# Chinese water dragon temperament



## eubankclare (Jul 23, 2007)

Just wanting to get peoples views on the temperament of their Chinese water dragons.
Are they easy to handle? Very skittish as youngsters? Calm down with age and handling or not? Suitable for children to handle? (under supervision)

I have a 4ft high by 3 ft wide and 2ft deep viv and was looking into planting it out, would this be suitable.

Thanks
Clare


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## stiggy (Jan 10, 2010)

mines very placid, he comes down to the bottom window of his viv at about seven/eight oclock at night and taps the glass to be opened, we open it and he roams around the room for a few hours:lol2: 

not sure how they can be from hatchlings as ours is a ft and 1/2 and we got him fairly big


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## jameskench (Sep 19, 2010)

Chinese water dragons can be very skittish when you first get one, but they do calm down over time when handled often. And of coarse I would say they would be fine when it comes to been handled by children depending on age as they can try and wriggle out of your hands with no warning. As for the viv it would be fine for a while :2thumb: maybe not a fully grown water dragon but can do it for a while :lol2:


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## slipknotaz (Oct 9, 2010)

Mine is about 18 months old and when i first get him out he is a little skittish but soon calms down, he has his little bad moods but not very often at all, never tried attacking me in anyway, he just puffes his beard and i just act a little more cautious just incase because of his age. lol


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## Adam-Griffin (Jul 30, 2009)

Both of ours are pretty placid and laid back too, they do try and wriggle free but even when they do manage to escape they don't go too far. They both love my daughter, and she loves them. Maybe not as child friendly as saaaayyy.. a beardie, but definitely good with kids.

Our female can be pretty nervous/skittish at times but they're both quite young, so maybe that'll calm down eventually.

Just my opinion on them.


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## misstiggins (Jun 9, 2011)

*my dragons*

I got my water dragons about a month ago and they were both tiny.
I found the male to be a tad aggressive and very wary of me at first but after some fantastic advice from the guys on these forums (especially Rthompson) i have managed to get him to a point where he is tolerating me now! 
There is still a long way to go before they will be completely happy to come out, be handled and frolic around the living room but i know that with patience and time they will be lovely little things!

I recommend getting an older one maybe as they will be less skittish and wriggly and less likely to be fearful of every tiny movement you or your kids make!
Saying that, if you have the time and patience for it, getting them as babies is lovely as they are abslutely adorable


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## _Jay_ (Dec 14, 2008)

It depends on what they relate you to, 

1. Do they relate you to food? Whenever they see fingers does that mean food time? Mine know that blue means food,(I use big blue tongs) no other colour.

2. do they relate you to comfort? mine certainly do, they know that if my hand comes near them they can walk onto my hand and sit down comfortably to absorb the heat, they often sleep on my arm.

3. they must be taught to know that you are there to feed them, hold them and let them run around but to be in charge at the same time, I have raised mine that way from being very young and that is how I'm raising my babies right now so that new owners can be at ease with what they need to do.

4. you will find it very easy to tame your dragons if you imitate what they do to each other, particularly what the 'alpha male' does. a classic I used was to head bob in front of him and hold to the back of his neck gently but firmly (just on the meaty bit of the crest), this is very useful for the female as she wil just simply flop still as a doormouse.. The male will react as if in shock and let his head sag to the floor.


If you have any issues give me a PM or something..


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

aye Rthompson is the man  misstiggins 
some great advise here guys: victory:


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

_Jay_ said:


> It depends on what they relate you to,
> 
> 1. Do they relate you to food? Whenever they see fingers does that mean food time? Mine know that blue means food,(I use big blue tongs) no other colour.
> 
> ...


 
Jay this is so true, this is the very same with iguanas, as I mention on my taming thread here http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/foru...articular.html?highlight=iguana+taming+thread
and to be honest, the same rule applies to most animals. in this case you want to cancel out the "iguana" and replace with water dragon.
Having had a number of iguanas in my home before you can actually start off a head bobbing session merely just by walking into a room and headbobbing at the male.

with iguanas however there are a number of different types of headbob, some are (back away now) and some are (greetings) learning to read your own animal is important, and like you rightly say the best thing to do is mimic what they do, this is the best form of communication.

with aggresive males who would literally stand up to me (which they did do now and again I might add) I would head bob at them, blow up and stamp my feet if I had to to let them really know I am bigger than them and 9 times out of 10 they backed down before me.

Having bred water dragons for a couple of shops and handling them daily I can very well relate to what you mean about the males so a fantastic point there.:no1:

Water dragons can make excellent companions, they are interesting little things and I myself am looking into getting into breeding them again


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