthy. Bearded dragons contaminate the water bowls by peeing and urinating in them. They frequently risk infections and illnesses from this contamination. They might enjoy spending a lot of time in the water bowls because their temperature is controlled and they won’t notice the contamination. Therefore, if you are worried about their health, you should take them outside and frequently change the water to keep them clean.
Becoming too cold
Any temperature that is higher or lower than what they prefer will have an impact on them. They dive into water bowls to cool off when the weather outside is too hot. However, if that persists for a while, they might become too cold and suffer dangers. Even though they are intelligent and perfectly capable of controlling their body temperature, they are still susceptible to the cold and its effects.
Conclusion
As we previously discussed, your beardies may swim in their nearby water bowl for a variety of reasons, and most of the time they don’t have any serious ones. In order to fully understand why your bearded dragons enter the bowl, you must comprehend their behavior. If it is due to one of the four reasons mentioned above, you can take special care to prevent it.
If your pet insists on doing it repeatedly, you can take them to the veterinarian to be examined. If it’s nothing serious, you can allow your bearded dragons to enjoy the water bowl in a risk-free environment that is also clean and welcoming.