These are some pictures of my Chinese water dragon Spike, I got him 3 weeks ago from someone who was keeping him in a 20 gallon tank with only a small bowl of water, a light bulb, aspen bedding, and feeding him shrimp pellets. They only fed him crickets in the summer from a bait shop. Needless to say he was in a very bad place.

Now that we have him we've got him in a 6 foot long tank with plans to make it 5 feet tall (right now it is 2 feet). We are feeding him gut-loaded crickets, meal worms, and wax worms. We bought the Mega Ray heat projector which I love, it is soooo much better than the heat emitter. We also bought the Mega Ray SB flood UVB lamp and the full spectrum High definition tube light. Their products are great, and they are very helpful if you call them and ask questions. Everyone should try their bulbs. The website is Welcome To ReptileUV - Mega-Ray® UVB lamps for reptile lighting worldwide, thanks to the person who told me about them.

I want to post pictures of him to get everyone's opinion on him. I know that he has not grown right because of his unfavorable conditions. They told me they thought he was about 3 years old but he is only 14 inches long. His tail is blunt on the end and is brown, a few of his spikes are missing. I'm sure he has not shed in a while if at all.

My question is; Now that he is in the right conditions, will he start shedding and growing normally? Also, do you think it is a male? I am new at this so I need some help. I have been looking at other pictures of Chinese Water Dragon and they are much longer than this one is. If he is 3 years should he be much longer than 14 inches? Please give me your opinion as to if he looks normal or not. Also, it looks like he is starting to shed around his spikes. He also missing a front toe, the previous owner thought that he was born that way.

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well, he/she is looking nice and green. I can't answer your questions but he looks like he is enjoying his new space.

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

Here is a link to help you with sexing...

Chinese Water Dragon Caresheet - Part 2 - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

Given the right conditions and feeding, s/he should start getting back to normal. The shedding all depends on how much he eats and how much he grows.

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MARSHA
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We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

I'm so glad you took him in!! And he does look very "he". He has a high dorsal crest and the colorful throat.

For growth - especially if he's already supposed to be three years old - he may be stunted and never regain a normal growth weight or length. The older they are the more unlikely they will ever catch up to where they should be.

You're doing the best things possible you can. The Mega Rays (and I'm assuming you talked to Bob) are the best thing you can offer this guy. The diet sounds like a great start.

You should avoid the mealworms except perhaps as an occasional food. Mealworms are chitinous and have little nutrients. A larger variety would be beneficial. Here are other insects you can offer:

Staple food items:
crickets
superworms
silkworms
phoenix worms
butter worms (aka trevo worms)
earthworms
roaches
locusts (if you are outside the United States)

Occasional food items:
waxworms
mealworms
fish
mice (pinkies)

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Veronica
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Exotic Animal Rescue of Henry Co.
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Nice job with the proper set up. You'll definately want to give him some more climbing room. Those SB bulbs are great, I love em too. Take a look at the chart below. It's an approximate age to length chart. If he's lost part of his tail use the snout to vent length "snout to vent length". Tails make up about 2/3 of these beauties. And like prismwolf said, if he's (definately a he) stunted he will most likely always be. He could still grow, just probably not to his full potential (in some cases 36" for a male). Oh and keep the humidity up with alot of misting to aid in his shedding.



Approx. Age snout to vent length Intact snout to tail length
Hatchling 1 - 1.5" 5 - 6"
6 months 2 - 3" 7 - 9 "
12 months 3 - 4.5" 10 - 12"
18 months 4.5- 6" 16 - 18"
24 months - female 6.5 - 7.5" 22 - 26"
24 months - male 6.5 - 9" 22- 28"

you are luckkyyy, ive always wanted to get a male but I have two females...andd im not complaining. Hope to hear some good news in the futureee!!
EDIT

for any insect you use, especially if its the staple gUTLOAD!! You can provide most of the nutrients through the staple if properly gutloaded, and supers are(in my mind) the easiest to gutload...since they LIVE in their food

I'm not a water dragon keeper, but I think I can safely say that you've got more lighting than you need. A self-ballasted mercury vapor UVB light should provide all your light, UVB, and usually heat requirements. A "full spectrum" bulb really serves no purpose except to provide light, so you don't need it. And unless the tank is too cold without the heat projector, you don't need that either.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

I also use fluorescent "high-def" tubes along with the Mega Ray EB for Zair - my ig. These are LUX lights which add a more natural daylight quality to the set up. 6500K (kelvin) allows for truer colors in the enclosure. It's not really too much - it's considered more of an upgrade, or enhancement, in the lighting setup. You can get these in any Lowe's or or such store.

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Veronica
,,
/_^.)///////////,,,,,
...\\\_#_#_#_//_#_#_#_#_#_£_£_&_&_
..._//......_\\
Exotic Animal Rescue of Henry Co.
~~Rescue - Rehab - Rehome~~