chinese water dragons and their diet

Question
Can a Chinese Water Dragon eat dandelion leaves from outside? I am only 17 years old and do not have a job, and not car so I have to rely on my parents to buy my lizard's food, however they work so late they can never bring any home and we're having money problems.If anything, is there any food not from a pet store or anyting outside my dragon can possibly eat?

Answer
Hi,

I do not recommend keeping any reptiles if you are having financial troubles.  The Chinese Water Dragon (Physignathus concincinus) must be housed with a fairly large area of land, and branches to climb on, as well as a large dish or container of water available at all times.  It must have quite warm temperatures, at least during the day, and high humidity all the time.  To keep water dragons healthy, vitamin and mineral supplements (especially vitamins A and D) should also be provided, and mixed in or put on the food.  They should be fed about three times per week.

Overall, the diet of a water dragon should be omnivorous, with both plants and animals being eaten.  They can be fed fish, baby mice, earthworms, crickets, etc., as well as a variety of plants, including dandelions, and fruits and vegetables available in the grocery store.  They must have protein and plant matter in their diets, and cannot eat exclusively plant or animal matter.  If you do not like any of the live animal protein options, some people do feed their lizards ground beef in their diets, along with the vegetables (though this is controversial, due to potential hormone exposure and because small lizards obviously wouldn't naturally eat cow meat).  Some people also feed their lizards some wet (canned) cat food or (canned) dog food to provide protein.

Following is a list of plant foods safe for lizards to eat (this is not all inclusive...some other plants are also safe): alfalfa, chopped apple, avocado, berries (strawberries, blueberries, and several others are safe; for the most part, any berry people eat is safe), bok choy, any part of broccoli (chopped up stems, leaves flowers), green or red cabbage (not white), dandelion leaves and flowers, escarole, grated or finely chopped carrots, beets, or squash, turnips, collard greens, hibiscus blooms and leaves, lettuce, any type of melon, nasturtium, okra, papaya, peach, pear, pees, romaine, rose petals, tofu, tomato (modified from: Bartlett, R., and P. Bartlett. Lizard Care from A to Z. Barron's Educational Series, Inc. 1997, p. 35)

Much of this food could be derived from leftovers while cooking dinner, but you want to be careful to wash off this plant food because you do not want to expose your lizard to pesticides which could be on fruits and vegetables.  If you are going to feed a water dragon plants from your yard, you must also be wary of potential exposure to mites from outside, etc., that could infect your lizard.

Good luck,

-Chris