New baby Chinese Water Dragon

This was originally posted on the reptileforumUK, was told this is a good USA site.

Hello all! First post

I'm from the United states in sunny warm california. Couldnt find any active good reptile forum so this will do.

I just got my new little baby water dragon. I have had it for about a week now. It doesnt have a name yet. I believe it is maybe a month old or so.

Its active and eats every day so far.

The bad news is that I got it at petco, sort of got it impulsively. I've always wanted one. Well I did research. Turns out my dragon is most likely wild cought and/or imported. Means they wont live as long and could most likely have different types of parasites. Well, I will give my dragon a decal exam and if it passes for parasites or eye problems, petco will pay for all veterinarian Bill's for the first month. They just wont pay the fecal exam. That's fine...

The good, I spent a considerable amount of money for this baby, I bought it a 40 gallon tank and made it into what I think is a sub aquarium enclosure.

My enclosure has branches big and small across the enclosure. I baked the branches for 2 hours at 250°F in the oven. I cut them off of a tree we took out yesterday in the front yard. The enclosure has a straw hammock where it basks at about 88°F or more. Humidity is acergly at about 75%. When I spray it goes up to about 90 for only a few minutes so i think i may have to invest ina. Good real fogger for humidity. It has a UVB tropical light bar. In the night I have a red light that keeps the enclosure warm and leave near the dragon depending where it sleeps so it can be warm.
The enclosure has a waterfall filter on one side and another normal filter on the other opposite side. It also has an water circulation air pump in the middle.
The enclosure has 20lbs aquarium rocks from petco. I cleaned them in a bucket. So far the aquarium is 4 days old and I have recycle the water 3 times already. The water is about 4-5 inches tall. Maybe the length of my finger.
My dragon does not rub its nose (since there is water) at all. I also have tiny feeder fish in the tank the size of its head. There is about 6 inside. I use Jungle start right water cleaner for the fishes and to keep the water clean and free of algae.

Sometimes my baby dragon will try to catch the little fish but it always fails. Its funny to watch try fishing. I have fed it 3 fishes so far and have cut them up in 3 small peices and it seems to enjoy them. I have also fed it crickets, small meal worms and once a red wiggle search worm although I dont think it likes those too much.

The dragon likes to climb up high and jump into the water and stay in the water for long periods of times. Then it slowly makes it's way to its hammock and warms up...under my hammock is a floating bark that it likes to go on and cool down I guess. It still is somewhat warm down there.

I think the dragon is happy so far. As you can see on my profile picture. It sleep on a vertical branch almost at the same time of day every day, like it knows its bed time. I turn off all the light and turn off the circulation pump off at night and leave its night time light on to keep it warm inside.

The tank is pretty big for the lizard for now. I know I will have to custom make my own in about a year.

What do you guys think?

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Have any pictures of the tank?

A few pictures of the enclosure. I was told o the reptileuk forum that this enclosure wasnt exactly suitable for my lizard. And here I thought it somewhat enjoyed it's new homehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb3b02cd54.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...76eb96c9e8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...af81f63e33.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9bd8e3111e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9723eef300.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...76cf2348da.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...070e8d472e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8e89e2f65f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c6ee9af465.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...67ae71b0e1.jpg

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I didnt mention that it has its baking light above its hammock. Not just the tropical uvb light bar

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These pictures were taken at night while it was sleeping as you can see. Is it normal for the dragon to sleep like this? Every time I turn its lights off it goes on its branch and sleeps that way all night. Then when I wake up in the morning, I find it still hanging on with it's big eyes wide open. I turn on its lights and it goes into daily lizard routine

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Originally Posted by Jaime_ls3

I didnt mention that it has its basking light above its hammock. Not just the tropical uvb light bar

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaime_ls3

This was originally posted on the reptileforumUK, was told this is a good USA site.

Hello all! First post

***I'm from the United states in sunny warm California. Couldnt find any active good reptile forum so this will do.***

I just got my new little baby water dragon. I have had it for about a week now. It doesnt have a name yet. I believe it is maybe a month old or so.

Its active and eats every day so far.

The bad news is that I got it at petco, sort of got it impulsively. I've always wanted one. Well I did research. Turns out my dragon is most likely wild cought and/or imported. Means rhe dragon probably wont live as long and could most likely have different types of parasites. Well, I will give my dragon a fecal exam and if it passes for parasites or eye problems, petco will pay for all veterinarian bills for the first month. They just wont pay the fecal exam. That's fine...

The good, I spent a considerable amount of money for this baby, I bought it a 40 gallon tank and made it into what I think is called a sub-aquarium enclosure?

My enclosure has branches big and small across the enclosure. I baked the branches for 2 hours at 250°F in the oven. I cut them off of a tree we took out yesterday in the front yard. The enclosure has a hammock where it basks at about 88°F or more. Humidity is averagely at about 75%. When I spray it goes up to about 90% for only a few minutes so i think i may have to invest on a good real fogger for humidity. It has a UVB tropical light bar. In the night I have a red light that keeps the enclosure warm and I leave it near the dragon depending where it sleeps so it can be warm but not directly above the lizard.
The enclosure has a waterfall filter on one side and another normal filter on the other opposite side. It also has an water circulation air pump in the middle and a water heater preset to I think 74°F
The enclosure has 20lbs aquarium rocks from petco. I cleaned them in a bucket. So far the aquarium is 4 days old and I have recycle the water 3 times already to keep getting whatever particles are left out. It's looking cleaner and longer every cycle. The water is about 4-5 inches tall. Maybe the length of my finger.
My dragon does not rub its nose (since there is water) at all. I also have tiny feeder fish in the tank the size of its head. There is about 6 inside. I use Jungle start right water cleaner for the fishes to keep the water clean and free of algae.

Sometimes my baby dragon will try to catch the little fishes but it always fails. Its funny to watch it try fishing. I have fed it 3 fishes so far and have cut them up in 3 small peices and it seems to enjoy them. I have also fed it crickets, small meal worms and once a red wiggle earth worm although I dont think it likes those too much.

The dragon likes to climb up high and jump into the water and stay in the water for long periods of times. Then it slowly makes it's way to its hammock and warms up...under my hammock is a floating bark that it likes to go on and cool down I guess? It still is somewhat warm down there.

I think the dragon is happy so far. At least I hope it is... As you can see on my profile picture. It sleeps on a vertical branch almost at the same time of night every night, like it knows its bed time. I turn off all the lights and turn off the circulation pump off at night and leave its night time light on to keep it warm inside.

The tank is pretty big for the lizard for now. I know I will have to custom make my own in about a year or so.

What do you guys think?

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Im changing the Dragons setup after 4 days to something that is more suitable.

I just spent a good couple hours taking everything out. I sent everything related to water aquarium accessories back to petco. I got about $110 back.

I'm going to spent time building a tropical vivarium with live plants instead. 75% of it will be substrate and 25% will be a container of water so it's easy to clean and change out. I will also leave it's own drinking water dish.

So far I bought:
24qt of Zilla Jungle Mix

Zoo Med Natural Round Cork Bark
(Maybe I'll buy another one since they're relatively cheap right now)

6 tangled up live Lucky Bamboos

1 Tropical Plant (not sure what it is)


This is what I have so far and I have to wait for the Jungle Mix substrate to come in till september 9th from Amazon.

Also planning on buying a pothos plant or a dracaena plant to have in the corner. The other 2 plants will be cleaned and planted in the substrate.

Wondering if I should buy a humidifier as well? But will spray for now. I'm going to have to cover at least half of the mesh lid up top to keep humidity up because it's not very high.

Obviously I will keep branches and barks up high to keep it arboreal.

The Dragon still sleeps on a branch up top.

Just made an fecal exam appointment at the vet for thursday afternoon. Hopefully I can get a sample and everything turns out ok, if not, petco pays for the treatment and medication billshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fccc28f53e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a678b3bcc4.jpg

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Very impressive !!


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I don't know anything about water dragons so I can't be of any help on that department but just wanted to say you have a beautiful lizard and it looks like your are doing your research to have a happy and healthy lizard.

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Originally Posted by Valyndris

I don't know anything about water dragons so I can't be of any help on that department but just wanted to say you have a beautiful lizard and it looks like your are doing your research to have a happy and healthy lizard.

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Yep .. that’s my take on things , exactly


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How it woke up this morning! Haha!!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2a3babe16a.jpg

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Really good job. You are very committed in spite of it being an impulse purchase. Most people would quickly learn how much time and money it cost to care for these lizards and give up.

These lizards are known to spend most of their time on high places so that is not unusual. They are semi arboreal and he probably does come down when you are not watching.

One important thing to keep in mind is that these lizards are known to run into the glass. I see that your tank don't have that issue but just fyi for when you upgrade. Speaking of which, this little lizard will grow to be pretty long so a tall, long enclosure that holds humidity is a must, something that is not easily available in pet stores. You may need to purchase a custom made tank or make your own. It must be tall enough for climbing, and wide enough to move around on the ground as well as enough space to accommodate a large water bowl and for drying.

I am not a fan of red lights for night use as most lizards can 'see' it. I think it stresses out the animal at night.

UVB lighting is super important. Anything on top of a mesh lid requires something strong, like a T5 Reptisun 10.0 HO. The mesh lid filters out about 60-70% of the rays he needs. And for the same reason, the branch or highest climbing area where he can bask should be no higher than 10-12 inches from the light to avoid burns.

Watch out for the fish feeders. If you are getting the goldfish, they are known to carry worms and other parasites. My husband kept 3 of those for the longest time, and then one day, they started to die and we found their guts were filled with worms (Some were even poking out of the anus). If you must feed fish, I hear guppies are safer.

I like to be honest with people and here is my fair warning to you: Chinese water dragons are expensive lizards. The size of the enclosure, the husbandry and being an import makes them a challenge to keep. However, you can do it as it sounds like you are up for that challenge.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to change from red night light to something better. I know which kind i need now.

I will also need to upgrade its basking light.

I put paper towels on top of the mesh to hold humidity and it seems to work.

Below is the tropical uvb light bar that I have.

I know I need a tall verticle enclosure but to be honest I could not find one. The closets i found was mesh ones which i know wouldnt hold humidity.

In about 8-11 months from now (if the dragon is still healthy and alive) I know I will have to make my own custom enclosure. Its gonna be like a refrigerator size enclosure in my room [emoji51]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...644cccf668.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5c63c986db.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...dfe9fcde32.jpg

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Its basking light and hammock are about 8 inches apart, but the light isnt too strong... I will need to upgrade then I'll make proper adjustments according to the heat index

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Ever since I put paper towels on the edges of its enclosure as you can see in one of my previous posts, the dragon no longer runs his nose. If i see it do it even once. I will put painters tape on the front.

This is how I keep the top for now, no paper is inthe way of its lights, it seems to work for now. I do have a noooooooo amount of moss but in holding till I have my substrate. I may buy another cork round bark as well later, it seems to be its favorite.

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It's been about 30 minutes since I mist sprayed inside, the humidity is still at 85%. Didnt check to see just how high it went but probably 90% and gradually going down.

This is good for now I think while I wait for its substrate.

I'm sure the Jungle Mix Substrate and moss and plants will keep humidity up, at least I hope so.

Does anyone know of a good humidifier? All the ones on amazon kind of put me off

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaime_ls3

How it woke up this morning! Haha!!https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2a3babe16a.jpg

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Now that is just so adorable letting those leggies hang. :)

That T8 is not strong enough against that mesh lid. T5 for lighting on top of lid, T8 without any mesh lids or going inside the tank. T5 requires about 10 inches from basking to top. T8 requires 6 inches (If you place it on top and that is why I don't recommend it because you will also have the basking bulb nearby which will be too hot, forcing your lizard to climb down more often to cool off in exchange of not getting enough UVB) or 10-12 inches if placed inside the tank or without lid.

Imo those tropical lights are garbage unless you are working with a species where UVB is not needed (ie blue tongue skinks). They are not as strong as a high output bulb. Pet Supplies Plus has started carrying ZooMed T5 and T8 fixtures. I would exchange that the ZooMed or return this to Petco and pick one up from PPS. PPS will price match with Amazon to save you some money but these fixtures are generally expensive no matter where you get them from. It is worth the long term investment though. One thing you do not want to mess up on are the lights.

i love them but after researching decided way too much work for me. looks like you are doing awesome, though!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valyndris

I don't know anything about water dragons so I can't be of any help on that department but just wanted to say you have a beautiful lizard and it looks like your are doing your research to have a happy and healthy lizard.

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I'm afraid I fall into this same category...most of my experience is with snakes of many kinds, & only a few lizards, not these...so I just want to welcome you & your
wonderful dragon here to the forum & say I look forward to your progress with him. They're quite cool & I wish I could be more help on this one. :welcome: