# water dragon? bearded dragon?



## shnimpon (Jun 17, 2007)

kk ive researched a bit and asked alot of bearded dragon questions in the past so i now no a fair bit about em, but im wondering... wats the major difference between a water dragon and a bearded dragon?

are they housed like majorly different feed differently? different requirements IE heat, UV?

any info + pics of enclosures would be gr8!!!!!

cheers~


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## Aslan (Jun 17, 2007)

Water Dragons, believe it or not, like a large body of water...also get quite a bit larger (mostly tail)...


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## irvingbro (Jun 17, 2007)

yer you will find that they move about 10 times the speed of beardies they have a lot of energy to burn


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## shnimpon (Jun 17, 2007)

yeh i kinda figured cause of the name they like water a bit more, but r they able to be kept alone? do they eat the same as beardies? and would just a small bowl of water be suffiecient? as my enclosure is currently setup for a beardie but im inking i may prefer a water dragon... coudl i just put a tub of water in there for him?


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## diamondtooth (Jun 17, 2007)

you can use a plastic dish 12inx6inx5in deep. they don't spend a real lot of time in water, mainly when their scared.mine is quite happy in that sized tub. feed them crickets as well as bananas strawberrys green vegies. watch what they are eating to work out what they prefer. they are fun to keep and have quite a character.


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## shnimpon (Jun 17, 2007)

do they still need UV and a basking heat light? and are ok to run on sand?


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## peterjohnson64 (Jun 17, 2007)

This is what I keep my water dragons in. You will notice it is totally differnet to what bearded dragons are kept in. I might also humbly suggest that bearded dragons and water dragons are totally different creatures in captivity. Bearded dragons readily calm down and seem quite amenible to handling. They will happily sit on your shoulder for long periods of time. Water Dragons are almost the total opposite of this. They are fast and very active lizads that do not seem to like handling and there is almost no chance of you managing to have one sit on your shoulder and stay there.

Personally my advice would be that if you want a pet lizard to keep inside that you can handle then you can't go past a beardie. Add to that the remarkable colours you can now get them in and they are perfect.

However, if you want to create a really nice large display enclosure with spectacular looking lizards that are constantly active (and cheap to buy) then you can't go past water dragons.

Sure, they are a similar size, eat basically the same thing, can be kept at similar temps but that is where the similarities end.


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## diamondtooth (Jun 17, 2007)

i have comact fluor and 60watt heat lamp over mine, dont heat is only around 26degrees and doesn't seem to be an issue. i have small pebbles on my viv floor, you could try course river sand. put a couple of branches over water tub as they loved to be perched over water and when disturbed will dive in


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## hornet (Jun 17, 2007)

water dragons need a huge enclosure as adults as total length can reach over 1m, your best bet is keeping them outdoors, alot are olso agro


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## grimbeny (Jun 17, 2007)

shnimpon said:


> are ok to run on sand?



Sand isnt the best substrate for baby beardies...


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## shnimpon (Jun 17, 2007)

Hornet To My Help Yet Again Haha


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## a1086528 (Jun 17, 2007)

Beardies are very tame
Water dragons hmm.... i'm still trying


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## diamondtooth (Jun 17, 2007)

water dragons don't like to be handled and they do bite


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## 6ftpythonsgirl (Jun 17, 2007)

I'd Go beardies if your looking for a pet i have 3 and they are great love a good pat and love to just hang around with you mines on the table trying to type right now 
i have heard bad things about sound since they tend to eat it and it clogs them up... and so far no one has invented fibre formula for them 
And you dont need to have a huge area for them.. or loads of water


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## knicko (May 2, 2008)

peterjohnson64 that is a really nice enclosure that is what i want to do one day i love the look of the aussie bush


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## venus (May 2, 2008)

Yes, what a great enclosure you have there Peter, lucky water dragons.


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