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Water Dragon Care Sheet |
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The water Dragon, or chinese water dragon as
it's sometimes known, is a very unique lizard.
As you may have already guessed this Dragon is
not the easiest pet lizard to care for. This is
primarily because you need to supply a healthy
amount of water for This type of Dragon to swim
around in. The inconvenience comes from having
to change the water every day. The chinese water
dragon will naturally do his business in
the water, so care must be taken to change the
water every day to avoid excessive amounts of
bacteria. Also, stop by the page which features
a
fake rock rain forest! Perfect for
water dragons. |
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Cage –
An adult chinese water dragon can reach a length
of 3 feet long. An ideal cage would be 6 feet
long by four or more feet high and 3 feet deep.
As mentioned above, a water Dragon needs a
healthy amount of water at the base of their
cage. The easiest way to accomplish this is to
have a front loading tank or cage, and keep a
good sized tub at the bottom for holding water.
All you have to do then is remember to empty it
once a day, clean it out, and put it back. You
could build up a landscape around it so the tub
looks more natural in the cage. |
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This type of lizard also needs a lot of branches
to climb on, and hide behind. Plants are a good
idea, they provide areas in which to hide. Real
plants are a little bit more work, but might be
worth it as they give off oxygen, help regulate
the humidity in the cage- they need to be
watered and misted every day, and might reduce
stress for your water Dragon. The only drawback
to real plants is the fact that crickets
sometimes like to lay their eggs in the soil.
You also must make sure the plant is free from
pesticides - know who you're buying your plants
from. |
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In the wild, Water dragons live in a very humid
tropical like environment. You need to make an
effort to maintain the humidity levels at around
80%. This involves misting the cage twice a day.
Ideally you need to purchase a device that
measures humidity, as you will want to mimic a
water dragon's natural environment as much as
possible. All these attempts to create a natural
environment are geared towards reducing the
stress your chinese water dragon will endure. A
Chinese water dragon would definitely enjoy a
waterfall, check out this link on how to create
a
fake rock waterfall. |
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Lighting
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Water dragons, like most lizards, need a UVB
light. This is a close mimic of the sun. Lizards
need vitamin D3 in which to properly absorb
calcium, a UVB light will enable a lizard to do
this. Most UVB lights do not produce heat, so an
additional -normal bulb light-is needed to
achieve proper temperatures. A mercury vapor
bulb will produce UVB light in addition to
producing heat. Whatever UVB bulb you get,
follow the directions as to how close your
chinese water dragon needs to get to the bulb
without getting too close, to ensure a healthy
basking spot. A 60 W to a 150 W regular bulb
should be able to get your basking spot to the
proper temps. You want your basking spot on one
side of the cage so there is a temperature
gradient. Your pet Dragon will need this to
thermo regulate his temps. You want your basking
spot in the neighborhood of 90 to 95°. Overall
cage temperature should be 82 to 89° during the
day, temps can fall to 72 to 82° during
nighttime. You need to put your light(s) on a
timer and have them on for 10 to 12 hours a day.
You also need to get a temperature probe, or a
temp gun to accurately know your temps. |
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Food
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Water dragons are omnivores, eating mostly
insects with some veggies and fruit on the side.
About 80 to 90% of the dragons diet should be
made up of insects. The other 10 to 20% can be
made up of veggies and fruit. Crickets,
butterworms, grasshoppers, wax worms and roaches
are all common feeder bugs. You want to make
sure you dust your feeder bug with a calcium
supplement once a day, and dust with a vitamin
supplement once a week. You also want to
gut load your feeder bug with nutritious fruits
and vegetables 24 to 48 hours before you feed
the bugs to your Dragon. They can also eat pinky
mice, make sure these mice are dead before
feeding. Even though water dragons obviously
would eat a live mouse in the wild, the chances
of the mouse inflicting a wound are still there
and feeding a dead one might save you a trip to
the vet. |
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One thing you want to take notice with a chinese
water dragon is its color. A healthy Dragon Will
have a bright green color. If its color turns to
a more pale faded green then it might be Time to
check the temperatures in its cage. A color
change could be a sign of illness or stress in
general. Take the time to investigate if your
Dragon is stressed out for any apparent reason
such as temperature, lack of food, or too much
food (leftover crickets attacking the Dragon) or
it might be time to visit the vet. |
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The water Dragon probably should be left for a
more experienced lizard keeper. The best thing
you can do is read more care sheets and
familiarize yourself with a book or two on the
great lizard known as the chinese water dragon. |
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