PHYSIGNATHUS CONCINCINUS

The green water dragon is native to southern part of China, Vietnam, south-east Asia and Cambodia, living on river banks close to moving water. It's a common kept reptile in the hobby but people often forget that the animal gets rather big and needs a big enough vivarium to live in. Nevertheless it's a very sturdy animal but this is also it's curse: they survive even though they suffer a lot. Many specimens are kept in poor conditions having a bad case of rachitis due to limited space and insufficient UvB. Without good lighting or UvB source the animals won't make D3 vitamines and therefore the bones won't absorb the calcium resulting is all kinds of misgrowth.

To prevent this, offer them a vivarium of at least 180x80x150cm (lxwxh). Remember bigger is better!

These animals also love water, provide a large water tank and you will see that they really need it to be healthy.
The humidity in the enclosure should range from 70% - 85%.

 

UV and heating.

 

I provide my animals with 2 Uvb bulbs, one is a mercury vapor the other one has a ballast. Do not use those CFL UvB bulbs, they provide little UvB and lose their strength rather quickly. They are not suited for an animal who needs large amounts of UvB. 
Most reptile brands of today offer decent lamps when you stick to the mercury vapor bulbs and the ballast bulbs. Saving on this, is saving on the health of your animal! Also don't forget to change your UvB bulbs every year!

As for heat, I keep an overall temprature between 25-30 °C and 40 °C underneath the hotspot. At night I do not provide any heat, but the room they're in doesn't get below 18°C. 

 

Food.

 

They get offered a variety of food sources, their main dish though is gras hoppers (Locusta migratoria) and roaches (Blaptica Dubia).

When I offer them something else I offer; snails (Achantia Fulicia), wax worms, mealworms, morioworms, and pregnant females get the occasional pinky. Some people give them fruit from time to time, like bananas, mine don't want to eat it. Becarefull that you don't spoil them to much with worms and fruits cause it will cause your animal to get fat. 

Breeding.

I suggest that you keep one male/female seperately or a male with at least two females in one enclosure, so the male can split his breeding behaviour. Having one female will result in a lot of stress for the female and can result in refusal of food and eventually in death. More than one male in an enclosure will result in the death of one of them pretty quick. The female will lay her eggs 4-5 weeks after the copulation. Provide a tub or box that is big enough for her to sit in and is deep enough (at least 30cm) for her to bury her eggs. At a temprature of 27-30 °C the eggs will hatch after 60-70 days. A terrarium seperated from the adults should be ready for the offspring. Provide a large water dish for them to swim and give them enough food. Juvenile animals can never eat to much.