Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this morning i found my 12" year old chinese water dragon dead in his cage, i got him at the end of december and he haden't grown since. i rescued him from Petco and he was doing great until a few days ago, he just wasn't as active. he'de done this before but this time it was fatal. there was a lot of things wrong: his back legs were stiff, he has red bumps on his tummy, he has bumps on his back legs and tail, and i think his growth was stunted. it may have been mites, respitory infection or MBD (i don't think so cause it was not really noticable at all) or an internal parisite, i had just recently put him in a 37 high and he died about 5 days later. i don't think it was anything in the tank though, cuase he had all these symptoms before moving him in. here is a pic of him about 2 months ago, the cut on his right arm had gone away since then, but do you think he could have gotton an infectiion from that? any additional info. would be appriciated, thanks.

He could of had some sort of parasite or infection, im not a vet so I dont know. DId he shed at all when you had him? If he did, he was growing, its just not noticeable sometimes. Sometimes when lizards have parasites, and they get stressed, it causes them to multiply (some parasites I believe) and moving him to a new enclosure might of caused stess and multiplying of parasites that he could of had. There are so many reasons out there. Next time if you get another one, take him to a vet right away, and up the temperature a few degrees. I dont know what the red bumps would be, unless they were moving then it was probably mites, but you would probably have more chances of getting them if you were using outside wood, soil or anything like that. He probably was just a sick dragon when you got him. Sorry for your loss.

during the 4 months he shed a little by his cut and other places here and there, but never a full shed. i was using outside wood but i boiled it for 30 min each and i just used bed -a beast substrate and i've never had a problem with that before. the temps were high, basking of like 100F. and never went below 70F. i am looking to adopt one, do you know of anybody who has one in need of a home? i will take it to the vet next time, there is good exotic animal vet about 5 min. away. thanks for all your help.

On a different forum im apart of there was someone selling all male waterdragon babies, but im not sure where he was located. If you want I can keep my eyes open and see if anyone tries adopting any out in your area. What area are you around? Raising the temps when he was sickly was a good idea, it was a good start anyways. He might of done a full shed while you werent looking. They shed different parts of their bodies at different times, and could take up to a week to fully shed everything. Mine usually starts out shedding their heads, and then there legs, and then their backs, but I dont notice them shedding their backs as often.

if you could keep an eye out that would be great, just tell me where they are and i'll drive anywhere near where I live. thanks a lot for all your help!

Otis, where do you live? I might also know of adoptions of healthy second generation males. I would definitely think toward parasites. Do you have a good vet available?? Most have parasites, which may multiply and take over the dragon during times of stess. Parasites are the explination of most dragon deaths.

my mom wouln't exactly let me tell where I live, but if you tell me where the dragon is I will just go and get it if it's within a few hours. thanks for the help!

It is probably too young for it to have been MBD. I think it was an internal parasite by your description. All wild caught animals (IE Petco water dragons) should be taken to the vet for deworming and test for other parasites.

You probably could have saved him. Did you ever take him to the vet? It would probably put you ou 50-100 dollars, but it's worth a life.
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