I am a new owner of a chinese water dragon he is about 13 inches long I have him in a tank that is 6 foot long 250 gallons. Please tell me the best substrate to use. Right now I am using aspen bedding. Also I need to know what kind of lighting I need UVA UVB, I am now using a 5.0 Reptiglo bulb and a Ceramic Heat Emitter. I have researched everything on the internet and every site says something different. Is repti bark good for them? I read the care sheet on this site but was wanting input from others. I bought this dragon from someone who had him in a 20 gallon tank, the only light they were using was a regular 60 watt light bulb and were feeding him shrimp pellets and in the summer they fed him crickets from a bait shop, since we got him a week ago we have given him gut loaded crickets and meal worms. How often should I feed him. I will post a picture of him soon.

Best substrate in my opinion is soil (free of pesticides, manure, etc.). Aspen shavings are no good in a humid environment as they may get mold if they get wet (dragons need humidity to be 60-85%). Bark can cause an impaction if ingested so is not recommended.

The ExoTerra Reptiglo 5.0 does not produce much UVB. The only UVB fluorescent tube light I would use would be the ZooMed Reptisun 10.0. Better than any fluorescent tube light is a mercury vapor bulb (which produces UVA, UVB, and heat) such as reptileuv.com's MegaRay. Here is an excellent UV site you should check out: UV Guide UK - Ultraviolet Light for Reptiles - UVB reptile lighting on test. It tests and compares UVB lights. If you would like to stick to a fluorescent tube light, avoid the compact versions.

What are the temperatures? The ceramic heat emitter by itself is probably not producing enough heat. Chinese water dragons need these temperatures:

Basking Spot: 90 - 95F / 32.2 - 35C
Warm Side: 84 - 88F / 28.8 - 31.1C
Cool Side: 75 - 80F / 23.8 - 26.6C

You can use a regular heat light from a hardware store (plus a UVB light); or you can just use a mercury vapor bulb for heat and UVB.

How long did the previous owner have the dragon?

He should be fed once a day everyday as much as he will eat in a sitting until he is older.

I would not feed him mealworms as a staple as they are chitinous and have little nutrients. Here are food items you can offer:

Staple food items:
crickets
superworms
silkworms
phoenix worms
butter worms (aka trevo worms)
earthworms
roaches
locusts (if outside the U.S.)

Occasional food items:
waxworms
mealworms
fish
mice (pinkies)

If you are interested in getting other insects, you can buy them online from places such as Mulberry Farms - Reptile Food - Silkworm Supply. There are other places - you can google the insect you want to find more.

Variety is key to a healthy animal.

Never feed food items larger than the space between the dragon's eyes.

Make sure to dust the feeders with a pure calcium supplement (phosphorus-free and vitamin D3-free). He will get phosphorus from his food, and he will make his own D3 with UVB.

Good job rescuing him!

Like DragonPaw said. Both the aspen and repti-bark are bad ideas. Not only do they both get moldy in high humidity situations, but the aspen won't help keep the humidity up and is in fact more likely to dry out the air, and the repti-bark is an impaction risk. And organic soil with NO additives would be good, Miracle Grow makes one that I used. Or you could go with something easier to maintain and clean like tiles...

Mega Ray would definatly be a better UVB source for you. the 5.0 is made for animals with low UVB requirements. And the bulbs tend to last longer. Here is a link if you would like to check them out. Welcome To ReptileUV - Mega-Ray® UVB lamps for reptile lighting worldwide

I would also suggest to start thinking of a way to add a topper to your tank. The Water Dragons like to be able to climb. They want vertical space just as much if not more than horizontal.

Good luck!

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i'm going to reiterate what shell said. Very good advice. For your 250 gallon tank, does your little guy have lots of height to climb? Also does he have a water source he can submerge himself into?

welcome.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Welcome to HC, and good luck with your dragon!

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~Juliane~

Thanks for all your help everyone, it's nice to hear from people who actually know what they are talking about, unlike the people at PetSmart, all they do is hand you a care sheet and persuade you to buy 150.00 worth of stuff they know nothing about.... My tank is 2 feet high and is 6 feet long, I have a screen top on it also plexiglass on parts of that. I have one side that is two feet long filled with water that is heated and filtered, there is a divider and the other four foot is dry. The water is about 3 inches deep should it be deeper? We have a 48" light fixture and want to get a light for that. I want to get a red infrared light to add to my heat emitter, are those a good choice? The temp on both sides of the tank are 80 degrees and his basking spot is under the emitter so it shoud be around 90 degress. I was wondering how often they shoud poop and what should it look like. The people that had him were feeding him shrimp pellets and in the summer would feed crickets from bait shops. He was in a bad environment I hope that where he is now he will get better. They got him from someone and didn't know how old he was they think he is about 3 years, but he is only 13 inches long that doesn't sound right. He acts like he really likes the tank now that he has much more room. Where do you get the crickets worms etc.... other than PetSmart, they are expensive. I live in Kentucky and do not have a lot of options here. Do you order them? I was thinking of getting the carpet because I do not want to use soil, are there any downsides to using the carpet? I am going to post some pic's today I think he is male that is what I was told, any more info is appreciated.

Water dragons like to climb so more height would be appreciated. It would be relatively simple to build a box to sit on top of the tank that would raise the available height by several feet. And if you enclose the box with 3 sides of plywood and the front of plexi it will help with controling heat and humidity
I prefer CHEs to baskng lights for heat. The basking lights don't last very long and replacing 3 of them will pay for your heat emitter which will last for years! There are anumber of places online to order insects at far less than you will pay at Petsmart!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I have a 150 watt Ceramic Heat Emitter would you recommend a 240 watt or will the 150 watt be sufficient?

I would make it so there is a basking spot under the UBV light that is warmer than the other side of the tank. You want to have a good temp gradient. I would put your heat emitter and basking light on one side so its warmer. Merlin is right on the height. I would consider building something to add another 2 feet with lots of climbing branches. When this happens you will need to get an additional heat emitter or a higher wattage one.

Make sure the mesh on what the lights sit is greater than 1/4" wide. Otherwise your UVB light isn't getting through. The basking spot should be 12" from the basking light.
I order my crickets from reptilefood.com. Right now since its winter and they have to be shipped over night, they are a bit pricey, but still cheaper than petsmart. You will have to keep them in a big rubbermaid storage container. You can follow the directions under the feeder caresheets.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Regarding the Heat emitter, there is no way of knowing untill you get things set up and check it with a thermometer. There are too many variables, like the ambient temp in the room, how much ventilation the enclosure has etc. My 4ftx6ft iguana enclosure which is basically a big enclosed wooden box is heated by a single 240 watt Ceramic Heat Emitter. And the room gets pretty chilly at night in the winter.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!