How to Care for a Chinese Water Dragon

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Tim Cole, I'm with the Austin Reptile Service. And I've been keeping reptiles and amphibians for over forty years. I'm here to talk to you about keeping Chinese water dragons. These are a medium size lizard, average about three feet. They're green with a crest going down the back. Looks somewhat similar to the iguana but a little bit heavier body, and usually a lot friendlier. These lizards are arboreal so they're climbers, so you'll want to set them up in a vertical cage. They do need a lot of humidity, so if you can set up a misting system or spray them yourselves manually on a daily basis, that would be good. These lizards are usually feeding on crickets when they're young, they'll also eat small fish. As they get older they'll eat larger fish, adult crickets, and even small rodents, including mice. These are fairly popular lizards and they do make good pets if you set them up properly. You need to provide UV light, you need to supplement their insects with calcium powder, you do need to provide a heat source. And since they're arboreal that's going to mean a heat lamp that they can bask underneath."