# Brought a chinese water dragon



## 777seven777342552 (Jun 4, 2007)

brought him yesterday brought the lighting bark and under tank heater for his pool of water had him in the tank yesterday with a normal 40watt bulb in the lamp now its a 75w daylight spot sun glow neodymium basking spot bulb with uva, I also brought a 26w repti glo 5.0 uvb bulb that I dont have another lamp for, but will soon be getting one, well my question is will he be fine with this for now, and also do the thin strip thermometers work well I was abit low on cash so I brought the 3dollar one he's in a 10gallon tank just like he was at the petshop, he eats crickets, but I dont know what else he eats will somebody please school me lol 1 more thing he has these brown marks on his hands and lower body does this mean he's going to be shedding or is this lizard acne lol sorry for asking so many question just want every thing to be okay for my little friend i'd appreciate all the help I can get, so please share your knowledge with me, the temp is 75 blue and 78 yellow.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

You'll need to up those temperatures. And that thin strip thermometer you got wasn't really worth the $3. They're horribly inaccurate and don't work well at all. I recommend saving and investing in something better. And you'll want to get the uvb light on him asap as it's integral for their health. Without it they won't grow or develop properly and can eventually end up with some type of related disease or sickness.

Speaking of saving and investing... You really need to start thinking about a larger tank for that dragon of yours because it will quickly outgrow that 10 gallon. And when I say bigger I mean MUCH bigger.

Here are a couple short but concise care sheets I found on Google that seem to have some good info:

http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/lizards/water-dragon.php

http://www.the-lizard-lounge.com/content/s...ater-dragon.asp

And remember one thing - just because a pet store is doing it does NOT mean it's the proper way to care for the animal. Pet stores constantly overstock tanks, place animals in tanks together when they shouldn't be, place them in enclosures that are too small, etc etc etc. Their directive is to make MONEY. Unless it's a small, private business with a true enthusiast heading the operation chances are they're just trying to maximize profit.


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## 777seven777342552 (Jun 4, 2007)

Mettle said:


> You'll need to up those temperatures. And that thin strip thermometer you got wasn't really worth the $3. They're horribly inaccurate and don't work well at all. I recommend saving and investing in something better. And you'll want to get the uvb light on him asap as it's integral for their health. Without it they won't grow or develop properly and can eventually end up with some type of related disease or sickness.
> 
> Speaking of saving and investing... You really need to start thinking about a larger tank for that dragon of yours because it will quickly outgrow that 10 gallon. And when I say bigger I mean MUCH bigger.
> 
> ...


He's in a 40 gallon now, and he has his uvb light, just need a better thermometer a new heating pad for his water, and a backround poster heres some pictures of him I just took as well as my long tailed lizards, thank you for your help.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Cool pics! Thanks for sharing.









The 40 gal will do for a while. But eventually he will definitely need something bigger. Make sure there's always a lot of fresh water in that bowl of his. And maybe even think about getting something slightly bigger. You'll probably want to give him a very good misting at least once a day to ensure that the humidity stays at a good level. But judging from the spray bottle in the pic you're already doing that.

For thermometers... I'm generally not overly happy with most of the options I find at the average pet store. Take a look online or go to other sources. I use ones sold at the Best Buy I work at. They're outdoor, all weather ones. I stick them around the tank to get different readings from different areas and soon will be investing in a spot tester so I can pinpoint temp levels at exact points in an enclosure. But that's a bit hardcore.


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## 777seven777342552 (Jun 4, 2007)

Mettle said:


> Cool pics! Thanks for sharing.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was thinking about getting the thermometer & hygrometer combo at petsmart its 12dollars the outdoor one sounds good to, as for the water bowl im having a problem with my crickets killing themselfs there so stupid, do u think I should put a waterplant in there or something plastic so they can try to climb back out.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

That would be a good solution. Anything they can climb up and onto. Crickets are dumb. They'll readily kill themselves.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

you should remove the uneaten crickets after your lizard is done eating. They can do nasty things lizards by chewing on them.


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