Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, New poster but old lurker here LOL. I am trying to identify a sweet baby at our local pet store, which they call an Ornate Mountain Dragon. I know it is not A. capra, I have one of those. This guy/girl?? is much sleeker than the capra and also far more active (my Iggie is such a load but we love him anyway LOL). The one at the store seems to have more blue/green coloring in him and I also did not see much in the way of spikes. The girl at the store swears its in the Acanthrius family, but I'm not confident she even knew the genus name to start with. Anyhow, Has anyone ever heard of a nickname "Ornate"? I do have to go back and get a closer look at him cause memory doesn't alway serve me well these days and I need to refresh it from time to time. Any help would be appreciated.

By the way, this group has been great help to the development of my capra, Thank you so much. We've had him about a month now and he is spoiled rotten. Hubby hand feeds him crickets, earthworms and superworms. I give him a spray bottle shower every morning for his drinking and shedding pleasures LOL. I built him a beautiful pool with waterfall and he never leaves his log.

Well, thanks again, and anythoughts on how to idea the other guy at the store would be appreciated.

Linda ö¿ö

PS) I posted on the old forum first then realized it should be over here, sorry about that. Thank goodnes for copy and paste at least I did not have to retype it LOL

The only thing I have heard called ornate is the ornate uromastix. They are also agamids but are definitly not "sleek".

If it doesn't have horns or crest it could be calotes or japalura. You may want to try searches on both to see if you can find some pics on the net.

Good luck,
Marcia

Thanks for the direction Marcia,

I have looked at some pictures of japalura which is a possibility, and will look into calotes as another option.

Of course my next problem will be figuring out which piece of furniture I can remove to make room for another tank LOL. My kids graduate High School in two more years then I'll have empty bedrooms to turn into lizard lounges, but for now its getting a bit crowded at our house LOL

Thanks again

Linda ö¿ö

Yes, I can understand that! I live in a 3 bedroom house and only 2 are used for beds! Ours and the guest room! As soon as I move the computer to the office downstairs I'll be moving my collection to the 3rd BR.

Marcia

Thanks for the direction Marcia,

I have looked at some pictures of japalura which is a possibility, and will look into calotes as another option.

Of course my next problem will be figuring out which piece of furniture I can remove to make room for another tank LOL. My kids graduate High School in two more years then I'll have empty bedrooms to turn into lizard lounges, but for now its getting a bit crowded at our house LOL

Thanks again

Linda ö¿ö

Hm,

sometimes Gonocephalus chamaeleontinus are sold under this name.
Looks familiar?

Thanks Ingo, I do have to go look closer again, but I think the body was longer and unless he was undernourshed (and he was eating a cricket when I saw him), the belly or sides weren't rounded out like this picture. But I'm not ruling anything out yet. I'm checking out all that I can and will go back to the store with research in hand to compare. Thanks again.

Linda ö¿ö

..yu must consider that the pixc shows an adult healthy male-imports of this species are almost ever extremely skinny and in bad shape. That also means that the colours can be much duller

Thats amazing looking...i've heard those are really hard to keep alive-is that true?

Yes, its more or less true. They require quite some attention to stay in a shape like the animal on the pic

Well, Marcia wins the prize LOL Went to the pet store today and took a long, close look. Now there are 4 of them, along with the A. capra in the same tank. I'm certain they are Japalura's, olive/green with florescent green irregular stripes. Only one had spikes that went from his head down to and including the tail. I still didn't see spikes on the other three (maybe to young or maybe lost in transit ????) Anyhow, from the sounds of what little info there is about this fellow, he will be a challange to keep; so I'm going to just stay away from the petstore till they are sold so I'm not tempted LOL

Thanks again, and sorry Marcia the only prize I can give is my heart felt thanks; and at least you will know that I am a responsible herp person LOL

Linda ö¿ö

I'm glad to have been able to help. I'm also glad you were able to identify them. I think that, like A capra, they may be better suited to captive care once we know more about them. Bert from Agama International told me that he was working with them since so many were being imported and he was getting lots of questions about them. I don't know how he's doing with them but I feel that once the care is well documented and captives are available they may be an interesting animal to keep. For now, like you, I will leave them for others to figure out! ; )

Marcia