do Chinese water Dragons need a Under tank heating pad?

[Akasha]

Hello, I am just wondering if My Little Chinese water dragon "CAMO" could benefit from a under tank heater.. also all he seems to want to eat is his gut loaded dusted crickets, I have tried offering him different insects and he rather bunk with them than eat them... Any advice would be greatly appreciated..

[el8ch]

First off, Welcome to BP.Net!

I would not suggest a UTH for your Chinese Water Dragon as the primary heat source, you can add one as long as it is controlled be a thermosts or somethring as they can get very hot, hot enough to badly burn your lizard! I would suggest you have your enclosure setup with a basking light or CHE (make sure these are monitored with a Rheostat) and have you ambient air temperature just around 80 with your basking spot at 84-88. The night time temperatures can be between 75-80.

Also you will want to provide UVB lighting. UVB is required as it produces the vitamin D3 which your Dragon needs to absorb calcium in their diet.

Remember that Chinese Water Dragons love to swim and ideally should have half of their enclosure on land and the other half with water deep enough for them to swim in. Keep in mind water changes are essential as they tend to use their water like a litter box. Add a couple pieces of driftwood for them to climb and bask on and you should be good.

As far as the diet goes for your Dragon just make sure you are using a good quality gutload and dust with calcium with D3. I dust all my prey items before feeding.

How old is your CWD? Did you just get him? If he is new and young just give him some time and feed him appropriately sized crickets. It shouldn't be too long before he will eat small meal worms, butterworms, waxworms and the occasional veggie or fruit.

[Akasha]

I don't quite know how old Camo is .. He lives in a 50gal tank and has a nice swimming pool for him to take a dip .. I have a 5.0 UVB and his basking bulb that is a 250 watt .. I got him from Pet Smart and had quite a few issues with him but after getting him all figured out he seems happy now..

I will forget about the UTH idea I do have a ceramic heat emitter for cooler nights so I will keep using that.. the gut load Iam using for my crickets is made by Flukers and I also use the cricket quencher with calcium made by them also and yes I dust my crickets with the calcium powder as well