Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am VERY new and inexperienced at reptiles. Ihave a Chinese water dragon and he has been just fine for the past few months, but lately he does not seem well. First off I want you to know I have taken him to an exotic vet and he feels he is OK but really gave no explanation as to the way he is. Figured I would go to the "experts", aka people who own and know these little critters. My guy is about 16" long so and has good green color. His cage is around 75-80 degrees at night and 80-85 degrees during the day. Humidity is not real good as I live in a cold climate, but I doo keep his pond full and spray ALOT. He use to eat about 6+ grubs a day and he was as active as a lizard gets. For the lst 3 weeks he has become absolutley lathargic. He just lays there, eyes closed and molts. I mush up 2 grubs a day with calcium dust and open his mouth and feed him as he was getting thin. HE has alot of strength and fights me but I worry he is dieing.Am I doing the right thing, Pleas help me.

if you can, post a picture. If he has suffcient fat reserves I wouldn't force feed him, it will only increase the stress he's experiencing. Did you take a fecial sample to the vet? Do you know if you have a male or female? Molting sometimes will cause a little stress, some warm baths and gentle rubbing to get the skin off will help. Females commonly get egg bound at that size, thats another possiblity.

I'm sorry I can't post a picture. The vet thinks he may be a boy, but still too young to tell. He felt his belly and said it was nice and soft so probably not egg bound. he is just about done molting, only a small amount left on his tailand one leg. I have not taken a stool sample to the vet but he usually does it in his pool and there hasn't been any lately,probably as he hasn't consumed any food. I will certainly stop force feeding him if you feel it's best, but how long can they go? We offer him grubs and crickets and he has no interest. I am concerned about im never opening his eyes. He was such a good eater before, to see him like this is heartbreaking. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

What exactly do you put on your insects and stuff that you feed him, mineral wise. Calcium isn't everything you should use. If you can get your hands no reptivite. You could also be giving him too much calcium and hurting him. does he move at all? have you taken him to the vet since this has happend?
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I agree that crickets and grubs are not suffcient. You really need to find a digital camera and get a picture posted. from a picture we can tell you if your water dragon looks like he has not been eating a healthy diet, or if he looks dehydrated etc. Unless your Vet routinely treats lizards, I would trust their advice 100%. Unless they have personal interest in reptiles, they usually don't know that much about herps. In vetenary school, I think they attend two classes on reptiles and that's it.

Yes, as long he doesn't appear thin, that's why I asked if you could post a picture. I would suggest two things, water and sunlight. A waterdragon showing that kind of stress response will not move even to get water. They can go a long time without eating, but should drink ever two to three days. Nightly soaks in warm water should be less stressful then force feeding and will make sure that he maintains hydration, also if you can add some electrolytes and a liquid vitamin solution like reptisol that would be great. Aside from the UVB vitamin D3 synthesis, natural sunlight is like getting steroid shot for a waterdragon. 5- 15 minutes daily of unfiltered exposure will have a profound impact. Aside from daily soaking and sunlight your best bet is minimal intervention. Make sure the cage is in a quite area and that the waterdragon has a good hiding place. Try feeding every two to three days instead of everyday and avoid handling, unless necessary.

Ok I want to get this straight. As far as the sunlight, is this something I can do by putting his tank in a warm window for 5-15 minutes or should we take him out and let him lay on the floor in the sunlight. (He likes to lay on a heating pad with his leash on). The nightly soakings,is there a lenght of time you recommend, and do I add the vitamins and electrolytes to his "bathing" water and he will drink it hopefully? I will discontinue the nightly feedings and maybe try once a week or so to get something down him. We will handle him as little as possible and see what happens. I have a friend who may be able to take a picture of him and once I figure out how to get it on this site I will send it. I sure appreciate your help, and will keep posting.

yes you need to take your dragon out side for sunlight, glass and close nit screen filter out the type of light the dragon would benifit from. as far as soaking, i usually let mine soak for 30 min more or less if she seems to be enjoying her self, just be sure to check up on them to make sure the water temps arent too cold or too hot (somewhere around 80 is ok for em)

Outside is gonna be a little tough. We live in a cold dlimate, it's warm out today at 26degrees. Any other thoughts for sunlight? Thanks.

With the help of Inglebert's "mom" we have a picture of him. It's under the water dragon photo gallery under "Inglebert" (duh). We put a ruler next to him to try and give size relation. We are giving him a vitamin spray and he is still very strong when we pick him up. How does he look?

The Cold climate is kind of rough, if you can find sunny window, open it for five minutes or so in a heated room. Never place an aquarium directly in the sun. Glass filters out uvb and traps infrared, so basically you'll find out how good a solar oven an aquarium can be! I Posted your pic here for those that do not want to go looking for it. He doesn't look good. He's vitamin defecient and has no body fat. Its a good thing you posted a picture. My advice is to do a routine deworming with mixture of Panacure and metrondiazole. These are two separate products that are very safe and are more effective when mixed together. You find them at most pet stores. Panacur or Fenbendozole is sold in the horse section at petsmart, and metrondiazole is sold as hole in the head medication, for aquarium fish. As far as force feeding is concerned, believe it or not reducing stress is more important then getting food into him. He needs to eat, however because he has no body fat. I would try feeding a mixture of yogurt(live cutures) and liquid vitamin. The yogurt will help reestablish a health microflora as well as fatten him up. I would administer the yogurt mixture with an eye dropper, put a little around his lips to stimulate licking and then add more as he starts to lick. This will be far less stressful then trying to shove something in his mouth. Keep in touch and good luck!
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Thanks for replying, can you recommend a vitamin for him. We only have one pet store here and it is REALLY limited. Actually they have NOTHING so I will have a friend try to get me something at a store in a bigger town this weekend. The only vitamins I have for him are a spray one for his skin and we just started using that. I got him in the sun for about 5 min today and then he started getting a big fiesty so I had to put him away. I am assuming the yogurt is simply a plain yougurt. As far as the deworming is that something I have to administer by mouth, won't he get a bit stressed out with me? Is there a way I can do these things to keep him calm and not make things worse. I know I am asking alot of "stupid" questions, but as I said I am a complete novice with this and am trying to be self taught.

Yes the deworming will be stressful but its worth it. Its normal for a waterdragon to have internal parasites, the presence of them alone is not reason enough to deworm, but when you have a waterdragon that is under stress, you can expect that the parasite load has increased to unhealthy levels. Routine deworming with panacur and Metrondiazole is very safe. The Metrondiazole will stimulate his appetite as well. I recommend a liquid vitamin suppliment like reptisol. If you can't find that check the bird section for avitron,it's basically the same thing. The sunlight will make him more aggressive, basically like a steroid shot. Good luck and let us know how he works out.