randy smith

As babies, water dragons are very excited and curious, he is naturally just making his home- his home- nothing you can do will be able to stop him, he will naturally find it boring and will move on to something else, like hanging upside down on the lid-lol. It is not wise to put valuable plants in with a baby water dragon, they destroy it. He also may be burrowing, so increase his temps a bit. He may also be digging for food as he does in the wild. For now I would just leave his cage with fake plants and a substarte of somesort- then once he is smewhat mature he can live peacefully with his plants. I have a huge terraium with two adults, and they love to hang in the fig trees, unfortunatly I have to replace them every couple months b/c they eat it and tear through the leaves, but this is normal. You can never tame a wild animal, and water dragons are no exception, they need to be let to explore, this digging frenzy is a good thing- it means you have a healthy little bugger,
and the health of you water dragon is much more important then you plants and terrarium, you bought him to enjoy, not to put him in a cage and expect him not to destroy the furnishings. Think as them as a little kid who is put in his finished room, and the next day colors all over the walls, he is making his cage his home, and just the way he likes it- observe and learn what he is doing and remember what he doesnt touch and get more of thoose. I would definatly build a custom cage that is both long and tall, you dont want a telephone both style or a coffin style, but a huge box-, let me know if you hav any more ????'s
Best of luck,
Randy
and gang

character. Unfortunately, he is wreaking havoc on my beautifully landscaped
23-gallon terrarium that I set up for him. (A much larger set-up will be
utilized once he gets a little larger. He's a very tiny guy now.) I got the
works, clay pebble base substrate, screen divider, coco-betting planted with
gorgeous live greenery, and moss around the plant bases. This little guy is
digging like crazy! He's digging up all the plant roots, digging anywhere he
can just about. My $20 live tropical sheet moss has been tilled under like a
farmer's plow was dragged through it. The little stinker is having fun with
it. He digs like a little terrier, and if I didn't know any better I would
say he was laughing...

I had read that water dragons were arboreal. I placed lots of g**** wood
branches over his water area for basking, just like he would have in the
wild. But he seems to be having much more fun in the dirt. Is he digging for
crickets that burrow under? Is he looking for a hiding burrow? He has TONS
of tall and short greenery to hide in if that is the issue. Is he just
having fun? Why would an arboreal lizard spend so much time digging?

I would like advice on a) how to minimize the "damage" to this terrarium (I
spent almost $100 on substrate, plants and g**** wood) and b) advice on how
to avoid this issue next year when he moves into a super-sized terrarium,
which I am considering having custom made so he has more height, instead of
tossing him in a 55 or 75 gallon long-style tank. If he loves the ground and
the dirt so much, why spend $ on an arboreal tank? I'm not sure which way to
go.

Thank you for your advice. This group has been wonderful helping me in the
past.

Julie

julianne brown

Randy,

Thanks for your help. I am in the process of taking out the good plants and
moving them to pots, and leaving in the simple sturdy types. I didn't mean
to sound more concerned about the terrarium than the lizard - I adore the
little guy - I just wanted to see if someone had this problem before and had
tips.

I'm so used to my day gecko, anoles and frog who are all very mellow and
don't go upturning things. I've accepted the fact that he's rearranging
everything, and I'm appreciating all of the entertainment he is providing.
He's acting like a little dog in a garden. I swear he likes making mud near
his water dish and squishing around in it.

I did such lavish landscaping with my other terrariums, and went all out
with this one assuming an arboreal lizard would hang out on the g**** wood.
Now I know better! What type of substrate is best for water dragons?

When this guy grows a bit I plan on getting a setup that will last
permanently. I'm thinking one of those "Cages By Design" specialty cages
that are as big as a walk-in closet, or something similar to that. Since I
will have to buy him a larger cage as he grows I might as well buy a really
great one that he will never be too big for.

He is a great little lizard, the most personable I have "met" since my hobby
began.