G'day all

At various times I've had baby Water Dragons in the garden that borders
the pergola attached to the back of the house......they are so ugly, but
oh so cute!!! Each time when a baby appears I get it used to me coming
and going, then introduce tiny pieces of meat to supplement his/her
diet, but also to get them a little quieter. Unfortunately, thanks to a
neighbour's cat, they don't get past being 6 rows of bricks in
length.....I measure them by this method as they climb the brick wall.
Of course, the last one disappeared about a month ago, much to my
disgust, then had those tiny 'acid' ants invading the ensuite and main
bathroom, because the baby dragon usually sits on the windowsill in the
ensuite and I didn't realise how many ants he/she was eating. Anyway
last week ago I had no alternative but to spray the ants because they
started invading the lounge room too.....but.....while spraying I found
a tiny (about 100mm, or 4 inch) dragon and yes, he/she had been sprayed.
Naturally I rushed inside and got the ironing spray bottle of water
and doused the poor little thing, but he/she survived so I didn't feel
quite so bad.

Now today from the kitchen window I could see a dragon on the ensuite
windowsill as well as something else??? but what??? so I sneaked
outside (because this little guy is still VERY shy) and I soon found out
what he was up to. I can now say HE because you guessed it.....he was
'otherwise engaged' with a smaller, darker (brown) water dragon. In my
haste to get the camera I disturbed them....maybe it was a shock that a
human saw what they were doing....anyway I missed the photo opportunity,
but it started me thinking that at what age do these little darlings
start to reproduce??? I would have thought they should have been
older.....or is that what I used to tell my kids many years ago??? LOL

A quick search didn't give any answers, so I'm hoping that someone can
enlighten me (to their reproductive age), I know about the other, LOL
;-)) I'll watch them again tomorrow morning as the sun hits the
windowsill and keep the camera closeby in the hope I can 'catch them in
the act' again!!

In the meantime I need to work on the b*****y cat, trouble is that it
only comes into my yard when I have dragons or lizards feeding. Think
I'll have to take to wearing hob-nail boots, but it can run faster than
I can kick.....any other suggestions?

HC ;-)

g'day hc,

you may have to do a search for herpatologist sites to get help with
that question or phone the herpatologist dept at you local uni' or
museum.

as for the cat my trick is trap and dispatch them.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

HC wrote:
G'day all

At various times I've had baby Water Dragons in the garden that borders
the pergola attached to the back of the house......they are so ugly, but
oh so cute!!! Each time when a baby appears I get it used to me coming
and going, then introduce tiny pieces of meat to supplement his/her
diet, but also to get them a little quieter. Unfortunately, thanks to a
neighbour's cat, they don't get past being 6 rows of bricks in
length.....I measure them by this method as they climb the brick wall.
Of course, the last one disappeared about a month ago, much to my
disgust, then had those tiny 'acid' ants invading the ensuite and main
bathroom, because the baby dragon usually sits on the windowsill in the
ensuite and I didn't realise how many ants he/she was eating. Anyway
last week ago I had no alternative but to spray the ants because they
started invading the lounge room too.....but.....while spraying I found
a tiny (about 100mm, or 4 inch) dragon and yes, he/she had been sprayed.
Naturally I rushed inside and got the ironing spray bottle of water and
doused the poor little thing, but he/she survived so I didn't feel quite
so bad.

Now today from the kitchen window I could see a dragon on the ensuite
windowsill as well as something else??? but what??? so I sneaked
outside (because this little guy is still VERY shy) and I soon found out
what he was up to. I can now say HE because you guessed it.....he was
'otherwise engaged' with a smaller, darker (brown) water dragon. In my
haste to get the camera I disturbed them....maybe it was a shock that a
human saw what they were doing....anyway I missed the photo opportunity,
but it started me thinking that at what age do these little darlings
start to reproduce??? I would have thought they should have been
older.....or is that what I used to tell my kids many years ago??? LOL

A quick search didn't give any answers, so I'm hoping that someone can
enlighten me (to their reproductive age), I know about the other, LOL
;-)) I'll watch them again tomorrow morning as the sun hits the
windowsill and keep the camera closeby in the hope I can 'catch them in
the act' again!!

In the meantime I need to work on the b*****y cat, trouble is that it
only comes into my yard when I have dragons or lizards feeding. Think
I'll have to take to wearing hob-nail boots, but it can run faster than
I can kick.....any other suggestions?

HC ;-)

The CSIRO has a *wonderful* site which involves identifying all sorts of
insects, animals, plants and stuff. Google it (I'm sorry, I haven't got
my bookmarks handy) and see if the Reptiles page at CSIRO can help you.

HTH

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

"HC" wrote in message
...
Unfortunately, thanks to a
neighbour's cat, they don't get past being 6 rows of bricks in
length.....


Politely ask the neighbour to keep their cat off your land, under the new
companion animals act they are obliged to do so. If they are not
cooperative your local council is the controlling authority. In the words
of Dr John Wamsley "If you want to keep small mammals, birds and reptiles
from becoming extinct then hat your cat".

David

HC wrote:
G'day all
[snip]

Now today from the kitchen window I could see a dragon on the ensuite
windowsill as well as something else??? but what??? so I sneaked
outside (because this little guy is still VERY shy) and I soon found out
what he was up to. I can now say HE because you guessed it.....he was
'otherwise engaged' with a smaller, darker (brown) water dragon. In my
haste to get the camera I disturbed them....maybe it was a shock that a
human saw what they were doing....anyway I missed the photo opportunity,
but it started me thinking that at what age do these little darlings
start to reproduce??? I would have thought they should have been
older.....or is that what I used to tell my kids many years ago??? LOL

There's also a rather wonderful coffee-table/scientific text on
Australian Lizards. Unfortunatlely I can't remember the name/publisher
or whatever, but it is about 10cm thick and full of useful info. You
could also phone the Australian Museum who should be able to put you in
tocuh with someone who can help.

Good advice David, but the neighbours (cat owners) don't speak because
they've seen me chasing their rotten cat with the hose. Think a call to
the council is on the cards because this cat is never in it's own yard,
specially at night.

;-))

David Hare-Scott wrote:
"HC" wrote in message
...
Unfortunately, thanks to a

neighbour's cat, they don't get past being 6 rows of bricks in
length.....



Politely ask the neighbour to keep their cat off your land, under the new
companion animals act they are obliged to do so. If they are not
cooperative your local council is the controlling authority. In the words
of Dr John Wamsley "If you want to keep small mammals, birds and reptiles
from becoming extinct then hat your cat".

David

Thanks Trish......didn't think of the CSIRO but I've called to National
Parks office and identified the dragon via their books, but there wasn't
too much info. My own Reptiles book has limited info too...hence my
post here. ;-)

Trish Brown wrote:

HC wrote:

G'day all

At various times I've had baby Water Dragons in the garden that
borders the pergola attached to the back of the house......they are so
ugly, but oh so cute!!! Each time when a baby appears I get it used
to me coming and going, then introduce tiny pieces of meat to
supplement his/her diet, but also to get them a little quieter.
Unfortunately, thanks to a neighbour's cat, they don't get past being
6 rows of bricks in length.....I measure them by this method as they
climb the brick wall. Of course, the last one disappeared about a
month ago, much to my disgust, then had those tiny 'acid' ants
invading the ensuite and main bathroom, because the baby dragon
usually sits on the windowsill in the ensuite and I didn't realise how
many ants he/she was eating. Anyway last week ago I had no
alternative but to spray the ants because they started invading the
lounge room too.....but.....while spraying I found a tiny (about
100mm, or 4 inch) dragon and yes, he/she had been sprayed. Naturally
I rushed inside and got the ironing spray bottle of water and doused
the poor little thing, but he/she survived so I didn't feel quite so bad.

Now today from the kitchen window I could see a dragon on the ensuite
windowsill as well as something else??? but what??? so I sneaked
outside (because this little guy is still VERY shy) and I soon found
out what he was up to. I can now say HE because you guessed
it.....he was 'otherwise engaged' with a smaller, darker (brown) water
dragon. In my haste to get the camera I disturbed them....maybe it
was a shock that a human saw what they were doing....anyway I missed
the photo opportunity, but it started me thinking that at what age do
these little darlings start to reproduce??? I would have thought they
should have been older.....or is that what I used to tell my kids many
years ago??? LOL

A quick search didn't give any answers, so I'm hoping that someone can
enlighten me (to their reproductive age), I know about the other, LOL
;-)) I'll watch them again tomorrow morning as the sun hits the
windowsill and keep the camera closeby in the hope I can 'catch them
in the act' again!!

In the meantime I need to work on the b*****y cat, trouble is that it
only comes into my yard when I have dragons or lizards feeding. Think
I'll have to take to wearing hob-nail boots, but it can run faster
than I can kick.....any other suggestions?

HC ;-)

The CSIRO has a *wonderful* site which involves identifying all sorts of
insects, animals, plants and stuff. Google it (I'm sorry, I haven't got
my bookmarks handy) and see if the Reptiles page at CSIRO can help you.

HTH

G'day

Catching the cat will be the trick......I made the mistake some time ago
of hosing it, thinking that would deter it from returning but it didn't
work, and now everytime the cat sees me go near the door it runs away. I
tried the passive approach and it's come back to haunt me, lol ;-)

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

len gardener wrote:

g'day hc,

you may have to do a search for herpatologist sites to get help with
that question or phone the herpatologist dept at you local uni' or
museum.

as for the cat my trick is trap and dispatch them.

len

snipped

"Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish" wrote in message
...
HC wrote:
G'day all
[snip]

Now today from the kitchen window I could see a dragon on the ensuite
windowsill as well as something else??? but what??? so I sneaked
outside (because this little guy is still VERY shy) and I soon found out
what he was up to. I can now say HE because you guessed it.....he was
'otherwise engaged' with a smaller, darker (brown) water dragon. In my
haste to get the camera I disturbed them....maybe it was a shock that a
human saw what they were doing....anyway I missed the photo opportunity,
but it started me thinking that at what age do these little darlings
start to reproduce??? I would have thought they should have been
older.....or is that what I used to tell my kids many years ago??? LOL

There's also a rather wonderful coffee-table/scientific text on
Australian Lizards. Unfortunatlely I can't remember the name/publisher
or whatever, but it is about 10cm thick and full of useful info. You
could also phone the Australian Museum who should be able to put you in
tocuh with someone who can help.

I think the book you refer to is Cogger; 'Reptiles & Amphibians of
Australia'. Unfortunately, it specifically doesnt mention anything much
about habits or breeding or anything outside idnetifying the animals. Not a
lot of use in this case. Identifying a water-Dragon doesnt seem to be much
of a problem. Uncovering its sex life seems to be quite a challenge!

There is also a new book on the market called 'A field Guide to Reptiles of
Queensland', by Steve Wilson. I havent seen the book aside from its cover,
but the blurb suggests it might assist in helping out with behavioural\habit
info. The following web site is one place you can source this publication,
and the owner (Mike Swan) is very good to deal with(my experience, anyway).

www.mikeswanherpbooks.com.au

Unfortunately, this doesnt really help with the original question much, but
I would assume a dragon is ready to breed as soon as he has the adult
colouration. Some of the Gilberts Dragons that are laying eggs around here
are quite small, even for females. I just wish Mrs Gilbey didnt feel it
necessarry to dig some 50 or so holes before she finds the right one for her
eggs....

It is criminal what cats and foxes are doing to our native ecology. I spent
a few nights over christmas spotlighting and shooting cats around our
property, and everywhere we saw cats was where we were seeing Pratincoles
(ground-nesting bird) with freshly-hatched chicks. There was much
satisfaction with every dead puddin... I think the tally for the end of the
week was about 10, so I was most pleased. It was also amusing to watch elder
brother trying to herd 2 Pratincole chicks off the road, when they were
pretty much convinced that Mum(lurking nervously in the shadows off the
road) was somewhere under the Landcruiser...

Cheers,

Rod.......Out Back

I've missed most of this thread, unfortunately ($($*&!@^ Ozemail doesn't
seem to keep many posts from many groups for very long these days!) but
this is a great site for anyone wanting to identify something:

http://www.amonline.net.au/research/index.cfm

The insect section is particularly good and the staff at the museum were
very helpful to me when I was trying to identify a particular kind of
eel a while back.

The link on the right: 'Encyclopaedia of Australian Reptiles' might be
of especial interest here.

HTH,
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

Rod.....I agree with your comment about them not breeding until adult
colouration has been reached, but I haven't seen an adult around, that's
what had me puzzled. I normally see the new babies around mid-late Feb
to early March so this ties in with eggs being laid around October with
incubation period following. Maybe there is adult in a neighbouring
garden and the babies have gone walkabout and ended up in my yard??

I'd just love one (at least) to get to adult colours because in past
years I've had what was identified as Gippsland Water Dragons rather
than Eastern's that are in my local area. NPWS identified the young
Gippsland's previously and we were all amazed that one was found this
far north. I'm in Port Macquarie and they are only known to be as far
north (from Vic) as Nowra on the south coast NSW. After the original
GWD appeared around 10 years ago I had just bought a hanging staghorn
fern from the nursery and thought it might have hitched a ride north in
the truck delivering them to the nursery, so that's why I'd really love
to get a dragon to adult size to really know if he/she's a GWD or EWD.

Hey.......send a Gilberts if you have too many!!! LOL I'll soon have
to blue tongue lizard proof the freezer that is in my garage as the
blueys like to get next to the motor during winter. I had them blocked
from my last freezer that carked it last year and want to keep them out
of the new freezer motor before they get tangled in wiring and it costs
me another freezer.

Wish I could shoot the cats around here, but living in suburbia doesn't
allow for those luxuries...when I lived on acres it was common for me to
do a cat patrol too, often sleeping next to the duckyards on an old wire
camp stretcher because I bred ducks, geese, turkeys and peafowl as well
as heaps of native birds, some that came to the house to be fed and
others that stayed their distance. They were all so cute!

Bronwyn ;-)

HC writes:
Rod.....I agree with your comment about them not breeding until adult
colouration has been reached, but I haven't seen an adult around, that's

I haven't followed this thread that closely, but go to http://www.aj.com
and type in "at what age do australian water dragons breed?" and this will
turn up a lot of info (and perhaps more usefully, herp sites to explore).

| Physignathus lesueurrii - The Australian Water Dragon
| ...
| Under optimum conditions, captive female water dragons have laid their
| first clutch of eggs at 13 months of age in Alabama (Langerwerf, pers.
| comm.).
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

Hey, Xmas has come to my house!!! This morning as I was at the kitchen
sink doing the washing up I watched FOUR water dragon babies darting
around catching insects. They are so cute!! The smallest baby, body
length approx 40mm, had around half it's tail missing but it was still
breaking the sound barrier....gee, they can run fast.

Two of them are the grey, of the previous Gippsland Water Dragons, and
the other two, are a dirty brown colour, which I suspect could be
Easterns....time will tell.

I had planned to put a water feature in the garden, now I WILL put one
there, just for them. I'll have to dig carefully though (once the
weather is a bit cooler) because they are in the vicinity of where I
want to sink the main pond. A terracotta 'lady' who sits cross-legged
will be the feature and I'm hoping a large terracotta bowl I have can be
used for the first pond after the water spills over from the ladies
hands. Then I'll probably buy a black poly trough from the farm supplies
shop and sink this 'almost' level with the ground. 'Almost' so that
rain water doesn't flood this main pond.

The terracotta 'lady' has a small gap under one elbow and I'm hoping to
slide the plastic tube from the pump through this gap. Just need to
figure out water capacity and get a suitable pump. There will be ferns
etc around this feature so the dragons and other lizards have got plenty
of hiding places. Then, I'll be on the warpath for the rotten cats.

Any thoughts on my planned water feature? Of course, they are only
'thoughts' at the moment because once I start on the project changes
might have to be made. No big deal though.

Bronwyn ;-)



John Savage wrote:

HC writes:

Rod.....I agree with your comment about them not breeding until adult
colouration has been reached, but I haven't seen an adult around, that's


I haven't followed this thread that closely, but go to http://www.aj.com
and type in "at what age do australian water dragons breed?" and this will
turn up a lot of info (and perhaps more usefully, herp sites to explore).

| Physignathus lesueurrii - The Australian Water Dragon
| ...
| Under optimum conditions, captive female water dragons have laid their
| first clutch of eggs at 13 months of age in Alabama (Langerwerf, pers.
| comm.).