Thor - Rescued Chinese Water Dragon

[HowlinGaleDragon]

This is Thor he is a young Chinese Water Dragon, male from what I can tell I rescued him from a pet store today feel free to read his rescue story on the Beardies Rescue Section. I have no idea why I named him Thor but he looks like one to me I am not sure of his age but he is young his body fits in my hand his tail is usper long though. He is doing well eating and basking he already looks less stressed and happier witht he proper set up care and food.

If anyone knows anything about Chinese Water Dragons or owns one I would love some input on care or anything you can think of I have read a few online care sheets but prefer hearing it from someone with first hand Experience.

Picture's of Thor

 

[citrusdragon]

Those are so cool.

Jeff

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

What beautiful color he has !!!

 

[Demon280Z]

Would you mind describing the setup you have for him (as well as future plans)? These guys require an extremely large space compared to their physical size.

I am designing my 6' H x 4' L x 2.5' D enclosure right now..

 

[LunaFierce]

What a cutie! Chinese water dragons are my next favorite herps... after Beardies, of course :wink:

The length of the tank should be NO LESS than twice the length of a full grown CW dragon (full grown size is about 3 ft). So you are looking at a rather large tank. Make sure you have a large tub of water in the tank that the dragon can swim in comfortably. I had a tiny kiddie pool for Mr. Winky (don't ask, he was a rescue too). I usually go to the extremes with my vivs. My best friend used to used a extra large litter box for dragon. These MUST be cleaned everyday and disinfected because not only is it their pool, they also like to use it as a toilet. I found that slate tile works best as a substrate. It dries quick when wet and it is easy to disinfect. My friend used repticarpet, but he encoundered a mold issue becasue his dragon splashed in his pool all the time. Ricky always cleaned the viv once a week, but it was so much nastier than with tile.

Viv temps should be mid 80'sF and basking mid 90sF. Ricky's dragon liked is at about 97F and Mr. Winky prefered it cooler at 92F, but I think that was because he was an old boy. I have heard to not make more than 100F.

Humidity should be 80-90% I always kept mine at 85% and never had a problem.

For food, they are omnivores. I used the BTSFoodRanking document. I will try to find the link for you. Sorry I don't have it right now. If you give me your email, I can send you a Word Doc of it. Crickets should be about 50-70 per week for adults. They eat very much like a beardie. Thor looks like he is about 4 or 5 months old. He should eat about 50 Crickets a day.

These are arboreal creatures. Get him a Ficus tree. He will love climbing on it, and I don't think it is posionous. Mr Winky used to eat the leaves (eventhough I tried to stop him) and he never became ill. (Another friend's chamelon also devouered his ficus, and he is still kicking).

If you have any other questions, let me know. I hope this helps. You have to send pics as Thor grows bigger. He is going to have such a beautiful crest. Enjoy! They are just as lovable as beardies so make sure you handle him lots!