So on the advice of my friend who owns a bearded dragon I was instructed to bathe Lizzie. This actually happened within 24 hrs of the Lizzie rescue. Or at least 48hrs post rescue. She and her mom were gracious enough to come and handle Lizzie and give me pointers. She said "it is really important for them to poop. Plus she is shedding and a bath will relax her to have a poop and also help with shedding." She said I should maybe bathe her once every other day for about 15 min or so. Needless to say I was a little appalled. Really ? Every other day! Anyway. I set up this two bath soak for Lizzie. Two containers with water to about 100-103 deg and the water conditioner. She was in the bath for about 5 min and boom- here comes the poop and partially digested cricket heads. We quickly moved her from the "poopy" bath water to the new and clean bath water. I flushed the poop water and that was that. All in all. Not too painful and she did poop somewhere that made it easy for me to keep enclosure clean so....hey. Not bad. Then we had a vet visit and he suggested I bathe her for just five minutes every day during this period because 1- why not she will get more water and stay hydrated and 2- it will help her molt. So......We are now in this rhythm and I really have to say I don't mind it all. She is like clockwork- Bath. Soak. Poop. Move to clean bath. She stays in clean bath about 5 min as well and during this time I do whatever I need to her habitat. Remove shed skin, throw out stale veggies put in new ones with pellet food and spray it with treated water to soften. Sometimes i just rearrange her habitat to keep her entertained. Then back in she goes all clean to bask and dry. The whole thing takes about 15-20 min and I must admit I really enjoy the fact that her habitat is pretty darn clean. People laugh when I tell them she has never pooped in her condo. And it is true. I got her a new larger enclosure on our second week anniversary and she has never pooped in it. Pretty sweet. So....is there a problem with this frequent bathing ritual? Because I rather enjoy it. Her poop by the way has never appeared partially digested again. I think she was just really cold and stressed when I rescued her and she wasn't digesting properly. Also I posted this in case anyone needed their reptile to poop on demand LOL.
Um. She didn't poop yesterday. Not even in bath. Should I worry? Please bear in mind this is my first ever reptilian friend and I have very limited knowledge of them...
