Do Bearded Dragons Need Baths? The Surprising Truth!

As a bearded dragons owner, having a happy and healthy bearded dragon is always top of your priorities.

This includes bathing your bearded dragon but do bearded dragons actually need baths? Or is this a pointless exercise that’s just not needed?

In this post, we will take a closer look at whether bearded dragons actually need baths, if there are advantages of giving your bearded dragon a bath and if they actually even like baths. 

So do bearded dragons need baths? Bearded dragons don’t actually need baths in the sense that they can survive without them. Having said this, there are many advantages to giving your bearded dragon a bath such as overall hygiene and elevated levels of hydration that makes bathing your bearded dragon extremely beneficial.

Read On to Discover…

Do Bearded Dragons Need Baths? (More Info)

As we briefly mentioned above, bearded dragons don’t actually need baths in order to survive and maintain a low base level of health and hygiene.

Having said this, it’s vital to understand that if you don’t bath your bearded dragon then you could be depriving them of several benefits that can vastly improve their health, hygiene and even their happiness.

The benefits of bathing your bearded dragon include…

• Softer Skin
• Improved Hygiene
• Bonding Time
• Enrichment
• Bowel Movement
• Increased Hydration

If you aren’t bathing your bearded dragon or you are considering not bathing them any more then you are at risk or depriving your beardie of at least some of these benefits.

Let’s now take a closer look at these 6 benefits of bathing your beardie…

1. Soft Skin

Bathing your bearded dragon regularly helps to soften their skin and stops it from becoming too dry.

At first, it may seem like providing your bearded dragon with softer skin isn’t really of any benefit but it can actually help them a lot.

When your beardie is shedding, hard and dry skin can be difficult to shed and this can make shedding itchy and painful.

Beardies are notorious for having stubborn shedding points around their toes and the tips of their tails so bathing can help to loosen the skin on these areas.

We have actually just created a guide that covers all you need to know about why bearded dragons get itchy when shedding…

Giving your beardie regular baths can significantly help the shedding process to become a much easier and smoother process.

You can also check out our full and easy to follow guide on bearded dragon shedding right here…

2. Improved Hygiene

No matter which way you look at it, if you bathe your bearded dragon then they are going to be more hygienic.

Your beardie could potentially be standing in their own urine and faeces whilst in their tank on a daily basis so if you don’t bath them then there will obviously be bacteria that will build up.

Something else you need to think about is that beardies can actually carry salmonella through their faeces.

If your bearded dragon is standing in their faeces and never getting a bath then you are increasing the risk of getting some sort of infection when you are handling them.

Although we wouldn’t recommend that you have to bath your beardie every day, having a regular bath can certainly keep their hygiene standard much higher and make dandling much safer for you and your family.

3. Bonding Time

Bathing your beardie can actually be a great way to spend some quality time together.

You can add taking a bath on a weekly basis to your list of things to do together.

Bathing is great for building a bond because it’s so hands-on and you are delivering care to your beardie rather than just playing with them.

You can see our ultimate list of toys and bonding activities to do with your beardie here…

4. Enrichment 

As well as using bathing to build a bond with your bearded dragon, you can also use bathing to provide them with much-needed enrichment.

In captivity, bearded dragons can easily lack mental stimulation when they are in their tank for most of the day.

In the wild, beardies are constantly stimulated by having to hunt their own food and keeping an eye out for predators.

Giving your bearded dragon some time out of the tank for different activities such as having a bath is a great way to provide mental stimulation and enrichment.

Have you ever wondered if your bearded dragon can get depressed? Well, we have answered that very question here…

5. Bowel Movement

Bathing your bearded dragons can also be great for encouraging bowel movements.

Usually, the warm water will cause your beardie to poop in the water and empty their bowels.

This can be especially good if your beardie is struggling with impaction or if they simply don’t go very often in their tank.

This is just another way that baths can aid your bearded dragon apart from the obvious of keeping them clean. 

6. Hydration

While baths shouldn’t be used as a primary method of hydration for your beardie, they can be used to increase their hydration.

Often, bearded dragons won’t drink from water bowls due to the fact that they don’t understand the concept of drinking this way and they don’t drink water this way in the wild.

In the wild, bearded dragons get the majority of the water they drink from morning dew on plants and from moisture in the food they are eating.

This means that by nature beardies don’t actually understand how to drink from bowls or bodies of water. 

Beardies often can’t recognise that there is actually any water in the bowl as it’s still without any ripples (water in the wild would be moving and therefore visible)

When they are in the bath, the fact that they are in the water and they can see it moving makes drinking much easier to understand the concept.

This can often mean that some beardies drink much more when they are in the bath than compared to when they are in their tank.

Do Bearded Dragons Need Baths In The Wild?

Bearded dragons don’t have baths in the wild as they will very rarely come across large bodies of water.

At this point, it might be easy to think that because bearded dragons don’t have baths in the wild and they survive just fine, that they also shouldn’t have them in captivity.

Well, captive bearded dragons live much longer than beardies in the wild in general.

While bathing your captive beardie can’t be attributed as the sole reason for this increase in lifespan, better care by owners, on the whole, is the reason and bathing your dragon is an element of better care.

So what we are trying to say is, there are lots of reasons why captive bearded dragons live longer than wild bearded dragons and you should utilise all the different methods you can in order to give your beardie a better quality of life.

How Often Do Bearded Dragons Need Baths?

If you choose to bathe your bearded dragon then you really don’t have to bath them too much.

We would recommend around 1-2 times per week maximum, although some owners do bathe their beardies every day with no signs of skin trouble or other problems.

If your beardie is impacted or struggling to shed stubborn skin then you can choose to bath them more frequently until the problems are resolved.

Do Bearded Dragons Like Baths?

As a bearded dragons owner, you probably already know that beardies have unique personalities.

This means that while some beardies will love to have a bath, others simply won’t.

For the most part, bearded dragons seem to like having baths and for the reasons we have mentioned throughout this article, they understand the benefits that a bath gives them.

For example, if your beardie is struggling to shed certain parts of their skin then they will quickly understand that having a bath will help and their skin will feel much better once they’ve had the bath.

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