Babies and Avoiding Dehydration

She was hand feed pediolyte from an eye dropper from when she was a hatchling and i have continued it throughout her life. She is wonderfully healthy and i am also using this now with my baby anoles and geckos.

Recently we acquired another adult female iguana that had the runs badly due to a poor diet. I took her off all food and only the pediolyte for two days and she recovered very quick. This stuff is great, now all the babies run to the dropper when i put it in their tank so i thought i would share this with you.

It is good for any age animal or human....

Remember is only keeps for two days, so fill an ice tray with it and then bag the cubes, taking out and melting as needed.

When you have a sick little one, especially taking meds, keeping them hydrated is vital. Here are a few idea that have worked for us:

1. Soak the baby in warm water, following recommendations that we have on the bathing page. Place a paper towel in the bottom so they don't slip and are not afraid. It the baby is weak, you can use the wrinkled wet towel to support its head out of the water.
2. Wet another paper towel and drip the water in front of the baby and a few on the tip of its nose. Many times they will start to drink from the towel or lower their heads following the moving water.
3. If that does not work, splash the water gently in front of the baby and try to get his attention. Moving water seems to fascinate them, even when ill.
4. Last resort is to force fluids into them. And only as a last resort, give them several chances to do this on their own for a day. They will be getting some fluids from the soaks. To force a baby to drink or eat, use an eye dropper, placed toward the back of the ridge of their mouth on one side. Pull the lip slightly down and apply slow pressure, they will usually start to open their mouth. When they do, drop a bit in, even if not in the mouth, along the side may give them a taste and they will start licking on their own. If not, you can move the dropper into their mouth and give them some fluids.

Article by Cheri Smith
Copyright Cheri Smith, The Reptile Rooms ©2003
All images Copyright The Reptile Rooms ©2004 Unless otherwise noted.