nursing my sick mountain horned dragon

Question
Hey Nicole, just yesterday i bought a female mountain horned dragon from the pet store where i work.She was in bad shape (dehydrated, bad tail injury) , but that didnt matter to me cuz i just fell in love with her and had to take her home and give her the special care she needs.
She is the "capra" sub-species and approx. 9 in length. Some of her tail got cut off because of the ignorance of someone who mishandled her.So ive been cleaning it daily and putting anti-infection polysporin on it. Its been working great and its healing very well. Now she seems very thin, and still dehydrated cuz her skin is loose and flaky.Shes eating on her own , but im trying to find ways to hydrate her. Ive been opening her mouth a few times a day and squirting some fruit juice in her mouth, and shes taking it in well. Im hoping this is hydrate her as well as give her some strength and weight. I guess my overall question is , Am i on the right track, and are there other things i could be doing to make her well again.. ..
Thank you so much, Joey

Answer
Hi Joey! I am very happy you rescued the poor girl, and I'm sure she is too. You saved her life! I think everything that you are doing is great. I think perhaps pedialyte would be better than fruit juice to help hydrate her. It has electrolytes that aren't in the fruit juice, and the juice might give her loose stools, which wouldn't be good for her.
 You can also give her a nice room temperature bath daily, which will help her rehydrate as well. In the water, you can put electrolyte drops and reptisafe, which will help her further. Her dry flaking skin may partially be shedding, so the bath will help that too. When she is done with the bath, you can put the antibiotic ointment on her tail.
 The other thing that is really essential, is to find a herp vet to have a look at her and examine a fresh stool sample. If she has a heavy parasite load, all your best efforts still won't help her.
  As far as substrate she's on for now, I would use paper towels until the tail heals. You can change them daily, it's cheap, and it's rather sanitary in comparison to others. Keeping the cage as clean as possible will help her heal quickly.
 I am very happy that she is eating for you. That is a big problem for WC or neglected Horned Dragons. It is critical at this point for her to get a very healthy diet, in other words, gutloaded prey items that have been dusted with a good calcium and multivitamin supplement. She is probably nutritionally deficient as well, so giving her good food will also help her heal.
  Please feel free to email me more questions, my heart goes out to you and your new friend! Please let me know how she's doing. Nicole

Follow up: Pedialyte can be found in the baby or toddler section of a grocery store or drug store. Force feeding is a difficult call. I would ask the vet about that when you visit, but it sounds as if you're doing very well! Good luck!