Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Not only do I have 2 ball pythons now, 2 Oscars, one Pacu and One Green terror, but I now have a newbie to the family (not to brag, cuz I'm broke from buying food weekly now). I've gotten my hands on a world reknowned Frilled dragon at an exceptional price too. Wanna hear the story? Here it goes: I and my fiancee were out shoppin for a tank for my Ball Pythons, and ran across a pet store owned by a gentleman who had too much on his platter (financially) and is being forced to close in order to maintain his other companies. Well, I found a really nice tempered glass tank that measures about 2.5' high, 2'wide and 4' long. In the process of negotiating a price for the tank, a nice cage on the wall caught my eye. The word dragon caught my attention, and I wandered away to have a looksie. Well, what would ya know but a Frilled Dragon, in what appears to be perfect health. Running, climbing and playing. Very calm to hold and very uniquely patterned. After not too much negotiation I obtained a deal for the tank for $60, and the lizard for an additional $40. What a steal, especially seeing as how his tank was marked for $169.99. Well, my questions are as follows:
1.)Will an automatic mister work well for his enclosure?
2.) How well do reptariums work? I'm considering one...
3.) How often should he be fed?
4.) Is there anything in particular that I should be careful of? I want his health to be only the best. I'll post pictures here as soon as I get a chance to take some. Maybe I'll put a family portrait with all the members here. Please respond and help a fellow herper and let me know if anyone has any suggestions! Thanks Doc Love

The most important thing is heat. You want to keep babies at about 100-110 I keep my adults at the same, but some people keep thiers cooler like about 90-95. These are basking temps and the rest of the cage should get down to about 75 or 80. I do not provide heat at night. You also want to make sure you soak him in warm water at least twice a week. If it is a baby I would do it every day. As for feeding, I personaly try to keep food avaible at all times. If you are only going to feed once a day make sure you feed a lot. I have one dragons that will only eat crickets and I feed him about 50-60 a day along with a few super worms or roachs. The reptariums are not good for frilleds because they lose the humidity quickly and they can get their toes caught in the mesh. I think I answered all of your questions, but let me know if I forgot something. This is a slow fourm, so stay with us! Also, if you get a chance post a pic I love to see pics of other peoples dragons! Here is one of my female. Hope you like!

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0.3 Normal Leopard geckos
1.0 High Yellow Leo
1.2 Albino Leos
3.1 Frilled Dragons
0.0.7 Baby Bearded Dragons
1.4 Adult Bearded Dragons
0.0.4 D. Leucomelas
1.0 Adult Albino Corn
0.1.1 Normal Corns
1.1 Creamcicle Corns
0.0.1 Crimson Corn

Hey, I think you did answer my questions, but now I've got a couple more. More specific and pertainent (sp?) I believe. I'm going on my second day of ownership of the new little guy, and he does not appear to be a baby. I've given him is double mist daily, and kept his basking area around 100, and his the rest of the enclosure at about 85. However, he's only eaten 2 to maybe 4 crickets since I've had him. I've left a few in the cage for him for almost a whole day, and they keep on chirping, but he's not interested it seems. He's very aware and very responsive to light and people entering the room, but he won't eat the ones that are in there currently. Any idea what could be wrong? Also I mentioned that I've got 2 BPs. I'm familiar with their shedding cycle. Is a dragon's cycle similar, or what should I expect. Do they shed completely all at once or is it a process? Please help and let me know what I should expect and what to look for if anything is wrong.

Doc Love

If he can see people frequently entering the room or see other large lizards/snakes, that will create stress. I'd cover the sides of the glass with paper or something so he can't see other animals and people entering the room. If he's only been there a couple of days, he'll probably need time to settle in before he begins eating normally.

About the shedding, they often shed in certain areas and don't commonly shed their entire body all at once (like snakes).

Mine tend to shed over the course of about a week. I make sure I soak them every day while they are sheding. They do shed in peices. As far as him not eating, give him some time to adjust. You may also want to check and make sure that your bulbs produce both uva and uvb. uvb is what they use to process calcium and uva light makes the crickets easier to see. Something about that spectrem of light reflecting off the crickets body. Hope I helped some more, Jake.
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0.3 Normal Leopard geckos
1.0 High Yellow Leo
1.2 Albino Leos
3.1 Frilled Dragons
0.0.7 Baby Bearded Dragons
1.4 Adult Bearded Dragons
0.0.4 D. Leucomelas
1.0 Adult Albino Corn
0.1.1 Normal Corns
1.1 Creamcicle Corns
0.0.1 Crimson Corn