juvie EWD question

[scam7278]

Hi there my EWD's are about 4-5 months old should they be going in to hiding yet due to their age? i was once told that young dragons should skip the first winter hiding! is this true? any advice will be helpfull. thanks scott......

 

[Hally]

stupid question...but wats a EWD

 

[junglepython2]

Eastern Water Dragon

By winter hiding do you mean cooling down peroid?

 

[Hally]

thanks thats wat io thought it was

hally

 

[peterjohnson64]

I would imagine that wild EWD's manage to cool down. We like to keep them warm because there is less chance fo them dying from not being able to handle the cold. Also, they dont need to be cooled for breeding.

So, because there is no reason to cool them and they would be safer by keeping them warm then it would be better to do it.

Also helps to know where you are Scott and if the lizards are kept indoors or outdoors. If they are indoors then it would be hard to properly cool them. In which case, you should then keep them warm. If they are only partly cooled then they will still metabilise (is that a word please scientists/) so they will use up their food storage but may not get hot enough to properly digest new food.

Does this help? if not, I will reply again tomorrow at a godly hour.

 

[scam7278]

i am in wollongong NSW. i keep my water dragons in a 3 foot tank inside the house.

 

[junglepython2]

Keep them warm, no advantageous of cooling them down only more risks. They will grow quicker that way anyway.

 

[scam7278]

thank you for your advice :lol:

 

[scam7278]

bump

 

[peterjohnson64]

Yes mate, your house would only get down to about 14 degrees overnight and up to about 20 during th eday. That is not cold enough for yoru dragons to go into hibernation. You should keep a heat source on them during the day. In a 3 foot tank with open tops I would use a 100 watt mercury vapour sittign at the top of the tank. This will give them enough heat and UV. I am not sure where the link is but if you check the effective UV distance of fluro globes it is only about a foot and I am guessing that your lizards are more than a foot form their globe.