Trying to save this little guy

[Tcrazy]

few days ago a man broght back a chinese water dragon back to petsmart where i work.. he bought it about month back. well he did not want it anymore and petsmart dont take them back after 14 days... well but this time they did.. but did not give the guy his money back...which i say was a good thing. the water dragon was so dehydrated and weak. it also has a bumbed up mouth with some sours on it eyes are swollen.. and a gash on the left side of its mouth the little guy was taken to the vet and was told it needed round the clock care .. so i adopted it to they gave it a few shots one for vitamins and the other with electrolights in it sorry if i am miss spelling these words.. well i have to say i think this little guy is not going to give up and neither am i.. .
when i brought it home it right away started to perk up. i misted its enclosure with warm water to help with the hydration.. he started to lick the side of the glass like it was thirsty. so i gave it a small dish of water and it went straight for it.
I have never had a chinese water dragon before.... but have cared for them at work only...
in its tank i have a under the tank heater and a basking lamp and a uv lamp the lamps i have on a timer.. for uv 12 hrs a day and for basking 7 hrs a day... i have been soaking him in warm water for the time being to help him get hydrated and also giving him some jump start every 2 hrs for the first 24 hrs. when he gets enough energy to move more i will move him to a mesh type cage this little guy is not very big its just a baby. hes about 5 inches...
is there any pointers or anything that i might be missing for this water dragon...

 

[Tcrazy]

here are some photos

 

[bugmankeith]

Start reading some info from here. Good job on taking such quick action!

http://waterdragons.tripod.com/care.html

 

[Dilbrain]

Fair play to you for taking him on !
I used to keep 2 of these about 15 years ago, both were with me for about 5 years and I sold them on when I moved overseas. One of the things they need [ you probably know this though ] is a place to perch, like a small branch away from the ground. Although he may not be strong enough yet, this is the same as any arboreal type reptile/arachnid.
Please let us know how he is doing, very cute !
ps they love to eat earthworms, especially from a water dish !

 

[Tcrazy]

Thanks.......
I am going to keep a reocord of his progress everyday and night... and take pictures of it too...
i am excited to have him cause i have always wanted one but did not have the room to keep em ... i know they need a good amout of space.. and now i have it... .

 

[Snipes]

Congrats and good luck! :clap:
I once got an adult water dragon, it was so weak it couldnt move or open its eyes, it just breathed very slowly. It was at our school during summertime and it just fell off of its branch perch and wouldnt get up. I was working at a vet office at the time and the exotics doc said it probabaly wouldnt make it. I decided to take the odds and at home i let it soak in warmish water (it was ice cold), and placed it in a warm tank under a light. I got crickets and i had to pry its mouth open and squeeze the cricket juice into the mouth to get it to eat. At first, it couldnt eat because it wasnt hydrated enough, but the soaking helped after some hours. In a few days it started to open its eyes and move on its own slightly. Amazingly, it made a full recovery in a month and a half or so. I took some pics about two weeks after i started. I am sad i didnt take initial pics, but I didnt truly think it would survive.
Two weeks after caring:

About 6 weeks after caring, and its pretty much recovered its strength:

I returned it to school as the bio school pet. The teacher felt bad and he really does care, but he didnt know how to take care of it as it was given by a student who gave bad advice that was what got it so sick. It is doing well now, about two years later.
Anyways, the point is, they can go through worse, and a caring person such as yourself can bring it to health. I hope you get to keep this one, they are awsome guys! I cant say :clap: enough and good luck!

 

[Alice]

did the vet do anything about the swollen areas? those guys are very prone to rotting deseases (uh, i think i remeber caused by bacteria) that eat their skin away. so keep an eye on them, if those areas start turning brown it's really dangerous.

good luck with the little one and good job!

 

[Tcrazy]

its going back to the vet today toget a few more shots of something.. and she going to give me some kind of cream thats for reptiles that have sours...
the swollen eyes she has an eye cream she going to put in them..