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Non-venomous topic, please help... Water Dragons
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by Viperlady on November 3, 2006
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Any water dragon owners or breeders around?
What valuable advice can you give me on how to care for them. I mean, stuff you won't find easily on the web. What details, which are not ovbious when looking at a reptile, should I focus on when checking-up a specimen for good health?
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RE: Non-venomous topic, please help... Water Drago
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by Rob_Carmichael on November 3, 2006
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Hey there! I've kept and bred water dragons in the past and they are really neat lizards. To identify a healthy, well acclimated "dragon" you want to check for things such as: body weight (no loose folds of skin....should appear to have good weight), eyes should be clear and NOT swollen or any discharge, rostral area (nose) should not have any cuts or appear to have been rubbed down, color should be a nice bright green (if it's brown it is probably not feeling well). We kept our's in small groups in large vivaria that measured 10' wide x 6' deep x 8' high; that's a lot of space but these are very active animals. We kept the cage very dense with lots of live plants and various climbing branches. Bottom of the cage was a sandy/soil substrate with deep leaf litter on top. We provided a small kiddie pool with a filter and they LOVED to go in there on a daily basis. Heat was provided by several high wattage halogen bulbs (I like ZooMed's Power Sun bulbs) that provide good quality UV heat. We directed the bubls on several different basking areas so that the lizards didn't compete for optimal heat. We fed our's a combination of superworms, fuzzy mice, roaches and the occasional 1-day old quail. They were observed to eat some plant material but seem to like a more carnivorous diet (although we did discover that they love figs). We supplemented the diet with vitamins every 3rd feeding by dusting the insects. Once acclimated they make wonderful pets; the loved to perch on our shoulders when we were doing our chores.
Hope this helps!
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
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RE: Non-venomous topic, please help... Water Drago
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by YoungHerp1 on November 3, 2006
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Hi,
i use to own water dragons. i had 2 pairs in a 75 gallon. i had a fogger lots of vines sticks ect.. they need uvb lighting. and like it warm and moist. Do you have them already or are you getting some? if your getting some make sure wen you pick them out they are fat and healthy. there eyes are not sunkin in there head. i fed mine gut loaded crickets, strawberries, dandy lions, they loved that stuff. dust the food with calcium. i kept my tank in the mid 80s. I had mine for about 7 months, but got rid of them for snakes. Hope this helps.
Mike
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RE: Non-venomous topic, please help... Water Drago
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by Buzztail1 on November 3, 2006
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Am I the only one to wonder which species of "Water Dragon" we are speaking about?
Physignathus cocincinus - Chinese Water Dragon?
or
Physignathus lesueurii - Australian Water Dragon?
Here is a link to an online care sheet for either:
http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/lizards/water-dragon.php
and a link to kind of a troubleshooting guide for chinese water dragon problems:
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/dragontips.htm
Hope this helps.
Karl
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RE: Non-venomous topic, please help... Water Drago
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by Viperlady on November 3, 2006
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Thanks for all your responses...
OOps!! sorry; Karl you're right, I didn't specify. Since in my country the only species found in the pet trade is P. cocincinus, I just forgot I was in a mainly US forum...lol... Sorry, and thanks for the links!!
Well, just to clear it up for Mike. I'm a lot more into snakes and monitor lizards, but the thing is I'm about to get interviewed for a job at a pet trading company, and one of the most popular species is the one referred to, but I've never had one, nor have I assessed anyone on how to keep them, so I just thought it would be of great help to hear some thoughts from serious herp keepers, and I'd probably find interesting info apart from that obtained on webpages. THNX a lot
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