Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In my water dragons cage i have a 90 gallon pond, and three times now ive walked by the cage and ive found my girl wd under water with her back arched in a weird way, and today i came home to find her doing a weird swaying back and forth thing at hte surface like she couldnt get out or something, im taking her out of the cage until i can figure out what to do, im afraid if i leave her in there shes going to drown if i dont happen to come by and save her. Shes never been like this before, she'd go down for 25 minutes like they all do and then come back up. But i dont know why shes struggling like this. Any ideas?
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CHONG188

Today i put this female water dragon in the water pond to see what would happen. As soon as shes in it she does this thrashing thing, going under water upside down and throwing herself all around.no control at all. I dont know if she forgot how to swim? I forgot to mention she hasnt eaten in about 10 days although food is offered everyday, mice, crickets, worms, she just wont have it, which is weird being that shes always been the most aggressive eater. Does anyone have any ideas?
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CHONG188

Wow, sounds like she is very stressed out to me. Is this her regular viv, or is this a new home for her? CWDs will submerse under water for quite a long while to hide from perceived danger.

If this is her normal home, then is there anything new in the viv, or in the room with her? Two of my dragons changed their behavior and also were darker than normal. Took me a couple of days to realize that my ceiling fan was frightening them. CWDs are usually afraid of birds, so I guess they perceived the fan as a threat, possibly a bird.

I doubt she would drown, but if she is that stressed, she will not eat and probably get very sick. You definitely need to figure out the problem. How old is she? How long have you had her? What has changed recently?

I know they go under water and what not, but even when ive put her in the water before she'd swim normally, but now she has like a seizure i dont understand why. She is about 5 years old, ive had her since she was about 8" long, and this cage has been the same one since this last summer, nothing has changed in a long time, and she doesnt appear stressed except for the fact she refuses to eat. A real bright green and alert looking, maybe she hit her head and is now retarded? I dont know
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CHONG188

I would check for two things, mites, and egg binding. Egg bound females spend alot of time in the water and may even lay the eggs there, the back arching sounds like a female struggling with eggs, but could just be a pain response to some other problem. Mites can cause waterdragons to spend alot of time in the water and to make wierd movements as they try to rid themselves of them, check around the eyes for little red/black or white spots.

how would i check her being egg bound, i cant really feel anything in her like i have before when she had eggs in her. I tried putting her in the water again today and its instantaneous. As soon as she's in the water she does almost figure 8 things under water and near the surface constantly flipping upside down and then right side up again. Its hard to watch, i feel bad for her.
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CHONG188

So is she going into the water on her own? How much time is she spending in the water? This sounds so strange, I just can't help but think that there is something missing for it to make sense.

Well when ive found her doing this motion in her pond in the cage she has obviously put her self in hte water, but just out of curiousity i put her into the pond the next day to see what happens, and as soon as shes in the water she does this crazy thing. Today i put her in the tub, just at a wading depth so she doesnt have to swim, and her breathing while just wading in the water seems sketchy, she breathes in, then pauses then breathes out. and when she breathed out u can almost hear a weird sorta sound. I think that these 2 things may be related, maybe she has some sort of respiratory infection and cant breathe well when fully exerted like when shes swimming?
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CHONG188

Check for discharge, still it sounds weird, try filling the tub to match the depth of your pond and see if her behavior is the same. This reminds me of a problem I had once with a caimen, he wouldn't go in the water and when I put him in there he would flip out. Turned out the heater went bad and there was a mild electrical charge in the water.

she could have lung damage, thats what my turtle did and thats what he had.

Maybe she no longer likes the pond or it feels too deep for her. Maybe try switching things around, try a new tub that is less deep,etc. Any electrical things in the water or anything of that nature? Try a new water like bottled spring water.