my chinese waterdragon is lazy

[gelobte balwop]

hai people,

i am new here with the main purpose to have an answer to my problem. If i am enyoing myself here, I might become a huge post-man.

My problem:

Since two / three weeks my waterdragon is hiding in its hiding place. It never comes out. Fot eating i drag him out of there and then het eats good. Half an hour later she crawls back in her resort.

History
Before this problem started, she had one 'nose hole' which was blocked. My vet 'operated' her with a hook. This caused ofcourse stress. At home she slept in the water, which was not common. So i bought a hiding place.

When i purchased the animal, they told me too little. Ik have had long time no UV. I think the vitamin / CA I gave her was insufficient.

The answer:

What can it be?
Ticks: i have not spotted red/black little beasts
Internal parasites: Recently (one month ago) i have checked its poo at a vet (with reptiles-experience). No signs of parasites
Stress: It is taking too long
Lack of vitamin/Ca: how can i measure it?


The enclosure
T = 29 degrees Celsius / 35 warmest spot daytime
at night : 15-20 degrees Celsius
The water is not heatened
length: 1.50 x 60 depth x 70 centimeters high
She is the only lizard in the enclosure....

so... i sincerely hope for an answer

*PS: i am from the netherlands so my english is not so good.

>(

[JeffT]

Well she might just like it in there, otherwise maby she is still scared / stressed out.

[snakemann87]

Well I dont know the temps cause I go by degrees........but do you handle her at all? HOw big is the cage in ft(im lazy hehe). I know they need alot of room to run around and a big water dish.

You really cant "measure" calcium levels or anything......just be sure to dust the food and have UVB rays. Also taking her out in natural sun would do wonders.

But really I dont know the reason? I had a Water Dragon briefly but the next day it died(got from Petco).

[gelobte balwop]

the encolsure: 50 feet length, 1.5feet width and 1.6 feet high. (i think 0.3m = 1 foot)

Temp = 292 degrees Kelvin, don't no Farenheit

I take him out so now and then out of the cage. UV is there and i dust the food.

There's not much of a sun today in teh netherlands.... only rain ;(

[ectotherm]

I'm assuming you are using an incandescent flood lamp for heat?
You may wish to try using one of the new mercury vapor bulbs which emit high levels of both UV A and B. Alternatively, you can use 1 or 2 flourescent UV bulbs. Adding UV to your lighting will only benefit the animal. That said, I can't say with any confidence that lack of UV is the source of your problem. If the animal is not showing any outward signs of metabolic bone deficiency (soft jaw, tremors, swelling) the only way to rule out hypocalcemia would be through a blood test.

Add more hides to the enclosure. If you have perches for your dragon, obscure them with real or silk plants. If you don't have perches, add some. Keep working on the environmental factors, and I believe you will eventually have a happy dragon once again.

The pic below is the enclosure I used to keep my water dragon in, it now houses Mountain Horned Dragons, Acanthosaura capra.
It is 152 cm high, 122 cm long, and 61 cm deep.

Dragon Enclosure

[lilyskip]

I don't know about water dragons, but here's the conversion for those that do:

29 celsius = 84.2 fahrenheit
35 celsius = 95 fahrenheit

15-20 celsius = 59-68 fahrenheit.

(got it here: http://www.intmed.mcw.edu/clincalc/wtmeas.html)

[xxbad]

ok i am really skilled with water dragons ask me a question and ill now it o hey its me gelobte from www.freewebs.com/chinesewaterdragon ok your tempeture should be no higher than 35 celcius and no lower than hmm ill go check i dont know my celciuses o sh!* i have to wait for my theremometer to heat up so it colors so i can see the celcius things my temp thing is weird ok while were waiting for that ome problem might be does it have things to climb water dragons are climbers and they love to hide also one of my wate dragons spends half the day under a log a lot of the time. height is just as important as length but they love to run also ok keep your cage 32 celcius and 20 celcius at night time keep your humidity 70-80%

[gelobte balwop]

height: 70 cm - 3.3 feet

humidity is oke, i have a waterheater

climbing: several branches

i might turn up the heat, especially at night, where it can be 15 degrees Celsius. But the cage is large and hard to heat... i figure one way out ...

[gelobte balwop]

i have had re-examined the poo of my dragon again, and guess what:

flagelates (is that english?, cocodiose)

pffew, now i know the cause of this behaviour.

thenx for replys, i will let you know how it ends....

[NewLineReptile]

I have 2 water dragons and they do the same thing every winter.
Then they become more active in the spring.

Brandon

[gelobte balwop]

you might need to warm a little bit more, because in winterdays in Asia is almost as hot as in the summer.

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