New water dragon setup

[pmitchy]

I am in the process of setting up a new water dragon enclosure. I am new to reptile pets so any feedback is welcome.

I am building a custom enclosure measuring approx 1500w, 500d, and 1000h

The tank is currently designed to have approx 200mm deep of water through 2/3 of the tank with a basking area in the remaining 3rd of the tank covered in a sand substrate approx 50mm deep. I have a 1500l/h cannister filter connected to a undergravel pickup, 18W UV steralizer and external inline water heater.

Lighting will be covered by 2 x 2ft 18W T8 Reptile Fluorescent globes and the possible addition of a Mercury Vapour Lamp (open to discussion). I have also purchased 3 x 100W Ceramic IR heat emitters (these were purchased before reading about the benefits of including a mercury vapour lamp in a high tank, so if I use a MVL i will only use 2 of the IR heaters).

I am planning on purchasing and retrofitting a digital aquatices controller to control the light and heat sources as I have a dimmable ballast for the flourescent light fittings, but this is on the wishlist. In the mean time I will just use standard thermostats and timers. Natural sun/moon cycle dimming and heating seems to be cool, but not that easy to setup.

I am planning on the enclosure housing 2 water dragons and 1 - 2 long neck turtles. I am also toying with the idea of a couple of green tree frogs, but am unsure of their compatibility with the water dragons. All are proposed to be introduced as hatchlings.

I would like to include native live plants, but am unsure what plants will be suitable. I would like to keep the environment as natural as possible.

I would love to get some feedback from some waterdragon / reptile lovers.

Thanks
Paul.

PS: I will include pictures as I progress. Currently I only have the basic tank constructed.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Heyyy
I dont keep any of them, but I wouldn't recommend keeping two different animals in a the same enclosure till you have some degree of experience.
Also most turtles will need a large aquatic tank (4ft to 6ft) when they are small and then if you are keeping multiple turtles a small outdoor pond. Sorry if I'm wrong but just what i have read
check out the AustralianFreshWaterTurtle forum.
They will have everything you need to know about australian turtles

 

[pmitchy]

The tank is currently designed to have approx 3'6 x 1'8 of water and on average 10' deep.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

If you can pull this off (which i hope you can)
I cant wait to see pics

 

[pmitchy]

Mixing species is currently the least of my worries. The primary concern is setting up an ideal habitat for the Water Dragons. From that point if the simulated environment is conducive I will happily introduce further species. I am doing some more work on the enclosure this weekend. I will take some Pic's and post them as I progress. Feedback on the proposed setup from this point on is very much appreciated, as I have put a lot of time and planning into this project and when it comes to keeping such animals in captivity the least you can do is make the environment as natural as possible.

 

[JordyC]

dude i wouldnt even try puttin frogs in with dragons thats just gonna end bad, but you may get away witha large turtle in with the dragons, ive never seen it done before except for in pits so u may be the first.

 

[Bec137]

gully reptile centa have 2 adult water dragons and 2 adult mertons water monitors in the same tank. so u can mix animals, just be careful which ones you do. the frog is not a smart move tho. i would think a turtle would be ok, coz they would both be little and grow together so one couldnt eat the other. ill be waiting for pics coz id love to do a custom water dragon tank.

 

[reptiles08010]

ditto from me. no frogs in with your waterdragon, it would get eaten for sure.

 

[sweetangel]

i house my water dragons in a 6ft x2 x2.5 fish tank that is divided so that one side is about 3.5ft long and has about 45cm of water deap. the other side has sand. to be honest i wouldnt recoment live plant as the water dragons will destroy them! they are very flighty i find and are not great handlers. i can handle one of mine but the other i cant get near and they he thrashes and bites. but with redular handling they can settle down. i would also not go with under gravel filter as dragons crap mainly in the water and it will get clogged up really easily. ur standard filer system works better. and i would go the mercury vapour lamp. for my size cage i use a 75w regular light globe in winter and a 50w in summer. they cope well with cooler conditions but still need heat. i then have a 4ft uv tube for uv light and for the fish tank. now u can deffinitly keep turtles togther with water dragons but make sure they are similar size as a larger one could harm the smaller species. i also keep fish with my water dragons and they never look twice at them.... could be because i have an oscar which i think they are a bit scared of
also i think 50cm deap is not really deap enough. i would go at least 60cm or more if u can.
and if u are having turtle u will need alot deaper water as the minimum for adult turtle depth is the width of their shell deep and that is about 20-30cm but i would have about 40-50cm deep. u also need to make sure the turltes can get out of the water and get to the basking spot easily or else they wont get enough heat even if the water is heated cos they need to dry out.
u deffinitly dont need 3 100w ceramic heaters. one 100w globe will probably be to hot, especially if you are heating the water in the tank aswell. u can have problems with very high humidity. plants also add to humidity so if u can get your hands on some really nice looking fake ones then u can plump them up once they have been trampled and clean they if they get pooped on
so yeah i think i covered it. pm me if u need any help.
i am about to move my water dragons outside to a big pit and fill their cage with mertens water monitors but then it will be by by fishies

 

[byron_moses]

that looks so sweet mate

 

[sweetangel]

out door pit still need the glass fence at the front, but yeah its that area in the photo fenced in by glass

 

[pmitchy]

Thanks for your feedback sweetangel.

I wasn't planning to use a traditional undergravel filter as such. I have a 1500l/h cannister filter. I was planning on connecting this to 3 undegravel filter trays purely as a concealed pickup. Do you thing this will still get clogged?

Thanks
Paul

 

[2beardeds]

Very nice setup!!!
you done well...
you should be chuffed....

 

[lizardracer]

hi pmitchy,

i keep 2x water dragons in a 1500x600x600.

i am running a 100w infra red globe on a day/night dimming thermo, a 75w "sun-glo" reflector on a 6hr timer and a 3ft repti-fluro tube on a 10~12hr timer (depending on time of year).
i also have a 1500L p/h cannister filter just running cannisters wih foam and it keeps the water crystal clear. i wowuld not bother with an undergravel system as it just wont handle it (in my opinion). i dont bother heating the water as the lamps tend to heat it up anyway, and the dragons seem very happy in it.
i agree with everything sweetangel said. turtles are ok, frogs are food and live plants will get uprooted and smashed. there are some really good imitation native plants now that look really good and more importantly, will last.

cant wait to see your finished project. heres mine that i posted in another thread also (sorry for the repeated pic)

 

[lizardracer]

double post removed....oops

 

[bfg23]

gully reptile centa have 2 adult water dragons and 2 adult mertons water monitors in the same tank.

Go there again, they have completely re-done the big enclosure. They have 3 mertens and 4 Water dragons. Soon to have a freshie in there too.
Looks absolutely amazing.

 

[BigWillieStyles]

You could probably add some Australian native fish to the water. I saw a large setup at a pet store recently with a couple of water dragons, turtles and barramundi.