Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just i guess you can say adopted a water dragon.i have already got him/her a cage and everything he/she needs except for lighting. i dont know what kind of bulb i should use for him. any suggestions?oh and is there any way u can figure out the sex apperance?
thankx in advance

You need two lights, one for heat and one for UVB. Or, you can get a mercury vapor bulb which produces both, but unless your cage is 6 feet tall I would recommend getting a flourescent UVB tube and a basking light. You can tell the gender of a dragon when it gets to be about 12 inches long.

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well mine is at least that old how can i tell?

Okay on the outside its hard to tell at 12" later on males will grow spikes, females will not on their back. If you look underneath the dragon on their thighs you will see little bumps or pores, on males they wil be darker, on females they will be white, or lighter.

oh cool thankx,oh and i have a ? about the lighting, do i keep the reg light on during the day then the uvb on during the night ? whats the uvb for ? how much do they cost thankx in advance

They need UVB lighting in order to metabolize the calcium they eat. The UVB light stays on during the day, the same as the basking lights. No lights should be on at night. UVB lights usually cost between 20 dollars for a flourescent tube up to 60-75 dollars for a mercury vapor bulb.
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