Dehydration

Signs of dehydration
lack of energy
lack of an appetite
wrinkled skin
sunken eyes
your beardie will perk up after a bath or from drinking water

Along with MBD and emaciation, you will most likely have dehydration. You will want to make sure this is the FIRST thing you do when you get your rescued beardie home. They can not digest food if they are dehydrated. Pedialyte baths are the best thing to do to hydrate them. If you can't get it at the store here is a simple way to make your own, 1 cup water, 2 tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bath should consist of 50/50 warm water/pedialyte. My rescue beardie Cassie had all 3 of these problems, MBD, emaciation and dehydrated. I started out with 2 pedialyte baths a day for a week, started feeding her baby food with a syringe (squash was her favorite) for a few days, then added in a little repti-boost to it. I had her on liquid calcium so I added a little baby food to it and syringe fed her that then gave her the baby food. I only had time to feed her twice a day but the more smaller feeding the better for them. Some beardies will be very weak and will not lick baby food off their nose. If you have to force feed your rescue, you have to be careful not to get the food in their lungs. You can open their mouth easily by putting your thumb on their beard and GENTLY pull down, slip the syringe in the side of their mouth and around to the front and just put a drop of food in. DO NOT squirt food in their mouth. Most of the time they will figure out its food and will get to where they will lick it off their nose. If they are weak it might take a few days of them eating to have the strength to lick food off their nose.






This is what Cassie looked like the day I brought her home.

What Cassie looks like now, a year later