Well, after a real scare, and a sudden application of mouth-to-snout resucitation, our Chinese Water Dragon "Demetiros" is doing very well. He's eating again, very active, and very bright & attentive. We think that the cause of our near-loss was supply of crickets or meal worms that were, essentially, poisoned. We lost some of our small lizards, almost lost our Grandis Day gecko (we're still not sure she's going to make it).

As a by-product of all our problems, I hit upon a Chinese Water Dragon habitat change that seems to have worked wonders for Demetrios. Previously, his basking heat source was at the dry end of the tank, and the water was at the cool end (his tank is roughly 60% dry, and 40% water, about 4" deep). The danger of this is that if they get into the water to cool off, and get TOO cool, they may not be able to climb out of the water, and could drown. Now, I have the basking heat source over the water (temp out of the water is around 88F, water is about 85F), and the coolest area, at the far, arid end is around 78F.

Since lizards are most active when they are warm, it makes sense to have the water warm, and the land cooler, so they are most able to extricate themselves from the water when they are the most active. Demetrios has had this setup for a week or so now, and is clearly delighted! He sleeps in the cool end at night, down on the substrate, and seems to sleep comfortably and soundly. When he's up during the day, though, he scampers around on the higher branches in his tank, and delights in flinging himself off the branch that overhangs the water, landing with a large splash (we call this activity "Kowabunga!"). He splashes around for a few moments, climbs back up, and does it again, over and over. He prefers not to be disturbed when he's doing this! Usually, he does it 8 or 9 times in a row, then stops and demands food, by putting his snout against the glass, staring at us, and scratching at the glass if we don't immediately jump up and feed him. He's VERY insistent when he's hungry. He's gained weight, his tail has thckened, and he's very green & bright-eyed. At this point, a water dragon success story

Im glad your WD is doing good. But, did you have the gecko and other lizards in the tank with the water dragon? How did it escape?

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

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

marsha, i'm going to take a wild stab they were in different tanks but fed from the same batch of crickets. I can't imagine what I would do with a bad batch of crickets. I would be devistated.

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

Gotcha, lol

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

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

How in the heck can you get a bad batch of crickets and how would you know if you did? That scares the crap outta me! :0

ZeTEc, having the heat source over the water should also help with humidity as well. You might find that you don't need to spray quite as much as you used to now.

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i have no idea, but I have heard it happening. Always buy from a well known source. I'm about to start breeding my own.

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

If the crickets are fed something that has something toxic in it, they may live long enough to be shipped out and eaten. Or it may not be toxic to them, but only to the animals eating them, I guess.

It's definitely a scary thought, that's for sure.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

After I move Drago to the bigger viv...I may turn one of my smaller tanks into a cricket tank myself. Could not stand the thought of losing one my babies to bad food!

I get my crickets by the 1000 from an online retailer. There is a guy who is local who breeds his own, but I don't really trust it. I have a huge rubbermaid container that I keep them all in.

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