Water Dragon ???

Question

Im thinking off getting a chinese water dragon. Well 2 actually together. Im going to get small and young ones, and i have a 4 foot by 2 foot by 2foot viv. This should do them for a good year. But i wanted to know what lighting should they have. I have a powersun bulb, which gives out UV and Heat. I also wanted to know if they bite much? Can they Be tamed? Does thier bite hurt? Thanks

Ash

Answer 1

buy "the guide to owning a water dragon" by john coborn. it will have all the info you need to start off right! good luck

Answer 2

You will need a large enclosure, one larger than most people think will be needed by a lizard of this size. The reason most are missing much of their faces, rubbed off from the snout back past the front teeth, is that water dragons will literally rub their flesh off and break their jaw bones trying to get out of a too small enclosure. They need space at least 2 x their total length - so you are talking min 6 ft long (side to side), at least 2-3 feet deep and 4-6 feet high to do it right.

Water dragons can be kept together, with one to three males in a room-sized enclosure. Some females can be domineering and may not want any other females around...others can co-habit with 3-4 females. You must monitor them all the time to assure all are feeding and basking properly throughout the year. If any aren't, you are most likely seeing the results of intimidation and will need to increase the number of basking and feeding areas and/or increase enclosure size or separate them.

Water dragons are semi-arboreal but also need enough water to submerge and swim comfortably in, as well as branches for climbing, and plenty of ground area for roosting and feeding. They also need the appropriate thermal gradients, photoperiods, and a UVB light.

Mixture of 2/3 peat soil + 1/3 clean sand with areas of bark. Can also keep on fake Astroturf. Very active digestive systems so lots of messy p**p if they don't go in their water.

Placed on the diagonal for climbing, horizontal for roosting.