Hello everyone. My Chinese Water Dragon has been doing great.. up until lately... The problems started about a week or week and a half ago, he was shedding and having his normal not want to be messed with or eat a whole lot attitude but then he started to not open his eyes and only lay around .. we put himthe bath to help the shedding along and it worked all of what was left came off and he was completely green and healthy looking, but the closed eyes and no eating and lying around all day is still going on.. i dont know what is wrong with him he looks healthy he just wont move or open his eyes or eat.. could he be hybernating or something along those lines considering it is getting cold outside.. in the 50’s and 60’s... please offer your comments.. thank you!

Welcome to Herpcenter. You have come to the right place for help, many water dragon owners here. Can you give us a little info as far as the temps (cool and warm end) and also humidity, substrate ect.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

how old is he, are you sure its a he? temps would be very helpful..what type of substrate do you use? btw I have 3 Chinese Water Dragon s..they are awesoem lizards!!

welcome to hc btw

Sounds like the textbook symptom for listlessness. Evaluate your enviromental items such as humidty stress and temps. If those are all in line with the suggested paramters then evaluate diet. If diet is good the issue is likly medical. To be honest it sounds as if its medical from the limited info so far.

Thank you all for replying. The temps are fine in his cage, the humidity is fine, and his substrate is the same he's always used and always been healthy with, his diet is meal worms and crickets and sometimes fruit, there is nothing that would be causing him stress and anytime he gets stressed out he turns brown anyway and he is still bright green... I couldn't even imagine what would be medically wrong with him, i bought a night heat lamp for him yesterday just to make it even warmer in his viv as the colder temps arrive so maybe that will do some sort of help... idk... (when I say the temps, etc. are fine I mean they are the same they've always been since we got him which was in May so we've had him about 7 months and he's about 15-16 inches long.

ohk...well what is ''fine''? and what type of substrate do you use? Its very important for us to konw these things in order to help you..and it his temp/humidity arnt rite it can be very dangerous for him...what type of fruit do you feed him? http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/ here is tricias website..its very helpful youll find out everything you need to know about temps and humidity, same with what types of fruit and veggies are good for him

In this case Toxiccarousel I'd say if you have eliminated any variables in the enviroment and diet its going to fall under a medical reason. Laying for long periods of time with closed eyes is not the normal behavior of a 16 inch long water dragon and listlessness is usually considered a pretty advanced symptom for a few things like (but not limited to) dehydration, Respiratory infection, impaction and severe parasite load. I would take him to the vet at the next available time to get a full work up done. Tricia's page cited above has some great info on the topic under illness's I think. Best of luck and keep us posted.

When reptiles become lethargic (sleepy, inactive, eyes closed) they are often very sick. Right now it doesn't matter what it is that is making the dragon sick ... what matters is getting the animal to a veterinarian that specializes in reptiles and have it seen so that the vet can figure out what's wrong. When they are inactive like your's is there is often little time to wait around and see if the animal gets better on it's own. It's time to see the vet- ASAP. Make an appt today please, your dragon doesn't have much time.

If you need help finding a reptile vet give us an idea where you are- city, state/province.

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Tricia