Beardies may be hardy creatures, but like other animals, they suffer from parasites and can get ill. Therefore, if you are a bearded dragon keeper, there may come a time when you will be required to administer medication to your dragon.
Depending on the condition being treated, a reptile vet might recommend an oral treatment, which you’ll need to administer at home. Although administering oral medicines is not that complicated, it comes with its unique challenges. It’s even more complex when you have to give oral medication to a baby dragon.
Keep reading to understand some techniques you can use to give oral medication to your bearded dragon.
Bearded Dragons Oral Medication Administration Techniques
Although reptile vets may recommend various medication administration techniques, they emphasize that you must be patient during the process. Here are some typical methods you can use to administer medication to beardies:
Method 1: Grabbing the Skin underneath the Jaw Until the Beardie Opens Its Mouth
This method is ideal for adult beardies that are larger. Slowly pick your beardie from its enclosure and place it on a flat surface above the ground or on your lap. Gently place your hand under the jaw and grab the flabby skin on this part.
Carefully and gently pull the skin down until the beardie opens its mouth. Gently slide the syringe inside the mouth, ensuring that the tip touches the throat. Push the plunger until the syringe’s content goes inside the bearded dragon’s gut.
Avoid pushing the plunger abruptly since this can cause a release of too much medicine, which may choke the bearded dragon. Conversely, try to lift the bearded dragon’s head so that the contents swallowed don’t come back.
Method 2: Holding the Beardie’s Head with One Hand and Sliding the Syringe
This is the easiest method to administer oral medication safely. Place your beardie upright, either leaning to your legs or another surface. Hold your beardie with the left hand if you’re right-handed or vice versa.
Make sure your thumb rests on the fat stores on top of its head and let the other fingers run under its jaw with the pointing finger coming around to pull its lower lip.
Using the pointer finger, nip or pull down the lower lip until there is enough space for you to squeeze in the syringe. Gently put the tip of the syringe in the opening and move it towards the front of the mouth.
Before you reach the front of the mouth, your scaly friend will open its mouth wide. If it doesn’t open the mouth, go back and forth until it does.
Once it opens the mouth, slide the syringe back in and squirt the medicine. Remember to squeeze the plunger fast if the dosage is meager (about 1 or 2 ml). However, if it’s a substantial dosage, you’ll need to depress the plunger bit by bit to avoid your beardie from being choked.
Your beardie might move its head when you force it to open the mouth. So, be ready to depress the plunger and hold the head firm.
There are multiple stories of how people wore half of what was meant to go into the beardie’s gut because they couldn’t push the plunger fast enough.
Method 3: Sticking the Tip of the Syringe into the Bearded Dragon’s Mouth Until It Bites It
This method is also used when administering oral medication to other pets, such as birds. However, not many people have successfully given oral medication to their bearded dragons using this method.
Essentially you need to keep your bearded dragon still and hold its head with one hand.
Using the stronger hand, stick the tip of the syringe on the side of your bearded dragon’s mouth. The beardie will try to bite the syringe, and at that moment, you need to press the plunger and squirt the medicine into its mouth.
Since the biting happens in a split second, you need to be alert so that you can slide the syringe in and administer the medication. Any delayed reaction will see the medicine go into the upper mouth and get spitted out.
If you are using this method, check the integrity of the syringe tip before use. Sometimes the beardie can bite the tip too hard and make the shards fall off when administering the medicine.
If the syringe has cracked and has some flakes that look like they could fall off, you’ll need to discard it and get a new one.
Method 4: Tapping the Lips with the Syringe Tip and Hope the Lizard Will Lick the Tip
This method is ideal for docile beardies that enjoy licking things. However, it requires lots of patience since the beardie will have to lick the entire medicine.
Put the prescribed medication in a syringe and approach your bearded dragon as you do when hand-feeding them.
Start by tapping the beardie’s lips with the syringe, hoping it will start to lick the tip. If it does, begin dripping the medicine drop by drop until the lizard takes all the medication.
The sad thing is that everything is based on whether your beardie will lick the syringe tip. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to administer the medicine using another method.
Conversely, your beardie might also decide to stop licking the drops dripping from the syringe when you’re halfway.
Should You Mix Medication with Food?
Mixing bearded dragon medicines with food will affect the dosing. It’s easy for the medication to react with the contents in the food, thereby losing its potency. Therefore, adding medication to food is not recommended.
The most appropriate way to give your beardies medication is orally using the syringe. You’ll have to insert the syringe into your bearded dragon’s mouth and squirt the medicine.
Final Verdict
You can leverage the four methods discussed to administer your bearded dragon orally. However, your chosen method will depend on how often you handle your lizards and their stubbornness.
All the techniques discussed in this piece don’t hurt your beardie. So, if your scaly reptile sustains an injury, there’s something you’re doing wrong.
Remember, always consult a professional vet before your try any of the oral medication administering techniques.