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Tropical arboreal lizard

Chinese water dragon

Physignathus cocincinus

Kept the same way as the day gecko, veiled chameleon and green anole, so they share one kit: the same heat, light, and humidity, sized to the animal.

Build a Chinese water dragon setup See the gear
Photograph of a Chinese water dragon
Photograph by Rushenb, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Care sheet

What it needs

We have taken these figures from published sources and are still checking them against our own experience. Treat them as a guide, and ask us before you buy.

Basking surface
30 to 40°C Measured on the surface the animal lies on, not in the air.
Daytime air
26 to 30°C The cool end, away from the lamp.
Night air
20 to 22°C
UV index at the basking spot
1.1 to 7.4 Zones 2 to 3. Partial sun or occasional basker, thermoregulator
Humidity
60 to 80%
Daylight hours
13 h in summer, 11 h in winter
Winter
Cooling A cooler period: activity and feeding drop, but the animal stays awake.
Where it lives
Foliage or shrubs, Semi-arboreal, Riparian or wetland
Adult length
75 to 90 cm
When it is active
Diurnal
How it lives
Semi-arboreal
Typical captive life
12 years
Longest recorded life
15 years A record from the literature, not what to expect. Most animals live well short of it.

Our reading of the literature, not veterinary advice. Animals vary, and so do rooms, so take these figures, and any setup the builder puts together, as a starting point, and ask a reptile vet about your own animal. Where the figures come from.

From the catalogue

Gear that suits a Chinese water dragon

Chosen for tropical arboreal lizard. The setup builder puts the whole kit together, sized to the animal, with the reason for each piece.

Build the whole kit

Same care group

Kept the same way

Where it comes from

E/SE Thailand, E Indochina, Vietnam (Son La etc.), Birma ? (fide MANTHEY & SCHUSTER 1999) S China (Namgong, Yunnan), Cambodia, Laos Introduced to Taiwan (G.Norval, in AA).

Breeding: oviparous; facultatively parthenogenetic (Miller et al. 2019).

Where the figures come from