# feeding eastern water drgons



## smillies.snakes (Aug 21, 2009)

just want to know how often and how much to feed juvenile eastern water dragons my two dont seem to be eating very much and are really stuborn when offering crickets or roaches or meal worms. what are you feeding also? 
regards smillie


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## ollie (Aug 21, 2009)

You want to be feeding juvenile water dragons roughly every second day. They should readily feed on live insects of appropriate size. If they arn't feeding there could be a problem with their environment:

They need a good basking light with a basking temperature under the light of 30 plus degrees

Thermal gradient in the enclosure of 25 at the cool end to 30 plus celcius at the basking spot

Plenty of spots to hide where they can feel secure ie hollow logs, curled bark etc

Resist the temptation to handle them initially as this can stress them

Go easy on feeding mealworms to juveniles as they can result in gut impactions if they make up to large a part of the diet. Feeding the white (recently shed mealworms) is better

There is a great little book on 'Keeping Australian Water Dragons' by Jason Goulding and Darren Green retails for about $20 which is well worth getting hold of. Good luck with your dragons- Ollie


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## ollie (Aug 21, 2009)

Oh forgot to mention other foods:
You can catch a variety of live insects around the backyard ie worms, slaters, snails, slugs, flies

Water dragons will accept other non live foods but often it takes a little time before they will do this.

Chopped fruits, vegetables, lettuce, endive, bearded dragon pellets are all good

When feeding commercially bought insects always dust them with a goos Calcium and vitamin D supplement

Cheers Ollie


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## cris (Aug 21, 2009)

Try to provide a basking spot that is around 40C and try not do disturb them while they eat, stress and/or being cold are probably the most likely cause.


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## Poggle (Aug 21, 2009)

when you say juvies.. how young?? could it be that they are just intimidated by being fed and expected to feed in front of you?


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## webcol (Aug 21, 2009)

Mine is now about 10 months old. I have his hot end at 26-29. He eats crickets, and i mix bearded dragon pellets with vegies and fruit and he loves it.


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## Grunter023 (Aug 21, 2009)

I was always thought to believe that water dragons don't need as much heat as other dragons. I have my 3 eight month old juvenile EWD's in a 4 ft wood enclosure with a 60 watt light bulb and a uv globe and cold side is 22 degrees, hot end around 25-26 degrees with the option for them to sit up on a branch which gets a max temp of 30 degrees right under the globe. Do you guys think I should put a 100 watt light globe in instead to maybe get that hot end up a bit? I have always thought about it. I don't think mine are growing all that fast ,they would be about 20cm from tip of nose to end of tail (would this be the right size for 8 month old EWD's?). I have probs feeding them as the crickets (I use woodies now and get same problem) just hide under the rocks I have in there, and I always seem to have to lift up the rocks daily and blow or move them out from under the rocks so the EWD's can get a chance at eating them. I have a large ceramic dish in there with woodies in it and its painted with fluon round the top of it to avoid escapees but they still get over the fluon and hide under the rocks! I put chopped fruit and veg in there all the time as well but they don't seem to take much of an interest.


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## smillies.snakes (Aug 21, 2009)

um where not 100% sure of age overall they are around 20-25cm long. they have a basking spot which sits between 29 and 32 depending on room temp and the other end of the tank hovers around 25. we avoid handling as myuch as possible only pick them up to move while cleaning. they have branches and hides at both ends. lucifer whos slightly bigger will eat two medium sized crickets every second day and occasionally willl take one on other days. but twitch is worrying me he(we think he) will only eat a smaller cricket every couple of days we have tried them both on cut up carrot lettuce celery broccoli they eat a little of each and then wont touch it again is that alright or am i right to worry about them.
regards smillie


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## notechistiger (Aug 21, 2009)

Are they kept together? It's very possible that the bigger one is dominating the smaller one. Also, don't feed lettuce or broccoli. Lettuce gives them diarrhea and broccoli prevents them from absorbing the calcium that they need.


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## Adele (Aug 22, 2009)

*EWD's*

My two little EWD's live together (am hoping male/female) with no dramas. They eat very well too. I feed them every second day, alternatively using fruit & vegs, then live woodies the next feed. They love to eat sweet fruits, but I don't give them too much. It's been real trial and error working out what they like.

Here's my list:

Mushrooms (a favourite)
Sweet fruits (melon, pink lady apples-they won't eat green ones, strawberries & grapes)
Peas & corn
Carrots
Baby spinach leaves
Woodies & crickets (dusted with calcium)
Earthworms
*Very occasionally* - banana (they love it). Apparently banana contains too much phosphorus, which is not good for calcium absorption
I've also read that they love to eat yabbies and lilly-pilly fruit!

I choose to use cultivated insects rather than wild caught. I get paranoid about parasites from wild caught and insect/weed killer spray.

Because I live in FNQ, I choose not to provide a heat source apart from regular outdoor sunshine; inside they are given a full spectrum light to provide necessary UV rays.

Good luck smillies.snakes
Keep us updated on how your little guys go...


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## cris (Aug 22, 2009)

smillies.snakes said:


> um where not 100% sure of age overall they are around 20-25cm long. they have a basking spot which sits between 29 and 32 depending on room temp and the other end of the tank hovers around 25. we avoid handling as myuch as possible only pick them up to move while cleaning. they have branches and hides at both ends. lucifer whos slightly bigger will eat two medium sized crickets every second day and occasionally willl take one on other days. but twitch is worrying me he(we think he) will only eat a smaller cricket every couple of days we have tried them both on cut up carrot lettuce celery broccoli they eat a little of each and then wont touch it again is that alright or am i right to worry about them.
> regards smillie



Its too cold, increase the basking temperature and they should eat properly. I wouldnt worry about feeding them veges until they are feeding well on live food first, also they dont eat most types of veges and prefer fruits like berries. Also make sure crickets cant hide easily as they can eat lizards while they sleep.


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## smillies.snakes (Aug 22, 2009)

thanks guys they get along really well the size difference is only a centimetre or so and they seem to get along fine. so last night i put four large crickets from a pet shop in there and some celery and some apple and left them alone i checked about an hour later and everything was gone so im thining they dont like to feed with people around. ill try it again tommorrow and if i get the same results ill eep feeding like that thans for all the help and ill have to keep trying different things

smillie


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## sweetangel (Aug 26, 2009)

do worry to much. mine wuld never eat in front of me. it took a cooling period and them being very hungry to start feeding in front of me. so just make sure there is food there. they will eat it when ur not around. what i ended up doing was using cat foods, they seemed to love that and it was easy for them to eat, alternating with vegies. insects were to hard to feed as they escaped.
so yeah dont fret, just wait it out and they will soon eat in front of you.


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## Nhabib90 (Oct 21, 2012)

You could always place them in an empty tank or large enough container where you can put a few crickets in the and the lizard and leave her in there for about ten min she will easily be able to get the crickets it also will teach them that they need you for food and will be easier to handle and less territorial in there tank


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## mad_at_arms (Oct 21, 2012)

I think after 3 years the feeding problem will have been sorted out, one way or another.


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