hi all,

i just got my Chinese Water Dragon, Norbert, a week from today... he's awesome! i've gotten so attached to him already

i've noticed that around this time almost every night (9-10 pm) he gets pretty hyped up and tries climbing up on the glass. right now his home is a 10 gallon tank and i'm wondering if it's because he feels cramped in such a small enclosure... or is it just because he wants to come out? after looking at some of the other threads i'm realizing that he should probably have a bigger home, except I don't have much room for something really big.

also... he hasn't eaten any crickets at all so far i've tried feeding both live and dried and he could care less about either... the only thing he's eaten is the mealworms. i don't think he's eating any of the veggies either.

other than that he seems to be doing really good adjusting
thanks for reading, any input would be great

I don't know any thing about water dragons, but here is the link to our caresheet.
http://www.herphabitats.com/reptile_...ter_dragon.htm

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Colleen

Hello,

First off congrats on your new addition. I was just curious how you have him set up. What kind of heating and lighting do you have on him (names of brands too)? What size cage do you have him at, humidity, temp, vitamins...

Adult water dragons take a lot of space so I hope you took that into consideration before you purchased him. They tend to get big rather quickly too. An adult Chinese Water Dragon will take a cage that is twice it's total length long, it's length wide and twice it's total length tall (approximately), obviously this is variable and some may argue different but that's about the size to make them happy which will come out to be somewhere between 4-6 feet wide, 2-3 feet deep and 5-6 feet tall.

Glass tanks are not preferred as water dragons have a tendency to rub their faces off on the glass so try to cover 3 of the sides of the tank if you can if it is a glass tank.

My Chinese Water Dragon also get very active at night, however they are diurnal and are primarily day animals which is why they have a need for UVB lighting. There are a few brands out there that are reliable and I'd go for a Mercury Vapor Bulb over a florescent light fixture any day but if that's what you have then it will suffice. Some will argue that the florescent are better...it's personal preference to a degree but there is lights that ARE better than others. Check product reviews to see what ones are best.

As for diet, he probably will have certain things he likes to eat at this age. Make sure that he is still getting all his vitamins and calcium at this age. He should be getting calcium every day and multi-vitamin once or twice a week. Crickets tend to make better food than mealworms but try to offer a variety of things such as silk worms, wax worms, earthworms, crickets, veggies and fruits along with what you make the staple of the diet. He'll eat it or he won't.

Basic heat/humidity info is 75f-80f cool side of tank, 82f-88f warm side with about a 90f-92f basking spot. Humidity at 75-85%.

If I missed anything or if someone finds me with some wrong information please feel free to tell me...also...good luck with your Chinese Water Dragon.

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0.1.0 Brazilian Rainbow boa (Sakura)
1.1.0 Leopard geckos (Tasuki, Sango)
2.0.0 Ball pythons (Tsume, Kenshin)

thanks colleen and manhirwen for the replies

right now I have him in a 10 gal. tank that is 20" long, 10" wide, and 12" high... Norbert is about 12" long from snout to tip of his tail... he def needs a bigger home but I did get cover the sides of the tank, so I haven't really run into any problems with him banging into the glass. sometimes he sits in front of the glass and looks off into space though, and I wonder if he's looking at his reflection or silhouette in the glass, but it's so hard to tell!

he was an early x-mas gift, which is why i'm not as prepared as i'd like to be, but i'm working on getting him a better enclosure. the main problem I have is the fact that I don't have too much room for a really big home, because he's being kept in my bedroom, which has alot of clutter to begin with.

right now the temp's are pretty good, daytime 80-85 with a humidity of 60-70, sometimes I can get it up to 80. i have both a plexiglass lid and a cage top lid for the tank, which I sometimes alternate or use together to get the temps right. the UVB bulb I have is 100w, not sure of the brand since that was part of the "gift" too. i also have a small Under Tank Heater on the warmer side of the tank and a plant in there to keep the humidity.

the substrate for now, was originally the bark, which I changed to moss until I get the terrarium liner that I ordered online. i also got some dried crickets and grasshoppers in hopes of getting him to eat something other than the mealworms. picked up some liquid vitamin and some gut load for the live crickets too.

i've been using the calcium/phosphorus powder with his mealworms and veggies for now. is there any other fruits besides strawberries,blueberries, or raspberries that you could recommend?

oh and how often should he get a bath? the water dish he has right now isn't as big as i'd like it to be, so i'm sure he'll enjoy a nice clean dip in the tub

i'll post a pic of Norbert's room soon

It doesn't really matter if the room is cluttered a water dragon really needs the space. And I wouldn't bother buying the dead crickets, they're not very healthy and most won't eat them. From what I know they should always have a little pool in their tank big enough for him to fit in and they usually like to hang out on the top of the tank from what I'm told and from the sounds of it he's going to be a pretty unhappy Chinese Water Dragon if you leave him in a 20 with no room to climb, no room to bath and no room...I find my 15 to small for my leo! Even if you got a rubbermaid container that's bigger then that it would be cheeper and he'd be at least a bit happier for the moment. He really needs a bigger home (I want one so bad lol but I'm stuck in the same no room situation as you).

I'm not a Chinese Water Dragon owner because I am running out of places for cages, but a lot of my friends have them, all their cages are quite large, with a water source of some kind that is either filtered or changed daily that is deep enough and wide enough for them to stretch out in and float or swim a little. The water dragons at work in the Aquarium are all big fans of hte water, and spend a lot of time in it or right next to it. Even the quarantine enclosures are about 4Lx4Hx2W, and those are only for the first 3 months.

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“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…'"
- Isaac Asimov



TKE:TT:118

thanks for the replies... i know I need a bigger enclosure and water dish and I plan on getting both soon

has anyone tried some fruit or veggies other than the ones mentioned on tricia's page? and ways to entice him to eat something other than the mealworms?? he's still not eating any crickets, he's a picky little bugger
oh and what kind of plants are you all using in your enclosures? i have one in mine already, but i'd like to get something different and bigger once I get him a larger home.

Well congrats on the new addition!! I know you've had him for a week but he still maybe stressed out a bit. Maybe once he gets used to everything and you have all temps right he will be good to go! They are really neat I used to work at a pet store that had 2 of them and they were soo cute! I personally just don't want to own one I have plenty of herps!! Haha.Good luck!!

thanks for the kind words he's super cool! i'm so attached to him already, he's like my newborn baby haha... if one day you decide you'd like to add another herp to your zoo, definitely get a Chinese Water Dragon!

Awww...they are great arnt they. Dont forget to post more pics of your baby

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MARSHA
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