australian water dragons...

[lgscas0708]

whos got one and what is the spec of the enclosure? just curious as to what people have and how they keep them as there is very little online regarding keeping awd's just asians and a basic care sheet not very informative at all,


cheers guys n gals

[Girlie]

My sister (JimJam1977) keeps Australian water dragons... you should get in touch with her

[lgscas0708]

funny you say her name i was just looking at older awd posts and her name has replied to a few of them lol cheers

[Alex M]

To me lesueurii go hand in hand with the late great Bert Langerwerf. Try googling 'Agama International' for proper advice about this species rather than a potentially dodgy caresheet. I have kept these before and also have a 1.2 trio of these lovely agamids at work. They're EXTREMELY tolerant of low temperatures and males tend to show little aggression towards each other, those are the 2 fascinating little facts i like to bore customers with whilst spilling tea down my lovely vest.

[1wagtail]

Aussie water dragons grow big....males up to 3ft, females around 2ft and so require a good sized viv. A viv of at least 4ft x 2ft x 2ft but taller would be better for these impressive lizards. A substrate of cocoa fibre or orchid bark about 2-4 inches deep as they like to dig. A large water bowl.....big enough for them to get into and soak, they almost always use the bowl as a toilet. A cat litter tray works well as its easy to clean out daily. Plenty of branches...... as they love climbing, a hot spot at 25-30 deg and a good UV tube.....it will stop MBD and is vital for their well being.
Young AWD's can be skittish but calm down as they grow up.....they do not become as tame as Beardies.

Graham

[lgscas0708]

Originally Posted by Alex M

To me lesueurii go hand in hand with the late great Bert Langerwerf. Try googling 'Agama International' for proper advice about this species rather than a potentially dodgy caresheet. I have kept these before and also have a 1.2 trio of these lovely agamids at work. They're EXTREMELY tolerant of low temperatures and males tend to show little aggression towards each other, those are the 2 fascinating little facts i like to bore customers with whilst spilling tea down my lovely vest.

many thanks for this i already now own alberto my new awd friend and was just making sure i can have everything at his best

Originally Posted by 1wagtail

Aussie water dragons grow big....males up to 3ft, females around 2ft and so require a good sized viv. A viv of at least 4ft x 2ft x 2ft but taller would be better for these impressive lizards. A substrate of cocoa fibre or orchid bark about 2-4 inches deep as they like to dig. A large water bowl.....big enough for them to get into and soak, they almost always use the bowl as a toilet. A cat litter tray works well as its easy to clean out daily. Plenty of branches...... as they love climbing, a hot spot at 25-30 deg and a good UV tube.....it will stop MBD and is vital for their well being.
Young AWD's can be skittish but calm down as they grow up.....they do not become as tame as Beardies.

Graham

hi thanks for the reply mate, as above i already have him and have him in the same enclosure almost as he did at his home (difference being my vivs beech previous owners was walnut same equip though)
and its a 4 x 2 x 2 with a large tray similar to cat litter tray with 2 inch approx of water and branches around and over his water and hide (which is a large bark one) and a 10% uv tube 3 foot and a 75 basking light however think im going to change to a 50 watt BL and a ceramic although temp hasnt seemed to drop by very much at night when lights go out as house is pretty warm anyhow id rather be safe then sorry,

HOWEVER although he is lovely very tame will eat out of my hand evertime he is fed, and even fed and slowely climbed out onto my hand on the first day i got him home and has been willing to come to me most of the time when i open his doors, but he doesnt seem to have the best IMO as i wasnt told much about him other then general care and husbundry rules and online couldnt find much i want to build him a larger and better home quite similar to the ones people have on here for CWD with a water bottom with a pump to circulate it and keep humidity levels up and also to raise the hole viv off the ground for ease of cleaning water out i was going to fit a plug and pipeing similar to bath tub pipeing but the size of toiler overflow pipe if this makes sense, i plan on keeping half the floor/base covered with orchid bark which hes currently on(fresh obviously) and make it about 3 and half foot high to allow more climbing but am worried incase he loses grip and falls and hurts himself,

any further info./help greatly apprecieted. cheers

[Blaptica]

Originally Posted by Alex M

To me lesueurii go hand in hand with the late great Bert Langerwerf. Try googling 'Agama International' for proper advice about this species rather than a potentially dodgy caresheet. I have kept these before and also have a 1.2 trio of these lovely agamids at work. They're EXTREMELY tolerant of low temperatures and males tend to show little aggression towards each other, those are the 2 fascinating little facts i like to bore customers with whilst spilling tea down my lovely vest.

Hi Alex how you are you ? Its a real shame you don't know of anybody alive who has kept and bred hundreds of AWD, who could give advise !

Bert langerwerf was a lizard breeding genius, and I would second what you say about him and the agama international website. There are definately lots of dodgy care sheets around.

[lgscas0708]

iive read all there is to read about them on agama internationals website thanks and its given me a much better background and understanding of them and what theyre like, however im just ccurious now as how to build his new viv with the drain plug and water sealing it. etc any help would be great on this cheers,

[Alex M]

Originally Posted by Blaptica

Hi Alex how you are you ? Its a real shame you don't know of anybody alive who has kept and bred hundreds of AWD, who could give advise !

Bert langerwerf was a lizard breeding genius, and I would second what you say about him and the agama international website. There are definately lots of dodgy care sheets around.

Ooops!

Sorry Mark - Can't believe i forgot to recommend yourself! - I think it's just Bert and his groundbreaking techniques have been with me since childhood and he's therefore ingrained on the brain. A few genera and select species that i also think are synonymous with the name 'Bert Langerwerf' include Tupinambis/Bradypodian/Lacerta (particularly lepida) and of course the good old AusWD's - not to mention 'Superworms'.

To the thread starter - PM the chap above (Mark) for advice, forget the usual useless 'caresheets' and have a word with him, his track record with Lesueurii speaks for itself, and if i'm not mistaken he's helped Bert out at Agama International in the past .

Mark, all is well at Reptiles Plus, very busy - just picked myself up a couple of groups of different Uromastyx species - 2011's breeding project. Hope life treating you well in Portugal and at Dragon Farm.

Speak soon,
Al

[lgscas0708]

already speaking via pm buddy cheers lol still no pics of other peoples set ups though and i really do want to start building a new one asap however was hoping someone can answer this:
would a 3W x 2D x 5H viv be alright for him as the first foot would be the watertray with drain hole for ease of cleaning and a rocky area and was going to make a 2x2 platform about 4 feet high from the base for his basking and run a uv 4foot tube down the side with larger trunky branches as ladders for him to climb up to his platform and down to his water and various other ledges about 10" wide going up to it as hide areas out of the basking spot bulb but still in the uv with a ceramic aswel sort of half way up and poss a small fish tank heater at bottom of watter tray covered by rocks so he cant make contact with it

would this in theory be ok ? im sure a few things shall change but the principle shall remain the same i need contact with good viv builders for info really,but would like to make it myself