Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, i have a cb 2 month old green basilisk. It has been almost 5 weeks since i got it and it seems to have adjusted well to its new home. The tank measures 24" high and 28" long and 12" in width. Although i have kept many water dragons, this is my first green basilisk and i have a few concerns that i hope i can receive some info on. First of all, the lizard seems to close its right eye sometimes when it is sitting still, otherwise, the eye is wide open, alert and clear. I cannot see any signs of infections but to be safe i changed the substrate to bark and i keep the side screens uncovered for more ventilation and a humidity level of 50%. It has been doing this for almost 4 weeks. Another question is that, the lizard often chases its reflection down bobbing its head which it has also been doing since i got it. Is this normal and how long can i expect this behavior and is the lizard becoming over stressed because of this? The lizard is healthy and eating well. One last question regarding something i asked before about the lizard refusing to soak in its water dish. I use a small air pump to create bubbles but still the lizard does not enter its water dish. Thank you so much for any info.

hello hope i can help a bit with the head bobbing my male bassie did alot of head bobbing when he was a juvenile but as he is about two now he has slowed down with the head bobbing thing quite a bit.

Is it an all glass aquarium?
if you are worried about stress
and if you were able i wouild suggest a custom enclosure with only the front glass and you could make the glass start about 4"-6" above the substrate level that way it couldn't chase up and down the glass( just alot of bobbing from the perches) just one of my crazy ideas

Hi, thanks for the reply.
The tank is glass in front and back and the two sides have screen meshing. It doenst care about the reflection in the back.. as for the front..the front is not really accessable near the bottom because of a log and plants. the lizard chases the reflection along the top of the plants and the top of the log. It actually has a routine...wakes up on the ground amongst the leaves of the plant. Then goes to its cricket bowl and stares into it until i put some crickets in. It wont eat them right away, it goes up onto its log under its light and warms up then starts to chase the reflection. It decides to cool down a bit then goes back down and eats and then hangs out in the leaves. then comes back up and chases its reflection and after about 12 hours of being awake it perches itself on the log with its head sticking straight up until i turn the light off.

well, i guess there's a couple of things you can do if it is getting nose rub. the first is to rarely let it know you are in the room, and secondly i've heard of people putting a colored string on the front of the aquarium in rows so the lizard sees that it is actually there. may look stupid but whatever works. also, if the aquarium is very large, you could put a simple strip of wood or something no reflective linings the bottom sides of the cage so it is less likely to see itself while roaming around.