G'day! from a soon to be Auzzie water dragon keeper!

[sloory]

G'day everyone,

My names Darren and i'm from Melbourne Australia.

I'm new to the whole vivarium concept and I'm very keen to give it a crack.
I've kept tropical fish for about 6 years but my girlfriend and i are now wanting to get into reptiles.
I'm going to get some gippsland water dragons (a local native).
Now most people in Aus just do their enclosures quite simple but i've always been a big fan of creating a more natural habitat for my fish and now i want to do the same for my dragons.

I have a 5x2x2 fish tank that i will use and i'm going to have about a 3rd of it as the pond about 20cm deep?
I'm also keen do have live plants, driftwood, waterfall and moss (probably java moss).

Now i've done a bit of reading around hear but I'm a bit confused about how the vivariums function.

I really need some advise on the actual setup and requirements not of the dragon but the viv it's self.

Cheers!
Darren.

[islandvivs]

hey man, auzzie WD's are awesome. You guys are lucky to have them and a lot others as native species. neways i am wondering what size WD are you getting. As you might already know WD need more height in their tanks than legth. So 2 feet height might be good enough for now(if you are getting a baby) but eventually you'll have to get something tall (preferably 5 feet or more)

As for your question...fire away iam pretty sure they'll be aptly answered by the learned folks here.

just for reference a pic of my Chinese WD viv.

[sloory]

G'day mate,

You guys are lucky to be able to get the Chinese WD's. They are awsome but they don't look as tuff as the aussie ones!

I'm wondering what vivs need? like do they all need a spray system to keep the plants alive? Also what about substrate? what kinds and could i keep mosses alive in a WD viv?

oh yeah, in answer to your question i will get a few small juvies so i should get a few years before thy out grow, then i'll just keep two and i'll add high on top of the tank.

[froggsong]

Sorry to say, but just adding height to the tank wont be enough, especially with the amount of the footprint that will be taken up with the water area. They need (for a tank with just ONE dragon) twice their length long, once their width wide, and twice their length tall. Generally that is a 6'x3'x6' enclosure, just for one. Two or more will need a little more room (shouldn't be too much more, maybe a couple all around, or three feet longer and a foot higher and wider). I know you said you don't want to know about their care, but this is about their care, AND about the cage.

I would be careful not to get too many juveniles at once, as they will quickly crowd the tank as they grow. They will also fight once they reach a certain age unless you have all females, or only one male and the rest female.

That said, much of the questions you are asking have been addressed before, so please take some time to read through the threads (both in the vivarium area and the lizard area, as there are CWD specific posts dealing with equipment and such in that section). The search button is also very useful. If you still can't find what you need to know, feel free to post a new thread, or ask for more info on a current topic by posting on an existing thread.

Welcome to the forum, it will be nice to share ideas and experiences with you.