CWD mixed info

Question

PASCAL  

Enclosure   Hello Tracie,
I am a new owner to a Chinese Water Dragon. I want to do everything right but I keep getting mixed info. I am trying to find out everything I need to make PASCAL happy and healthy. So far I started with  a 26 gal. 16" x 16" x 24" National Geographic Lizard enclosure. So I started with coconut soil ( recommended by store ) and found out it is not always good for CWD's. So I changed to Repti Bark. My light are 100 watt red heart bulb, 15 watt UVB strip light that emits 25 micro watts, 100 watt blue bulb. I have the humidity at 80% and temperature at 72 F. I bought a larger pool, feeding & drinking dish. I use Fluker's HIGH-CALCIUM cricket diet, plus I use Calcium + D3 on dryed meal worms & crickets. I placed green dry moss along the top of bark. I use a  Reptifogger, but not quite sure how often to put it on. I will send you Pictures... All the advise you can give "the better!" I am also starting my Vivarium build 3' W x 4' L x 6' H. Plexiglass enclosure.

Answer
Hello Katherine,

He is a youngster, probably not much older than a few months.  He is very pretty!  
What is the UVB brand, Zilla, Reptisun or Reptiglo or some other brand?
It is the long fluorescent tube correct?  
Are you using a red & blue lamp for the basking light?  
I recommend using a bright white light for the basking light instead.  The colored lights are dull for them & doesn't protect the eyes against the UVB emissions.  
Do you know what the temperatures are in the tank?  They need to have a basking temperature of around 85-95 roughly, with a cooler end of 78-82. You will need to use either a digital probe or temp gun to measure the temperatures with also.   
The humidity should be over 50% all of the time, but aim more towards 80% if possible.  So the fogger should come on fairly often.  Do you have a pool or water tub in there for her yet or not?  Since you are building a larger tank you could put in a swimming tub/pool for her.
For substrate, you can use sterile top soil, (baked & sterile), or green felt or astroturf.  
Be careful with the bark that she doesn't ingest any of the bark.  The moss should be fine to use also.  
You are feeding live crickets along with freeze dried mealworms?  Since she is young, you can dust the insects once daily 5 times per week.
You may need to use hardware cloth for the enclosure which is a type of square metal mesh material.  They are notoriously called nose bangers because they can't really see the glass or plexiglass & bash their noses against them often.  The size of your new one sounds great!

Let me know how she is doing.  I would love to see pictures of your new tank when you are done.

Tracie