Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well iv had him 5 days now.. and i have yet to see him eat.. or drink.. iv misted daily he doesnt even really move unless i handle him like just tonight i went to work.. he was in the same exact spot 8 hours later..

help

how big is it and what size cage is it in?what is the light wattag? and what are you feeding it?

he is i dunno prolly about 18 inches which is mostly his tail

feeding crickets

i have 2 24inch reptiglow 8.0's
and a 150watt heat lamp

hes in a 135 gallon aquarium right now
i plan on getting him a bigger (taller) incloser this xmas

that all sounds good but try a 100 watt light and see what happons also try too give it diff. things to eat. some time when thay are bought that old thay are used to one certain food sorce.
try that and let me now how it does

I experienced frilleds stressing when placed in glass enclosures. Not sure if its their own reflection, or seeing everything outside the cage. I would suggest that you cover the cage for starters.

If you have any cats, I would try and keep them away from the cage (same with dogs and kids).

If the animal is not loaded with parisites, it could easily be a stress responce. If the animal has good body wieght, and is well hydrated, a week or more without food, while not ideal, is not deadly.

I would suggest a stool sample be given to a qualified vet (assuming the dragon will give you one). This shouldnt cost much more then 20$, and will let you know if its a parisite issue. You dont need to take the animal to the vet, just its fecies.

Hopefully after it settles in, it will take off for you. Check the eyes, and where the tail meets the body. If both are full (eyes not sunken in, tail plump) the animal has good weight. If either appears sunken or thin, I would get it to a vet asap.
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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

welp it looks like covering the cage did it.. the first day i covered it i had just dumped some crickets into his cricket dish thing and when i peaked in about 15 mins later he was down there eating

still havnt seen him drink but im guessing hes just doing it when im not around

I think that frilleds are a bit sensative to changes in enviroments. This is part of the reason I never take them to the shows, as once you toss them in the cage at the show, they play dead it seems. Half the time it puts them in a stress for a week or more.

I would keep the cover on the cage for a while, and work on finding ways to provide enough cover for him in the cage. Half rounds of cork work great, as you can set them on their side and provide a basking log and a hide in one piece. Frilleds generally will not go into a half round hide, or hide cave, but if you put the half round on its side they can go behind it like a wall. Thats how we have them set up at the store, and it works very well.

Over time the animal should settle in the cage, and you can remove the cover. Hope this helps.
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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

You frilled keepers should really consider roaches as your staple diet for them. I produced a ton of baby frilleds and I believe a lot of it had to do with the food source. Roaches are much more filling (much higher meat ratio) than crickets, and almost everything jumps right after them. I now breed knobtails and am having great success. All my hatchlings take to roaches right away with no force feeding. If you can keep an giant lizard a few harmless bugs shouldn't bother you. I advise looking into the non-climbers as the climbers like hissers and lobsters can be a major pain.
James