Mountain Dragons
New Member
Hello!
New to the forum and to water dragons. I live in the Rocky Mountains in the US so finding anyone with first hand experience on Eastern Water Dragons is impossible. They are extremely rare and often even less affordable, so when I stumbled across a pair for less than the price of a Lechi gecko I couldn't resist. I'm sure I will come back with tons of questions but I just have a few for now. Feel free to offer any information a new owner could use.
1. They are hatchlings, roughly 24cm nose to tail, guessing 5-8 weeks old. At what stage does dimorphism kick in and you can be positive of the sex? They are the same age, one is bigger, stockier and has orange on its chest, but I have heard that that may not necessarily give a positive ID at that stage.
2. They have just started their first molt, about 2 days ago. The small one has a glove of old skin still on 1/3rd of the tail and the larger one hasn't lost any except for the head. I mist them and they always have clean water, at what point should I be concerned and intervene? I try to keep the humidity up in the enclosure but our external humidity is typically 0-2% so it fluctuates inside when I'm at work.
3. Getting two at once, having no experience with this species was very impulsive. They are in a temporary tub enclosure now, I will have them in an intermediate 93x45x80cm within the weekend and I am building a 2.5x1.2x1m for them that should be ready in a month. Assuming they are not both male will these enclosures be enough? They both have 3 horizontal levels using branches, basking rocks and hammocks to increase the usable space.
Thanks!
New to the forum and to water dragons. I live in the Rocky Mountains in the US so finding anyone with first hand experience on Eastern Water Dragons is impossible. They are extremely rare and often even less affordable, so when I stumbled across a pair for less than the price of a Lechi gecko I couldn't resist. I'm sure I will come back with tons of questions but I just have a few for now. Feel free to offer any information a new owner could use.
1. They are hatchlings, roughly 24cm nose to tail, guessing 5-8 weeks old. At what stage does dimorphism kick in and you can be positive of the sex? They are the same age, one is bigger, stockier and has orange on its chest, but I have heard that that may not necessarily give a positive ID at that stage.
2. They have just started their first molt, about 2 days ago. The small one has a glove of old skin still on 1/3rd of the tail and the larger one hasn't lost any except for the head. I mist them and they always have clean water, at what point should I be concerned and intervene? I try to keep the humidity up in the enclosure but our external humidity is typically 0-2% so it fluctuates inside when I'm at work.
3. Getting two at once, having no experience with this species was very impulsive. They are in a temporary tub enclosure now, I will have them in an intermediate 93x45x80cm within the weekend and I am building a 2.5x1.2x1m for them that should be ready in a month. Assuming they are not both male will these enclosures be enough? They both have 3 horizontal levels using branches, basking rocks and hammocks to increase the usable space.
Thanks!