Enclosure Questions

While taking my ball python for a vet appointment, I was told that local Animal Control picked up a baby water dragon. I have always liked them, and am currently in the process of researching for another possible pet.

I intend to build a large enclosure, but I would start it out in a 10 or 20 gallon. How long could a baby water dragon be happy in a 20 gallon glass tank? (i.e. How much time do I have to build a large enclosure?)

I built an enclosure for my bearded dragon out of melamine with vents, a plexiglass sliding door, and oak framing the door. Would this work for a water dragon? Would the humidity on the melamine be a problem?

Lastly, I want some opinions, as I have read many different things; what do you believe is the ideal size enclosure for an adult water dragon? (Dimensions, please)





Thank you all! I am very excited and researching hard.

20 gal would last about 6months tops. And that's pushing it. These guys are fast, love climbing and jumping and running. In small glass enclousers, they get beat up pretty bad from hitting the glass all the time. They need a good size swimming\soaking pool. They are excellent swimmers and will dive down and hide on the bottom if they want to. You need to be able to change the water almost daily as they like to poo in it... But that keeps the rest of the area pretty clean. They eat pretty much the same things as a beardie, minus as many greens. Some will take a little greens, others won't. Handle them often or they get a little wild. And since they run and jump, you really need to watch out as they have no problem jumping off your shoulder and landing on whatever they happen to hit...

I have 2 sub-adults in a 4X3X4tall enclouser that seems great for now. But if they both end up on the large end of the scale for water dragons, I may need to upgrade later.

Try this link for some pics of my WD's and setup: http://forums.pnwhs.org/showthread.php?t=4431&highlight=yoshi
And: http://forums.pnwhs.org/showthread.php?t=4391&highlight=yoshi
And some helpful info here: http://forums.pnwhs.org/showthread.php?t=4423&highlight=water+dragon


Also, this site has good info: http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/faq.htm

Thanks so much! How big are your dragons now?
Sorry, the links aren't working on my computer. :x It's not the first time this has happened. Do you by any chance have them on photobucket?

One is about 8 months old and about 20 inches. The other is about 6 months old and 12 inches. Could be off, that's a best guess.

Try this link. If you can get there, you can search for Water Dragons and find those threads with the pics. If that doesn't work, I may be able to upload a few here...

http://forums.pnwhs.org/index.php

Can you see this pic?

Nope. My darned computer!!

"nope" you can't click the link to the PNWHS forum, or you can't see the pic? Or both?

Both.

It may be a restricted site. I'll find another way...