Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Posted here 'cause I'm running out of options.

My wife bought us a pair of frilleds last Christmas; one has maintained excellent health, appetite, activity; the other not.

I've had "her" to the vet - very expensive trip, stool cultures normal, no diagnosis, advised force feeding and isolation. I isolated her for a while, force fed her, finally gave up and put her in with her "brother". She's eating just enough to not die. Mostly meal worms/giant worms, and crickets she'll sometimes dive after when they're put in the terrarium. Sometimes.

She sheds about every two months or so (slower than her brother). What's really interesting is she's losing toenails/claws and her toes are getting a clubbed appearance.

As a physician (family medicine), this reminds me of TB (or hansen's disease, leprosy).

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

The seller (a national chain) has been no help all along, directing me to another source who has also been lacking (long story I'll spare you).

ANY and all constructive advice/help/direction you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Norm Balog
Silver Spring, MD

Unfortunately, unlike dogs and cats, there is very little research done and knowledge of reptile diseases, genetic disorders, etc. There is certainly a chance that she has some sort of problem that a vet would have a hard time diagnosing because of this.
My suggestion would be to treat the symptoms.... The losing of the fingernails and chubbing of the tips could be a humidity issue, so I would recommend raising the humidity and soaking her. However, the consistant poor appetite if not parasites, I would treat as stress.... Definitely separate her, especially if she is smaller than the male. House in an enclosure that she cannot see out of to limit stress and make it as bright as possible--high quality uvb and uva. Handle her as little as possible--maybe not even force feeding for awhile since this can just cause stress and see if she starts to eat on her own.
Hopefully that does something. If not, you might want to go to getting blood panels done at the vet and see if that sheds any more light on the issue.
Best of luck
Dana

hi my frilled dragon did the same thing for about a year. she got real thin and shy. i had her in a 260 gallon repterarium(if thats how you spell it). i began to try to work with her i held her a lot and tryed to hand feed her that helped a little. then i would throw food in there and run whin i came back most were gown. it terned out she was real shy she also was dark in color. thin one day it got real bad so i tryed to force feed her 1 crickit, as she eat it i put another in there i also prayed that day and from there on it got better

good luck
jake

Problem solved.

I think she DOES need another terrarium. I simply don't have the room so I fed her to my macaw...

Naw. I found a home for her AND her brother through a local pet store.

Anyone who says frillnecks are easy to manage is delusional.

BEARDEDs are easy.

-nb

amen thay eat alot and there personality is so much diff. to

but i stillgot mine

I would argue the fact that frilleds are soo much more difficult to maintain then a bearded dragon. Bearded dragons require a far more varied diet then a frilled dragon, as such are difficult to properly maintain without effort.

Also many frilled dragons available on the market are wild caught animals. As such they generally have suffered through more stresses in their lives then a captive bred dragon.

That being said, with PROPER MAINTAINANCE a frilled dragon is not a "difficult" animal to care for. I would have to say if your unable or unwilling to provide proper cages for the animals, its likely best you got rid of them.

To anyone who reads your post, it may seem a frilled dragon is a "difficult" animal to care for. I think this is a diservice to the captive breeders of this species, and to the herp community as a whole. Had you properly maintained your animal from the beggening, you may have had a far better experience.

Anytime one animal in a group thrives, while another slowly decays in the same enviroment, a smart choice would be to isolate one animal from the other. You say you did this, then got fed up with the idea, and tossed the smaller back in. This to me says you had little care for the animals at that point, so again I say Im pretty glad you got rid of them.
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Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com
402-614-6641

"I am the Lizard King, I can do anything" - Jim Morrison