# Chinese Water Dragon enclosure setup lighting and ventilation



## LizardLover8980 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hi Guys & Gals, 

Recently bought a couple of water dragons and have bought a custom made vivarium made out of marine ply with sliding glass doors, size is approx 5ft high 4ft wide and 2ft deep, have set up the necessary lighting equipment i.e uv striplight along the top length, a ceramic heater bulb on the right side for the hot area along with an infrared bulb in the middle and a moonlight bulb above the cool area for the night, all of which are set on necessary thermostats/timers etc. Have also purchased a heat mat which is going to be fitted halfway across the bottom of the enclosure in the hot area. At the moment I have a thermometer in the cool end towards the top, a digital thermometer monitoring the cool end with the probe towards the bottom of the cool side and also a thermometer in the hot area two thirds of the way up and one towards the top near the basking area with the thermostat probe running off the heat bulbs in the middle of the vivarium ..(hoping this is all sounding okay so far!).. at the moment I have set temperatures so that the hot area is around 32-34 degrees Celsius (obviously with the basking area being higher) and night time drops to around 25-27 degrees Celsius.. anyway! My question really is i'm hoping this sounds okay for the setup and also, ventilation..i currently have a large square vent in the cool end towards the top as this was already fitted but am going to fit more as needed but am wondering how many and where would be best? Appreciate any feeback on this, Thanks!


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## tremerz97 (Nov 30, 2012)

LizardLover8980 said:


> Hi Guys & Gals,
> 
> Recently bought a couple of water dragons and have bought a custom made vivarium made out of marine ply with sliding glass doors, size is approx 5ft high 4ft wide and 2ft deep, have set up the necessary lighting equipment i.e uv striplight along the top length, a ceramic heater bulb on the right side for the hot area along with an infrared bulb in the middle and a moonlight bulb above the cool area for the night, all of which are set on necessary thermostats/timers etc. Have also purchased a heat mat which is going to be fitted halfway across the bottom of the enclosure in the hot area. At the moment I have a thermometer in the cool end towards the top, a digital thermometer monitoring the cool end with the probe towards the bottom of the cool side and also a thermometer in the hot area two thirds of the way up and one towards the top near the basking area with the thermostat probe running off the heat bulbs in the middle of the vivarium ..(hoping this is all sounding okay so far!).. at the moment I have set temperatures so that the hot area is around 32-34 degrees Celsius (obviously with the basking area being higher) and night time drops to around 25-27 degrees Celsius.. anyway! My question really is i'm hoping this sounds okay for the setup and also, ventilation..i currently have a large square vent in the cool end towards the top as this was already fitted but am going to fit more as needed but am wondering how many and where would be best? Appreciate any feeback on this, Thanks!


hi, first of all :welcomerfuk:
temps sound good, I don't use heating or lighting at night and the temps get around 20c. which is fine. then scrap the heatmat, its useless for cwd's as theyre arboreal and rarely go down to ground level. viv size is ok  what uv are you using? percentage? length? brand? I would also recommend changing that ceramic for a basking bulb or halogen as they associate light with basking. do you have a swimming/bathing area? is there plenty of climbing accessories and cover? ventilation isn't really needed as they like high humidity. what is the humidity? and what substrate do you use? 
sorry for all the questions, you clearly want the best setup possible so if you answer all of these questions then I can help :2thumb:


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