Housing with a green

[DibDip]

Assuming you had a very large enclosure and the vet said niether had any parasites or illnesses, do you think it would be safe to house an australian and a chinese water dragon together of similar sizes and opposite sexes? Personally I wouldn't wanna try it, but am curious about others' opinions on it...

Also, if it was possible for them to breed and they did, what do you think the babies would probably be like?

(I mainly just posted this because the AWD forum seems to really be slowing down lately... I am curious, but not very curious.)

[dragosmom]

I think that even though they are "cousins" that the humidity requirements differ too much to house them together comfortably. Aussies need much less humidity. As to offspring, they already resemble one another quite a bit. Maybe a Chinese with less color or an Aussie with green stripes? Not likely to happen!

[spike]

AWD's could survive with l :)ittle humidity. They are very hardy dragons. Seeing as they come from the eastern side of australia (Great Diving Range, Queensland right through to north-victoria) where the air is quite humid. Without spraying any water or haveing a water bowl in my beardie enclosure the humidity in the air and get over 60% . But still i do not know how they would go be housed together. It would be interesting to see how they would live together though

As for the babies.... maybe what dragosmom said

[Pooka]

Its always a risky proposition houseing 2 different reptiles togther, so keep that in mind. Let's assume that you successfully housed them togther and neither attacked the other or stressed the other. It is unlikly that they would be able to breed. Although they share some characteristics there genetic structure is vastly different. I beleive this was actually discussed on the water dragon mailing list at length...

I do not recall all of the conversation but I beleive on the off chance of them being able to mate you would end up with the water dragon equivalent of a mule (sterile offspring with shared characterisitics)

However, there has been some talk of re-classifying the aussie water dragon so they may not be a similar as once thought...

Just wanted to share my .02 on the subject

[Crystal]

My two (Ally-CWD & Fred (AWD) have lived together since they were about 4 months old. They don't fight, but they do interact and many times perch together. THey are a bit over 4 years old now.

My Viv is quite large...6 ft. tall, 4 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep. At the bottom is the cooler area with a UVB strip lite, a large (takes up about 1/3 of the bottom) heated pond, a large "cave" and also some running room. I have large limbs from top to bottom, 3 levels of shelves with strip UVB lights under each and also another at the very top with a suspended driftwood piece below it. Basking lamps in a couple of places and some live plants at the top half that get misted. Humidity in the top half stays around 80/85%. The bottom half is usually about 50-60% humidity. I do find that Ally likes the upper part more and Fred likes the lower part and the cave better.

I recently got a new viv and planned to separate them, and move in a new CWD with Ally and to give Fred more of a natural climate. BUT, they both hated being apart. They both stayed at the glass doors and stared at each other scratching and rubbing to get out. After two days of that, and even moving the other Viv so that it was out of sight they both seemed so unhappy that I moved Fred back. They were inseperable! They've perched together and played games together ever since.

I've just joined the group and in the Introduction board I posted about Ally laying a clutch (they'd be mixed breed) yesterday. (see "a newbie, but not to water dragons") I'm glad I didn't have time today to take the eggs to the reptile guy with the incubator...Ally dropped 3 more eggs this afternoon for a total of 8! I think she's finished now.
Crystal

[Pooka]

8 huh! Thats great I would really love to see pictures of both ally & fred and your viv also, it sounds great

[spike]

Sounds very interesting,
i would also love to see some pics

[DibDip]

Holy crap, I was just curious. You have got to update us on what happens and send pictures of the babies if the eggs hatch without any problems.

[Crystal]

Don't worry, I'll let you know how it goes. I'm excited, but also aware that the odds are against these eggs actually hatching. This is the 4th clutch Ally has had. The first one I didn't know what to do with and they just withered away. The 2nd and 3rd I had read up on incubating and made an incubator. It's just really hard to keep everything just right.

I've seen Ally and Fred mate, so I know it's possible that these eggs MIGHT hatch. We'll just wait and see. I'm just glad that Mike at my local reptile store was willing to incubate them. He's been following along with me all this time and has been a great help. He really knows his stuff!

I need to take some new pics of the lizards and the viv. I have an old pic online somewhere from when I first set it up, many many changes since then- such as lights screened in and more branches for perching. I'll see if I can find it.
Crystal