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krissy78

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Hi Guys thanks for looking at my post. Just wondering if anyone can tell me what a full size water dragon should be eating. I have young ones at the moment. Just want to see what’s in store for me. It’s an EWD

Cheers
 
There is heaps of stuff on the net, and several books on keeping Water Dragons in captivity. many of them suggest that as they age, they change from insectivorous to mainly vegetarian, but my experience suggests that the adults still prefer insects - I have a huge supply of woodies in my compost heap, so that's my main food source for them. My good friend Peter Harlow who probably knows more about them than anyone, basically fed his on canned Whiskas Jellymeat for many years, and his large male died when it was about 28 years old. Fantastic lizards, greatly underrated, you'll get a lot of pleasure from them, but if you are able to, once they are big enough, keeping them outside is far better for them and probably a lot less work for you. Mine are outside, and while it is fairly cool here at the moment, they are still active during the day, but have stopped feeding about a fortnight ago.

Books - "Keeping and Breeding Australian Lizards" edited by Mike Swan, and "Keeping Australian Water Dragons" by Jason Goulding and Darren Green, are both good sources of info.

Apart from the larges size attained, I don't know why these spectacular lizards aren't more popular. I guess it's because they are common and cheap - if they came from South America or elsewhere people would be queuing up to buy them.

There's also an EWD keeper's site on Fb.


Jamie
 
It is pretty easy to find info. I often feed high quality cat or dog food, canned or hydrated dry food. Various plants, they are more fussy than bearded dragons but will eat a range of fruit and vege. Avoid feeding lots of plants high in oxylates(sp?) and mix up what you feed them. As far as animals pretty much anything from maggots, flies, roaches, worms to small rodents or other vertebrates. Other stuff like mince mixed with Wombarro is good too.

Great lizards too keep if you have enough space for decent enclosure.
 
people would be queuing up to buy them.

I had a look on google and the first US website I found was selling EWD for $450 and another in france for $460, let alone gippsland water dragons. Here in Australia people struggle to give them away.

It probably comes down to the ongoing expense for most people, I bought a water dragon for $30 two years ago and I have recently spent >$500 on an outdoor enclosure that I haven't even finnished yet!

links to the websites if you are interested:
https://www.imperialreptiles.com/product-page/baby-australian-water-dragons
http://snakesatsunset.com/australian-water-dragons-for-sale-intellagama-lesueurii/
 
I had a look on google and the first US website I found was selling EWD for $450 and another in france for $460, let alone gippsland water dragons. Here in Australia people struggle to give them away.

It probably comes down to the ongoing expense for most people, I bought a water dragon for $30 two years ago and I have recently spent >$500 on an outdoor enclosure that I haven't even finnished yet!

links to the websites if you are interested:
https://www.imperialreptiles.com/product-page/baby-australian-water-dragons
http://snakesatsunset.com/australian-water-dragons-for-sale-intellagama-lesueurii/

They breed like rabbits. I have less interest in keeping them since the wild population (EWD) has moved in ans spend lots of time trying to get into my enclosures.

There is more to keeping reptiles than their financial value or profit potential, despite being why many people seem to have got into it.
 
I had a look on google and the first US website I found was selling EWD for $450 and another in france for $460, let alone gippsland water dragons. Here in Australia people struggle to give them away.

It probably comes down to the ongoing expense for most people, I bought a water dragon for $30 two years ago and I have recently spent >$500 on an outdoor enclosure that I haven't even finnished yet!

links to the websites if you are interested:
https://www.imperialreptiles.com/product-page/baby-australian-water-dragons
http://snakesatsunset.com/australian-water-dragons-for-sale-intellagama-lesueurii/

The ongoing expense for an enclosure is really just a one-off though. Once outside, you have no further heating or lighting costs, and food can be pretty cheap. I think the lack of interest is pretty much the same as it is with Diamond Pythons - both WDs and DPs are amongst the most spectacular of their kind anywhere in the world, but they are so readily available and so cheap that they carry no status for most people who are familiar with them on the east coast. I come from WA, but after 13 years here, I still find these animals amazingly beautiful.

This autumn I put outside a 2yo Gippsland Water Dragon, and to watch the blue/aqua colouring develop, along with the charcoal and orange striped throat, has been awesome.

Jamie
[doublepost=1527217933,1527217804][/doublepost]
They breed like rabbits. I have less interest in keeping them since the wild population (EWD) has moved in ans spend lots of time trying to get into my enclosures.

There is more to keeping reptiles than their financial value or profit potential, despite being why many people seem to have got into it.

Like Lacies for me - we get heaps of wild normals and Bell's here throughout the hot months, so why would I want to keep them in cages when I can see them almost every day running free?

Indeed there is. For me the fact that they are cheap is a bonus, not a negative factor at all.

Jamie
 
There is more to keeping reptiles than their financial value or profit potential

I 100% agree, I just think it is interesting that because there are so few avaliable over there the price is driven up so much.

why would I want to keep them in cages when I can see them almost every day running free?

At the VHS expo I saw garden skinks for sale on licence and I can't understand the attraction when they are so common!?
 
There is heaps of stuff on the net, and several books on keeping Water Dragons in captivity. many of them suggest that as they age, they change from insectivorous to mainly vegetarian, but my experience suggests that the adults still prefer insects - I have a huge supply of woodies in my compost heap, so that's my main food source for them. My good friend Peter Harlow who probably knows more about them than anyone, basically fed his on canned Whiskas Jellymeat for many years, and his large male died when it was about 28 years old. Fantastic lizards, greatly underrated, you'll get a lot of pleasure from them, but if you are able to, once they are big enough, keeping them outside is far better for them and probably a lot less work for you. Mine are outside, and while it is fairly cool here at the moment, they are still active during the day, but have stopped feeding about a fortnight ago.

Books - "Keeping and Breeding Australian Lizards" edited by Mike Swan, and "Keeping Australian Water Dragons" by Jason Goulding and Darren Green, are both good sources of info.

Apart from the larges size attained, I don't know why these spectacular lizards aren't more popular. I guess it's because they are common and cheap - if they came from South America or elsewhere people would be queuing up to buy them.

There's also an EWD keeper's site on Fb.


Jamie
Hi Jamie,

Thanks for your reply. I probably should have been more specific about what I meant. I know what they should be eating food wise. I was more thinking what quantity. Lol cheers for that info though I’ve read mixed reviews on the cat food topic but obviously his EWD didn’t suffer for it.
 
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