The Chomper Page

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New pictures added June 10th , 2001
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 Chomper is actually the second lizard that we have owned.
We bought her in April of 2000 to replace our sailfin dragon that passed on suddenly
as the result of a tragic accident. Lets just say it is best NOT to ask a 12 year old in platform shoes to stop your dragon from running under your computer desk.
 Since we had shared our lives with Lizzie for but a few brief months and our kids were traumatized so much by this unfortunate accident we went lizard shopping the first weekend after the incident.
 I guess we were very fortunate to have found a sailfin to begin with, since we haven't seen another available since then. BUT when we first saw a Chinese waterdragon , we simply new we had found what we were looking for as a suitable replacement.
 We took our time and checked out lots of pet stores (it must have been WD time) and several had Chinese waterdragons available. Some were housed in near desert environments !! One mature male we looked at seemed a possibility as he was larger and therefore "more dureable" and a steal at $30. Guess he was a bargain because he came with a large tumor on his front foot (that the clerk assured me was benign). We chose to shop around some more. Calling it a day we poked all over the web to see what we could find out about these gorgeous reptiles.
 After reading MUCH and learning alot from such valuable sources as Tricia's waterdragon site and Melissa Kaplan's pages we set out the next day WAY better informed than any pet store clerk we'd come across. We were ready !!
 Saw a tankful of "Chinese waterdragons" in a nicely done rainforest viv at Petsmart in Langley. We had to chuckle to ourselves at the fact that finally someone had the sense to house these critters in the correct environment - - too bad they were basilisks instead of CWDs !! ;o)
 Moving on , we went to Petland , also in Langley. This is where we had seen the mature male with the bad foot. His viv was also very well done and he actually was a gorgeous Chinese waterdragon (save for the foot) !! Healthy looking lizard with great coloring , and he was about   30" long overall. Hmmm , still a distinct possibility and the storeclerk seemed well informed and even offerred to let us take him to the vet prior to purchase. We chose to have a quick look at one more petstore nearby.
 Walking over to the exotic pet section of TotalPet Superstore we immediately new we had found our new dragon !! Chomper was housed in a small aquarium with 2 other WDs a log and a large water dish on a sandlike substrate. Didn't look humid enough in there , and the other 2 didn't look to be in the best of health, but Chomper was briliant green , plump and actively splashing around in the water. "we'll take THAT one."
 The clerk was courteous enough to ask if we had a proper home set up for her and offerred crickets and mealworms for a package sale. She even had the sense to ask how big our viv was, stating that waterdragons can grow to about 3 feetish.
 We brought our new friend home in a cardboard box and introduced her to her new vivarium. She went nuts exploring everything right away, even feeding on a few crickets on her travels. Thus the name Chomper ! We had seen our sailfin dragon eat crickets, but Lizzie seemed to eat more gracefully somehow compared to the way Chomper just "BAM!" attacked the crix so ferociously. "I think she likes it in there", Rick said to me. Hmmmm .... I wonder what a 60 gallon increase of space is like when you are only 4" long snout to vent ?
 We made an appointment at the vet near Petsmart in Abbotsford (who is a reptile speacialist BTW) She checked Chomper out thoroughly and gave her a clean bill of health and even marvelled herself at what a gorgeous waterdragon we had found. She said she was a little young to tell for certain , but she was pretty sure he was a male.
We however were not convinced and use the term"Him" with a grain of salt, and as it turned out he is a she. Chomper apparently adapted very well to her new surroundings and was growing like a weed. She shed every week straight for the first 6 weeks we had her, then gradually slowed the pace and now sheds about every 3 weeks. In 7 months we've watched her grow from about 13" snout to tail to almost 20" stl. and develop a nice girth (especially since we added pinkies to her diet).
 Several weeks later Rick did go back to Petland prepared to go ahead and buy the male with the bad foot thinking "Chomper needs a friend and that one needs a home nonetheless" but it was no longer there and he didn't ask its whereabouts.
 After several months we did decide it was time to commit and find another WD. While out on a cricket-run we found Li-long at Petsmart in Abbotsford. Click the link below to carry on to her own page if you want to read her story.