Water Dragon Setup

[leahellem]

Hey guys as the title say "water dragon setup" well im thinking bout a getting a baby water dragon next week but i just want some help on setting the tank up and the requirements they need and if there sort of the same setup as a bearded dragon just need water to swim in, im been researching on the internet but there alot sayin one thing and alot sayin the other so just wondering if anyone has got some shots of there own tanks or something thanks

 

[mareebapython]

my set up, its as basic as they come.. when i get the time im going to make it half land half water.

 

[leahellem]

Aw nice what size bulbs and requirments do they need? are they basically like a bearded dragon setup only difference is the water part?

 

[mareebapython]

Aw nice what size bulbs and requirments do they need? are they basically like a bearded dragon setup only difference is the water part?

i recommend a 5.0 rating uv light, they can get a disease called metabolic bone disease with out the right amount of vitamin d so that and a good diet with vegetables/fruit will stop that from happening. and with the heat light it depends on the size of your enclosure to what watt you go for, i have a 100watt heat light for my 4x2x2 foot enclosure and that keeps it at 31 in the hot end (35 on the basking spot) and about 24 - 26 in the cool end. as you can tell from the name water dragons love water so 2 foot of water would be great but if you cant afford to do that a waterdish big enough for it to fully submerge its self will do (as i have) they also like waterfalls, mine will only drink out of it and not its waterdish. how much food you feed it will depend on what size it is but most people go by how much it can get in 10 minutes. stuff like plants/logs/branches will be good aswell but if you dont have any of that its not to much of a big deal aslong as it has something to bask on. hope that helps.

let me know if you have any problems and ill do my best to help, good luck!

 

[leahellem]

Ok great that just bout covers everything that i really needed to know i have 2 bearded dragons at the moment so from what i just ready its basically the same setup to my beardies but the only difference is they need a swimming bowl/dish thanks for your help much appreciated

 

[disintegratus]

Sorry to hijack... How does one go about getting them to eat fruit/veg? Mine won't touch it, they'll sift through a whole bowl of greens and throw it all over the floor without eating any of it. I've tried just about every kind of vegetable I can think of too, but they won't have a bar of any of it.

Also, to the OP, whether it's right or wrong I don't know, but I've got quite a large tank, it's about 5 foot high by 4 long and about 1.5 wide, half land and half water, and being all glass it would send me broke if I heated the whole tank. I've got 2 basking spots, 1 up high and one at ground level, both with a 50 watt globe running on a timer, which creates basking spots of 32-40 (1 of the spots is over a floating turtle dock as I've also got a turtle in there, and the water evaporates fairly rapidly, so it depends on how close the light fitting is to the dock at the time.) I've also got 2 uv fittings, 1 4-foot tube on top of the tank, and 1 aimed at the same basking point on the floating dock (because the turtle can't get all the way up to the top of the tank) I've also got a 15watt head cord buried in the substrate for those cold nights, but they don't use it at all.
In this tank I've got the turtle (palm sized, not fully grown), 2 water dragons (1 missing bits so not very mobile, both around 5ish inches svl) and a juvenile mertens water monitor.
I'm in the process of re-furbing the tank, so it will become all water at the bottom with a 1.5-foot ledge with substrate, plus all the climbing branches.

 

[mareebapython]

Sorry to hijack... How does one go about getting them to eat fruit/veg? Mine won't touch it, they'll sift through a whole bowl of greens and throw it all over the floor without eating any of it. I've tried just about every kind of vegetable I can think of too, but they won't have a bar of any of it.

Also, to the OP, whether it's right or wrong I don't know, but I've got quite a large tank, it's about 5 foot high by 4 long and about 1.5 wide, half land and half water, and being all glass it would send me broke if I heated the whole tank. I've got 2 basking spots, 1 up high and one at ground level, both with a 50 watt globe running on a timer, which creates basking spots of 32-40 (1 of the spots is over a floating turtle dock as I've also got a turtle in there, and the water evaporates fairly rapidly, so it depends on how close the light fitting is to the dock at the time.) I've also got 2 uv fittings, 1 4-foot tube on top of the tank, and 1 aimed at the same basking point on the floating dock (because the turtle can't get all the way up to the top of the tank) I've also got a 15watt head cord buried in the substrate for those cold nights, but they don't use it at all.
In this tank I've got the turtle (palm sized, not fully grown), 2 water dragons (1 missing bits so not very mobile, both around 5ish inches svl) and a juvenile mertens water monitor.
I'm in the process of re-furbing the tank, so it will become all water at the bottom with a 1.5-foot ledge with substrate, plus all the climbing branches.

Wish i could help with that, mine has loved it fruit and veg from day one so i never had to deal with that. but i do have a problem, mine likes fruit and veg more so i have problems feeding it crickets

 

[disintegratus]

Hehe, I use woodies these days, it's just easier coz they don't die as quickly as crickets. Although I did have a tank that I didn't clean out after it's inhabitants got an upgrade (I was lazy) and about a month later I needed it again, so I cleaned it out and found the leftover woodies had bred under the log in there. They were bloody everywhere!

 

[MarcAtterton]

My trick to getting them to eat their fruit n vege is to finely blend it or grate it up, a mixture of pak choy, spinach, apple, carrot and also calcium/mineral powder, then mix it into a quality tin of dog food, freeze the mix into ice cube trays, then pop out a few when needed,, wait till defrosted and give it to them,, they love it,

 

[jack]

disintegratus, try a small plastic container with fluon painted round the vertical sides, add some chopped up fine fruit and put a few small roaches in to draw interest. mine were introduced to grape, peach, apple, strawberry and pear in this manner.

 

[mareebapython]

My trick to getting them to eat their fruit n vege is to finely blend it or grate it up, a mixture of pak choy, spinach, apple, carrot and also calcium/mineral powder, then mix it into a quality tin of dog food, freeze the mix into ice cube trays, then pop out a few when needed,, wait till defrosted and give it to them,, they love it,

How often do you feed it to them?

 

[disintegratus]

Thank you, I will try those "tricks". Does anyone know where I can get fluon (not a 200l drum) these days? I thought no one sold it anymore because it's going to give us all cancer or some crap. I'm using vaseline around the top of my roach colony, but I think that just might get messy when involving dragons.

 

[jack]

there is not to my knowledge any reputable evidence that fluon or teflon are carcinogenic, i believe that is just internet silliness.

 

[MarcAtterton]

How often do you feed it to them?

i use this as a base for their diet,, as i keep mine in an outdoor pit it depends on seasons, temp etc, but usually 2-3 times weekly, about 2-3 cubed for each adult,, i also do give them woodies, crikets, and the occasional pinkie but they are doing well and growing strong

 

[disintegratus]

there is not to my knowledge any reputable evidence that fluon or teflon are carcinogenic, i believe that is just internet silliness.

I completely agree, and even if it is true, it's going to have to wait in line behind all the other things that are apparently going to give me cancer