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| Pet Spotlight |
| Chinese Water Dragon physignathus cocincinus |
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The Awesome Chinese Water Dragon
Given optimal care, Chinese water dragons can live up to 16 years. They tend to be extremely pleasant to care for. They are beautiful to observe given their attractive bright green color, and once they are used to your presence, they are generally tame and easily handled. While they occasionally fight among themselves or compete for superiority with cage mates, they are rarely aggressive toward human keepers. If frightened, they might give you an open-mouthed threat, which they rarely follow through on, or a light tail whip when picked up. If scared, they may turn dark or try to hide behind a plant or in their water.
Housing:
Water dragons enjoy a humid environment, so maintain cage humidity at close to 80 percent. Unless you live in a warm, humid climate, a screened enclosure will not be suitable for maintaining the needed heat and humidity range for your water dragon. If you build an enclosure for your pet dragon, think about making it out of wood or glass. However, keep in mind that water dragons don’t seem to understand glass and often end up rubbing their snouts on glass walls, often permanently damaging their noses and lower jaws.
Cage Furnishings:
Chinese water dragons enjoy swimming and soaking in water. Provide a large pan that is deep enough to allow soaking, hatchlings do fine a with shallow pan. Change the water frequently to maintain cleanliness. As arboreal creatures, water dragons need some high basking areas in the cage to rest in. Climbing branches or shelves within the enclosure will allow them to reach the upper limits of the cage. Live or artificial plants and leafy green foliage throughout the enclosure provide shelter and will make your water dragon feel more secure in its environment. If using live plants they should be repotted in a safe soil mix that does not contain any fertilizers before being used in the dragons vivarium. It would also be a good idea to rinse the plant a few times in the shower to rinse off any powdered pesticides that could have been sprayed on the plants leaves to kill pests.
Lighting:
You will need to provide UVB in the form of fluorescent or metal halide lighting. Incandescent bulbs do not produce UVB rays; they usually only provide UVA. Your water dragon will need UVB to produce vitamin D3 in its skin, which in turn aids it in using the calcium in its diet properly. Without proper UVB lighting, water dragons often develop metabolic bone disease, which causes their bones to soften, bend and break easily. It can also lead to tremors, seizures and even death if action is not taken to reverse the deficiency.
Humidity and Hydration:
Chinese Water Drqagons need a humidity level of about 80 percent. This can be accomplished by misting the plants regularly, at least twice daily, and the use of a drip or misting system is also recommended. We have had great success with the new Zoo Med Repti fogger, we now have them in our store for $49.99a hygrometer to measure humidity.
Feeding
Chinese water dragons eat a variety of live food items ranging from crickets, mealworms, king mealworms, waxworms, earthworms butterworms, locusts, feeder fish, pinkies and fuzzies. Chinese Water dragons eat some fruit and vegetables. You may try to offer finely shredded vegetables and small chunks of fruit, but these items should make up only about 10 to 15 percent of their diet, if you are able to get it to eat them. Vitamin supplementation is a a controversial area. Make sure you gut load your insects well, and it prudent to dust insects with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement (e.g. Rep-Cal) two to three times a week, and use a broad vitamin mineral supplement once a week. Some experts recommend choosing a supplement that does not contain vitamin A (use beta carotene instead).
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Given optimal care, Chinese water dragons can live up to 16 years. They tend to be extremely pleasant to care for. They are beautiful to observe given their attractive bright green color, and once they are used to your presence, they are generally tame and easily handled. While they occasionally fight among themselves or compete for superiority with cage mates, they are rarely aggressive toward human keepers. If frightened, they might give you an open-mouthed threat, which they rarely follow through on, or a light tail whip when picked up. If scared, they may turn dark or try to hide behind a plant or in their water.
Housing:
Water dragons enjoy a humid environment, so maintain cage humidity at close to 80 percent. Unless you live in a warm, humid climate, a screened enclosure will not be suitable for maintaining the needed heat and humidity range for your water dragon. If you build an enclosure for your pet dragon, think about making it out of wood or glass. However, keep in mind that water dragons don’t seem to understand glass and often end up rubbing their snouts on glass walls, often permanently damaging their noses and lower jaws.
Cage Furnishings:
Chinese water dragons enjoy swimming and soaking in water. Provide a large pan that is deep enough to allow soaking, hatchlings do fine a with shallow pan. Change the water frequently to maintain cleanliness. As arboreal creatures, water dragons need some high basking areas in the cage to rest in. Climbing branches or shelves within the enclosure will allow them to reach the upper limits of the cage. Live or artificial plants and leafy green foliage throughout the enclosure provide shelter and will make your water dragon feel more secure in its environment. If using live plants they should be repotted in a safe soil mix that does not contain any fertilizers before being used in the dragons vivarium. It would also be a good idea to rinse the plant a few times in the shower to rinse off any powdered pesticides that could have been sprayed on the plants leaves to kill pests.
Lighting:
You will need to provide UVB in the form of fluorescent or metal halide lighting. Incandescent bulbs do not produce UVB rays; they usually only provide UVA. Your water dragon will need UVB to produce vitamin D3 in its skin, which in turn aids it in using the calcium in its diet properly. Without proper UVB lighting, water dragons often develop metabolic bone disease, which causes their bones to soften, bend and break easily. It can also lead to tremors, seizures and even death if action is not taken to reverse the deficiency.
Humidity and Hydration:
Chinese Water Drqagons need a humidity level of about 80 percent. This can be accomplished by misting the plants regularly, at least twice daily, and the use of a drip or misting system is also recommended. We have had great success with the new Zoo Med Repti fogger, we now have them in our store for $49.99a hygrometer to measure humidity.
Feeding
Chinese water dragons eat a variety of live food items ranging from crickets, mealworms, king mealworms, waxworms, earthworms butterworms, locusts, feeder fish, pinkies and fuzzies. Chinese Water dragons eat some fruit and vegetables. You may try to offer finely shredded vegetables and small chunks of fruit, but these items should make up only about 10 to 15 percent of their diet, if you are able to get it to eat them. Vitamin supplementation is a a controversial area. Make sure you gut load your insects well, and it prudent to dust insects with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement (e.g. Rep-Cal) two to three times a week, and use a broad vitamin mineral supplement once a week. Some experts recommend choosing a supplement that does not contain vitamin A (use beta carotene instead).
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