Care Sheet for Water DragonsAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.10 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 01/04/2004 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Water Dragons |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | James 3 |
Years Experience: | 3 to 5 Years |
Species: | Water Dragons |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | Water Dragons |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Most people can’t tell if their water dragon is a male or female. You can not tell if it is a male or a female untill it is about 2 feet in length.You will be able to tell that it is a male because males develop larger heads, jaws and crests. Formal pors on adult males are a bit larger then on females. Most water dragons are not able to breed untill they are about 2 years old which is about 24" in legth. Most people consider water dragons mature (able to breed) when they have a mature nice yellow colour under their neck. |
Mostly Active During: | Both |
Substrate and Water Needs: | In your water drasgons cage you may use non fretlized potting soil for a nice looking and natural envirment. I think soil is the best for bedding but it can be very messy and hard to clean. If you are looking for a easer and quicker way for cleaning use indoor or outdoor carpet. The carpet still makes the cage look natural.Their are some people who use news papper and papper towal for an easer and chepper way for the bottom of the cage.I prefure not to use those two methods because I believe it makes the cage setup look unnatural. In the water dragons cags you should have a pool of water that is about 2" deep for the dragon to swim or sock in. You also have to mist the cage 3 to 4 times a day and it helps keep the humidity at the right level. |
Lighting and UVB: | In the water dragons cage you should use a UVB and a UVA light bulbs,basking bulbs,infared bulbs, ceramic emnitters or you can use UV bulbs. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | The temp in the water dragons cage should be 84 to 88 degrees farinhight during the day. The basking spot temp should be kept between 90 to 95 degrees farinhight. At night the temp should be kept between 75 to 80 dgerees farinhight. The humidity in the cage should be kept between 60 to 80%. The pool of water in the cage helps with the humidity and moister. You should mist the cage 3 to 4 times a day if nessary with warm water. |
Heating and Equipment: | I have covered most of the heating in humidity and lighting. Here are just a few other things that would help in heating. The first one is heating rockes. I would not recomand useing these because the may burn you water dragon.If you are considering using a heating rock their is a way to get around buring your water dragon. If you use potting soil you should barry the rock about 1 inch under the soil. This will help with keeping the proper humidity level. The second way is to use a day glow basking lamp with a watt of 75. |
Caging Provided: | For my water dragons I have a 50 gallon tank with a 1 to 3 inch pool. The pool is 1 foot long and 1 foot wide. I have stickes over the pool with fake vines hanging over it so the dragons can hide. In the bottom of the cage I use soil. I have fake and real plants sticks and other vines for climbing.For the top of the cage I have plastic with holes and screen covering it. the plastic helps to keep the humidity and heat in the cage. Water dragons are from China and South Asia so I try to keep the natural looking enviroment. Keeping the natural look helps to prevent high stress levels and makes them feel more confortable. |
Diet: | Omnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Water Dragons are not very fussy eaters, I consider this to be a good thing.This is an example of the food that i feed my waterdragons:crickets,supperworms,mealworms,earthworms,mice, comets and day old chicks. you can also put common feeder gold fish and guppies in the water pool in bthe cage.
Here are some groups of food that they eat:
Greens:shreded romane lettuce,musterd plants and dandilians
Veggies:Yellow squash, sweet potatos,parsnips,green beans and carrots
Fruits:strawberries,rasberries,bluebarries,bananas and verious mellons |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | For my water dragon I put calcium powder on it’s food every second day and I use drinking water conditionerin the swimming pool and in the misting bottel.I also use electroyte supplement in the misting waster. If you feed your water dragon crickets or other live pray make sure that they are well feed so that your water dragon gets the propper nutristion that they requier. |
Maintenance: | For the water in your water dragons tank should be changed daily. If you have a filtering system you should change the water once a week. The cage should be spoy cleaned every day and cleaned fully every 2 weeks.When you clean tthe cage you should use 1 part bleach and 9 parts water. This will kill all germs,mits,pesides and pareisites. When you are done cleaning the cage make sure that you rinse it out well because bleach is harmful to the water dragon. Also when cleaning the cage you should clean the stickes and other objects that your water dragon come in contact with. Also change the carpet or clean the carpet that you have before setting the cage up again. |
Some Words on this Species: | Water dragons are wonderful reptile to have as pets. They can reach lenghts of 3 feet. Females are a bit smaller then males.They can live to be about 18 years in capitivy. You can start a small water dragon in a 10 gallon tank but they will grow out of it very quickly.Full grown water dragons should be kept in a cage about 5 feet l;ong and 4 feet wide. I do not think that water dragons are the best pets for begginers because they requier alot of work.Water dragons are a real good pet for middle aged kids with a little bit of help from the parents.Water dragons are real nice and i have never been bit by one, yet. Enjoy your reptiles they have feelings too. |
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