Water dragon advice

[veiledchameleonyoshi]

I am planning on getting a chinese water dragon and I have a few questions about setting up a cage. First of all, what type of substrate is best for them? Also, I want to make the tank half shallow water and half substrate with some sort of barrier in between. Any ideas on what to use for this barrier? Any other ideas for setting up the terrarium are welcome as well. Thanks

 

[Julirs]

The Water Dragon is yet another animal that is poorly housed by people that do not understand their needs. Like chameleons, water dragons need height to their cage and have almost greater height requirements than chams. My 2 year old water dragon is housed in the largest size Reptarium outside here in Florida when it is warm enough. He has a large branch, Schefflera plants, and lighting exactly like a chameleon-Reptisun 10.0 and a heat lamp. I often move him out into the sun. Being in Florida-humidity is great for him-but in colder climates and indoors people use wood and glass cabinets. Here Cuddles has a plastic shoebox full of water that I change daily to soak in and drink from. Now when cold-he comes in just like my outside chams and rather unhappily lives in a 10 gallon tank with cypress mulch and a water dish that he can still get his body in. No substrate is probably best-in the big cabinet style cages people often use ceramic tile. This is a great web site for dragon care: www.triciaswaterdragon.com

Oh-about making a cage half water-you will go crazy trying to change the water-best to use something you can dump out easily.

 

[veiledchameleonyoshi]

The Water Dragon is yet another animal that is poorly housed by people that do not understand their needs. Like chameleons, water dragons need height to their cage and have almost greater height requirements than chams. My 2 year old water dragon is housed in the largest size Reptarium outside here in Florida when it is warm enough. He has a large branch, Schefflera plants, and lighting exactly like a chameleon-Reptisun 10.0 and a heat lamp. I often move him out into the sun. Being in Florida-humidity is great for him-but in colder climates and indoors people use wood and glass cabinets. Here Cuddles has a plastic shoebox full of water that I change daily to soak in and drink from. Now when cold-he comes in just like my outside chams and rather unhappily lives in a 10 gallon tank with cypress mulch and a water dish that he can still get his body in. No substrate is probably best-in the big cabinet style cages people often use ceramic tile. This is a great web site for dragon care: www.triciaswaterdragon.com

Oh-about making a cage half water-you will go crazy trying to change the water-best to use something you can dump out easily.

Thanks for the advice. Wouldn't it be possible to use a filter to keep the water clean and then use a fish tank syphon to clean the water every couple days?

 

[Julirs]

My thought would be no way. You realize these things get to be the size of small cats when they are grown right?

 

[ConcertPhotog]

I would suggest using a plastic cat litter tub for the water tray. It's what I use with an air bubbler placed inside it and is the easiest type of container to clean. Remember they always go to the bathroom in the water (at least mine does), so it requires changing just about every day. I second the advice on no substrate, much easier to keep clean and eliminates places for insects to hide.

 

[Chase]

Sometimes even bigger. Mine is about 4ft long. I agree with what Julirs said about the enclosure. Mine is in a custom made cage, about 7ft tall. He never goes outside, but has a 10.0 about 6-7 inches from where he perchs. I was wondering if his humidity is high enough, I'm going to start spraying him everyday and get him a dripper.

EDIT: I have substrate, and mine doesn't poo in it. It just depends on if it's been grown on it. If they have, I think it's fine if they have some substrate.

 

[veiledchameleonyoshi]

My thought would be no way. You realize these things get to be the size of small cats when they are grown right?

Alright. I'll probably just use a cat litter box and fill it with water. Would it be ok to use cage carpet on the bottom of the cage?

 

[Julirs]

I would say use something you can wipe up more easily-cage carpet gets nasty.

 

[Chase]

Until you put in it the washing machine . I don't do that thought lol.

 

[veiledchameleonyoshi]

I would say use something you can wipe up more easily-cage carpet gets nasty.

What about paper towels? They would be really easy to change every day.

Also, do you know how to tell males and females apart when they are babies?

 

[kinyonga]

I've kept/bred/hatched/raised water dragons for over 15 years. I keep them in glass cages (with screen lids) that are longer than they are high. The cage is divided so that about 2/3rds of it is "land" and 1/3 is water. The two areas are divided by a glass dam about 8" high (for adults). I have a drain in the water area and a tap below the cage so that I can easily drain it. I make sure that the water isn't deep enough to drown the dragon.

I have a long linear tube UVB light running along the back part of the lid and a basking light at one end (over the "land" part of the cages). Basking temperature for adults is in the high 80's to low 90's. For hatchlings I keep the temperatures more moderate (low to mid 80's) I use cypress mulch as a substrate and have several branches for them to sit on. When there is a female in the cage, I put in a place for her to lay eggs.

I feed the hatchlings small crickets twice a day. I feed the adults an assortment of insects every second day. I also feed them an assortment of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, etc.) and a small amount of fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.). I use this for babies and adults.

I dust the insects the same way I do for the chameleons and I also put a powdered calcium on the "salads".