So, first things first, I work at a pet store (SHOCK AND HORROR!), which unfortunately means that I, and my coworkers, occasionally get exposed to new animals that we know very little about. Animals like Chinese water dragons... Personally I am more of a snake and amphibian person, so I don't have a lot of lizard knowledge.
But anyway, we got in this baby CWD and we can only assume he was wild caught. Many problems have occurred, he has had watery eyes on more than one occasion, of course has the nose rubbing problem, has gone through phases of skin-and-bones and then fattening back up, but the thing that baffles me the most is the fact that after a month or so, his tail got...crispy! It turned black and hard and died. We sent him to a specialized vet and they amputated the tip of the tail, but they did not tell us what was wrong with it in the first place.
So my question is this: Why would a dragon get a crispy tail? He has no direct contact with any heat source, just to let you know. He's a good 6 inches to 12 inches away from any lighting above his enclosure, so I don't think it could have been burned..?
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug
