Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We sort of "rescued" a Frilled from a local pet store. He'd been in a tiny cage with one stick for 4 months. After reading up on them I found that they need much larger tanks and could tell the little guy was depressed, so we bought him. We had a fecal already done, negative on everything. We unsure of his age, snot to vent is 3 1/2". I believe he is captive born. He's been pooping regularly. He was painfully thin when we got him. I've read everything I can on them (before we purchased him) and see over and over that they're voracious (sp?) eaters. This little guy is not. I have to hand feed him crickets (he takes about 5 at a time) and we also give him a formula to make sure he's eating enough. We've had for about 3 weeks. He gets soaks and sprayed down. His head is up and he definately seems happier. He gets to run around outside his cage too, but I'm just worried about his lack of appetite. Any advice would be great. We love him! His name is Zeus by the way. Sorry to ramble on. By the way we have three bearded dragons too and got their "number" down lol! THANK YOU!

I guess your biggest challenge would be getting him to eat. When mine was a baby, i couldn't feed him enough! he was always hungry. So once you get passed this hurdle, everything should start getting better for him/her. Good luck.

John

Where did you get yours johndoe?

The main causes of lack of appetite are stress or low temperature. Stress can be caused from a few things...
If they can see any pets/people from their cage, they can become stressed out and refuse to eat. If he/she's in a glass cage make sure they have some privacy and can't see you or other animals from their cage. You can block off the sides of the cage with paper towels.

Moving into a new cage also causes stress and will make them stop eating for a while. As far as cage size, I had mine in a 55 gal. with a few large branches and a waterfall (they loved the waterfall). Keep in mind that if you move him into a larger cage he'll need a week or so (and some privacy ) to get used to his new cage... should start eating on his own after that if the temp/humidity is good. They like higher cages which is why I'd use a 55 gal rather than a 40 breeder.

Here's a link to a care sheet with more info:
http://www.sundialreptile.com/care sheet-frilled.htm

Thanks for the response!

We definately need to change the location of were he's at now. Until then I'm covering his cage so he's can't see out.

Couple questions:
- When you said that you a 55 gal and that it was "higher" compared to using just a breeder 40 gal, exactly what do you mean? Is the 55 gal a vertical cage? We have in a 40 gal right now with a lot of branches.

- What kind of hiding space can I provide him with? My husband has a sword hanging straight up and down, the first night Zeus was home I hung a t-shirt from it and let him go up. That's still his favorite spot, his little comfort zone, but that's outside the cage.

Thanks again! And Happy Holidays to everyone!

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If you already have a 40 gal, it should be good until he's about 12" snout to tail... then I'd move him into a larger cage. If you had to go out and buy a tank, I would have gone with the 55 gal.

I used silk ivy wrapped around the branches to create a hiding area. A few branches with the silk ivy can make a good hiding spot. Mine have always stayed up on top of the branches basking (unless they were eating) and never really hid much at all. My adult's cages don't have any hiding areas since they never used them.

If you already have a 40 gal, it should be good until he's about 12" snout to tail... then I'd move him into a larger cage. If you had to go out and buy a tank, I would have gone with the 55 gal.

I used silk ivy wrapped around the branches to create a hiding area. A few branches with the silk ivy can make a good hiding spot. Mine have always stayed up on top of the branches basking (unless they were eating) and never really hid much at all. My adult's cages don't have any hiding areas since they never used them.