Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I was wondering if most wild cought/imported/farm raised water dragons are prone to having parasites? I recently obtained a small group(4) of 2-4 month olds and all "appear" to be healthy, but was wondering if steps are generally needed to ensure parasitic free dragons, or because of their arboreal nature stay "clean"? Thanks

You said..."Hi, I was wondering if most wild cought/imported/farm raised water dragons are prone to having parasites? I recently obtained a small group(4) of 2-4 month olds and all "appear" to be healthy, but was wondering if steps are generally needed to ensure parasitic free dragons, or because of their arboreal nature stay "clean"?"...any water dragon can carry parasites whether WC or not. It doesn't matter if a lizard is arboreal or not, they can get internal parasites from what they eat and drink and pick up external ones from their environment too.

if they are wc then it is guarenteed they have parasites. farm raised, they probably do also. cb ones still run a high risk cause they are often shipped/stored in tanks with those that do. i would highly reccomend getting a fecal done, especially if you have 4. you are going to need an enclosure the size of a room to house 4 adult water dragons. they are still young so the parasites shouldn't have had too much time to build up, but they are also a lot weaker in general when they are that little too. so good and bad things about their age. make sure you take their poop to an exotic animal vet cause the other ones usually don't know what they are doing. good luck and feel free to contact me at otis07_@hotmail.com
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Actually, they all pretty much carry a parasitic load. It is when they are stessed that the parasites get out of control and cause big problems. Take any new lizard's poop sample to the vet for an analysis. My vet charges $12, so it might benefit you to call around.