Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any info on keeping lizards of the genus Draco?

i personally have not kept them, but they are VERY hard to keep, something like 1% of the animals doomed to a life in captivity survive. unless you are an extremely experienced and accomplished keeper i would stay away from these, even though they are beautyful and unique, some animals just don't belong outside of their native habitat. plus even though they are a cheap lizard, the vet bill is gonna rack up the price dramatically, andif you choose not to take him to a vet then he has absolutely no chance of survival, the heavy load of parasites wil overpower him in his weakened state from shipment. however if you are persistant then i advoce you to go to the mountain/tree dragons forum as they will be of more help. i advice against the support of draco volans trade, its jsut gonna make them another lizard on the endangered list thanx to the pet trade, there are many more hardy, equally satisfying herps available, captive bred being far better than wild caught or captive farmed.
hope it helps, sorry its porbably not what you wanted to hear.
-jake

It's not that they don't 'belong' outside their native habitat. It's that the importation process is very very very rough and the lizards are pretty sick by the time they get here. If experienced keepers could acclimate them, I bet CB babies would be as hardy as any other lizard.
Look at mandarin ratsnakes. 75% of WC ones die, CB ones are as hardy as cornsnakes.
But I do agree that WC Draco are NOT for beginners. But now you're getting me thinking that I might try my hand at them someday.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

yeah i mean that while at this point the exportation is not really hurting them, prolonged exportation coupled with habitat distuction is gonna endanger the species. right now its just the animals that are unable to acclimate to a life in captivity. but hey if someone can breed them and they then acclimate to captivity (they will still require A LOT of space though, at least if you want them to glide at all, and their habitat think is relatively difficult to duplicate), then i will be first in line to buy a cb, those things are the shiznit. good luck if ou do get into them, i'm sure once their needs are met they will be very rewarding pets.
jake

Even cb animals are not easy to maintain. Theres a paper on husbandry and breeding!!!!! of Draco species (Mägdefrau Mägdefrau (1994) Erstnachzucht von Phillipinischen Flugdrachen, Draco spilopterus, in der zweiten Genrration, Salamandra 30(1) 1-11
These people produced several cb Draco of several species and with one they even reached F2.
But finally even their animals all died and also the cb specimens were never easy and had low survival rates till adulthood.
So its not just importation stress

Ci@o

Ingo

Wow... that sucks... I wonder why?
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

As a whole the easiest species to keep is definately D. maculatus. They are also known to inhabit rural homes/gardens and dont look like they are under any real threats at the moment. I have bred a fer species and looking back at it all it was quite difficult if I wasn't able to get the proper species at the right time. Just three days can make an incredible difference, the key is to get them in the day they arrive at the importers. And to ship as little as possible.

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Devlin Gandy
I keep many rare and unusual lizards