HELP! CWD Enclosure Upgrade (substrate, DIY, etc)

[YankeeChops]

Hello! I am new on this site and in need of advice. I recently adopted a 5 year old Female CWD from a local shelter. From nose to tip of tail she measures ~21inches. She is now living in what I believe is a 75 gallon tank. The measurements are ~48”W x 18”D x 20”H.

I would like to know how I can better improve the life of this little lady in all aspects. Right now I have a large cat litter tray on the left side of the tank with an Exo Terra fogger. I am currently using a ceramic heat lamp and Zoo Med 160W Powersun UV lamp on the right side of the tank. There is a UV strip light which runs the length of the tank.

I am very keen on buying (or building) a vertical set up so she can enjoy natural behaviors of climbing and perching higher up. Could you please advise me if there are store bought enclosures which would be acceptable? What size dimensions should I be aiming for??

In the short term-- I really need to find a new substrate for her. I heard that Coco fiber is good, but then I recently heard that it can cause eye problems in CWDs! Please advise.

** Can someone please advise me regarding use of my fogger? It is currently just sitting in ~4 inches of water in the pool I have setup. I recently heard that the water that spouts from the mechanism is electrically charged and can hurt the reptile if they are positioned above it. I tested this theory and it definitely did shock me. Should I still be using this fogger? Is there a safer way to position the fogger so it does not pose a threat to my CWD?

If anyone has any website links they can offer regarding DIY instructions for CWD enclosures or personal tips on setting up a CWD enclosure I would be eternally grateful! Sorry for the lengthy post! I will check back regularly for replies. Thank you so much!

[JohnEDove]

I think those foggers actually create the fog through vibration which heats the water as well making it unacceptably warm for most reptiles comfort. If it is sending out an electrical shock then it is shorting out, defective. But in either case I would not use one myself.

As for your enclosure here is the enclosure info from my care sheet on CWDs.
Housing
Proper housing needs to reflect their need to climb as well as their activity level. For an adult Water Dragon These needs cannot be met with most commercially available enclosures.
A Water Dragon needs a well ventilated enclosure that is at least 2 times taller that it is long (from nose to tail tip) twice as wide side to side as it is long and at least as deep front to back as it is long. Thus a 10 inch (25.4cm) hatchling would need an enclosure 20 inches (50.8cm) tall X 20 inches (50.8cm) wide X 10 inches (25.4cm) deep. Since a properly fed and cared for hatchling can grow at a rate of ½ inch (1.27cm) per month for about the first year or so you can expect to need an enclosure 4 feet X 4 feet X 2 feet (60.96cm) by the time it reaches 14 – 16 months of age.
For a 3 foot (91.44cm) adult you will need an enclosure at least 6 feet (1.829m) tall, 6 feet (1.829m) wide and 3 feet (91.44cm) front to back. Bigger is better but that should be the minimum.
To avoid the common problem of snout damage do to rubbing on the glass or screen of the enclosure the ground level where the dragon can reach the front should not be glass, plexi-glass or screen. Water Dragons do not see glass or screen as a barrier but rather something they need to work at to get through and will rub the flesh off the bone trying to get through it.

Substrate
All effort should be made to avoid the use of substrates that can lead to intestinal impaction. Some of these would be orchid bark, ground walnut, wood chips/shavings and soil mixes containing vermiculite or perlite.
NEVER USE CEDAR OR PINE SHAVINGS AS THESE CONTAIN TOXINS THAT CAN HARM YOUR DRAGON
Some good substrates would be Eco-Earth/Coconut Fiber, Care Fresh, Peat/Sphagnum Moss and sterile Top Soil or Potting Soil with no vermiculite, perlite or chemical additives.
Though I have heard of Alfalfa pellets being used I do not recommend these due to their tendency to mold quickly the hot humid environment required by Physignathus cocincinus.

Landscaping
Since Water Dragons are semi arboreal to arboreal and greatly water loving your enclosures set up needs to accommodate both of these traits.
Branches should be provided both vertical climbing and horizontal basking surfaces. When setting up the branches you need to secure them well and take into consideration the types of heating and lighting (covered later) you will be using. In general I run basking branches within 12 inches (30.48cm) of the top of the enclosure.
Purchased or gathered driftwood or tree branches can be used for the climbing basking surfaces but if you gather your own it will be necessary to wash them thoroughly in a solution of 10 – 20 % bleach water to kill any harmful organisms they may harbor then rinse them a couple of times with hot water and allo them to air dry for at least 48 hours to let the chlorine to dissipate completely.
Large leaved silk plants attached to these vertical and horizontal surfaces provide not only a natural look but also can provide the required hiding places so your dragon can feel safe and secure.
Live plants that are non toxic are also acceptable but your dragon will eat them and its climbing in and around the can tear them up pretty badly so I do not suggest the use of live plants.
About 1/3rd of the floor space should provide for their love of water. (water is covered below)

Lighting
Being diurnal (day active) lizards mean that we must provide lighting that not only meets their need for warm basking spots in the branches where they would normally bask in the wild but also provide for their need for UVB radiation normally supplied from the sun. To meet these needs there are a couple of options available to us. Both have positive and negative sides to them.
The first and the one I use requires two types of light, a reptile specific florescent tube such as the Repti-Sun 5.0 to supply the UVB radiation to provide the vitamin D3 necessary for calcium absorption and an incandescent basking spot light to provide the warmth needed for proper digestion. The draw backs to this set up is the need to have dual lighting sources and the fact that florescent source tubes need to be replace every 3 – 6 months and the florescent bulb must be installed within 12 inches (30.48cm) of the basking spot to be effective.
The second set up utilizes only one bulb to provide for both the basking and UVB requirements. This is done with a Reptile specific Mercury Vapor bulb such as the Solar Brite UVB Mercury Vapor series. This bulb, correctly placed, can provide for both the basking and UVB requirements of your lizard. The draw back to these bulbs is that they cost almost twice what the florescent cost and they must be replaced every year.
Whatever type of lighting set up you choose the lighting should be on a timers switch set to provide 12 - 14 hours of light per day.
Whatever lighting you choose, be sure that it is screened off to prevent your lizard from coming into contact with the bulbs and being burned.
*Please Note; Incandescent lights and non reptile specific lighting, even those that are called “Full Spectrum”, do not supply UVBradiation in sufficient amounts for reptiles.


*EDIT: I wrote this a number of years ago and now use Mega Ray Mercury Vapor lighting for UVB for reptiles that require it.

[YankeeChops]

Thanks for your input! I believe I have all the lighting sorted out, and I have gone ahead switched the substrate to eco-earth.

Does anyone have links to DIY enclosure designs they could post? I have decided I would like to build my own enclosure: 6ft x 5ft x 3ft. I would really appreciate any advice I can get, as I have never done anything like this. I have found a few photos of enclosures I really like the look of that seem to be built from large armoirs or custom built with glass fronts and wooden sides and back. PLEASE HELP!

[froggsong]

is that 6 feet long by 5 feet wide by 3 feet high? If so, that's not high enough. They need lots of climbing room. I'd go with 6x3x6 if you can, but you can also go with twice her length long, once her length wide, and twice her length high. Make sure that whatever you do that you make it water tight. She'll need a large pool, you can either have that built into the bottom or use a removable pool, but it should be filtered or at least moving (they don't like stagnant water much). Also, the front can be glass, but make sure the first few inches at the bottom are wood or something else that is non-reflective and not see through, they don't understand these things and will try to get through it, to the point of injuring themselves. Hope that helps!

You can also use thick plexi for the front if you like, it will be cheaper and much stronger. Feel free to have the front be actual doors as well (glass or plexi or equivalent, of course). There are many way to do this as long as you follow a few simple guidelines, have fun designing! You can also take a look at some larger PDF enclosures, they have alot of really good ideas that can be adapted for our CWD's! I'll see if I can find my links to the PDF enclosures I got the most inspiration from.

[froggsong]

Here it is!

Dutch vivariums

This is also a helpful link:

The Choco Hut

Lot's of good ideas in this one too:

http://www.dendroboard.com/member-s-frogs-vivariums/topic30203.html?sid=fca1c5840beb792f65892b5b6763d2 b3

Here's a great one about foggers right from the forum:

External Ultrasonic Fogger

[froggsong]

Share some of the links you come across too, and I'll share any more I come across that have good ideas. Remember, you don't just have to look for CWD enclosures, look at any you can and get inspired!

[YankeeChops]

Thank you so much for your help Meghan! I had intended the enclosure to be 6 ft tall, 5 ft wide and 3 ft deep. Does that sound OK? Right now she is in a 75 gal. tank, so I am trying to upgrade her for the height more than anything.

I gotta be honest, all this is quite daunting. I really want to give her the best setup possible, but I have no clue how to setup a pond system with external/hidden filtration as I have seen in so many forums. I will try my best and let you guys know how I get on.

In the meantime, please keep sending me links for ideas and or designs I can work from. Many thanks!!! =)

[Athen]

as far as your fogger goes what i use for my reptiles is a zoo med repti fogger Zoo Med Repti Fogger Terrarium Humidifier its a very good fogger with a variable adjust to control how much fog it produces and you can easilly change out the one liter bottle for a 2 liter soda bottle to allow you to not have to fill the water as often i used it on my Ball Pythons tank and set at full fog it would completely fill his 60Gal tank to 0 Visibility in a couple minutes. i also buy the majority of my supplies from that company that i linked to you although i have a store in close proximity to my house but you can purchase from the website too as far as the enclosure goes Froggsong is right on about the enclosure i personally think the CWD enclosures are some of the funnest you can build a large scale environemnt and get in depth as you want with it for my CWD i currently have him in a 60 Gal tank but he is a little guy yet i will be building him a new tank soon that measures 6ft long by 4ft high by 2.5 ft wide the best idea for it is to add a nice large deep pool in the tank because they do love to swim mine spends a great amount of time in his water as well as basking on a branch that extends over the water he doesnt spend very much time on his land unless it is to get something to eat. as far as the fogger you have how it works is it uses a Diode that as electrical current goes through it, it ionizes the water causing it to essentially boil at a low temperature creating the fog. the ionization is caused due to the vibrations and the inherant nature of solid state devices to create a very large amount of heat energy when electrical current is passed through them. so when you touch it you arent actually getting shocked but in reality feeling the vibration and being burnt which can seem similar to being shocked but isnt believe me i have plenty of experience in both touching a fogger and being shocked lol after all i am an electrician by profession and curious by nature...

[Athen]

one thing i forgot to mention is that regardless of weather or not the fogger is shocking or burning it is still very very dangerous to you pet i have seen one melt through a piece of tupperware in a matter of seconds

[froggsong]

Originally Posted by YankeeChops

Thank you so much for your help Meghan! I had intended the enclosure to be 6 ft tall, 5 ft wide and 3 ft deep. Does that sound OK? Right now she is in a 75 gal. tank, so I am trying to upgrade her for the height more than anything.

What exactly do you mean by deep? Forgive me, I'm just not sure I understand your explanation of your dimensions...

Generally, length is left to right across the front, width is how wide it is from front to back, and height is up and down.

If that's what you meant, I'm sorry, you just threw me off with the word "deep". Did you mean high when when you said deep? Like coming in from the top?

It is best to have the top wood as well if you are building out of wood. That way you trap in more heat and moisture. You can put in a ventilation system using PC fans so that the air doesn't stagnate and you don't loose too much heat and moisture. You can also drill a few holes in the front if you use plexi to let in some fresh air.

It should definitely be 6 feet high though, they need LOTS of climbing room, especially since she is full grown. Do you have any pictures of her you can post? I'd love to see what she looks like!

Here's a pic of mine:

and the way I used to have the tank set up (gravel isn't the best idea, doesn't keep in heat or moisture well and if it is small enough can lead to impaction):

Also, that's black tape around the bottom of the front so he wont rub his nose.