Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just purchased a neonate mhd. I have it in a 10 gal with bark substrate and fake tree to climb on, also a water bowl and 40watt full spectrum light. I was just wondering if anyone could just give some tips with keeping these guys?

thanks,
mike

Hi Mike welcome to the forum. I guess I will have to start with the basic questions..Did you purchase it from a pet store or a breeder? If it was a pet store was it a big chain like PetSmart or Petco? If so watch for signs of parasitic infestation, a classic complaint of pet store bought MHDs.
40 watts is way too hot for a MHD in a 10 gallon unless your temps are very low inside your home. These guys dont need it any warmer than 80 during the day, prefering around 77 degrees with a drop into the low 70s high 60s at night.
They love to be up high so you might want to start looking into getting a taller cage for it. An adult will do best in a set up that allows for around 3 feet or more climbing area. These are arboreal animals as a rule, a sick one is one that stays on the ground more often than not. Also, since I have heard this at pet stores and from private customers who wonder what went wrong; You cannot stunt any reptile's growth by keeping it a small cage and a 10 gallon will not happily or healthily house an adult MHD.
Chances are it wont see the water unless it moves, MHDs are very visually oriented. You can use either a drip type system or the easier bubble stone. Having a bubble stone in the water dish will also raise the humidity to help achieve the necessary 75 % RH. A good sized bowl is recommended as these little ones really enjoy soaking and playing in the water. Keep it as simple as you can as they also tend to use them as toilets and you will need to be keeping the water clean.
Lots of plants to help it hide and feel safe and also help keep humidity high. Try to find ones that will handle being climbed on and run across.
Don't fret if you don't see a whole lot of activity out of your little guy, they are sedentary lizards for the most part and will just hang out all day.
Check out FroggieB's website, it has tons of info. There is a fellow here called Joe who built a nice home for his MHDs to house them into adulthood, he has the plans for the cage on his page. There may be a few other folks with plans for their homemade MHD homes here as wellso be sure to ask.
If you have any questions feel free to ask, either here or in e-mail.
Good luck with your new little one, I think you will find it quickly becomes a favorite "pet".

Cheyanne
Spitfire Reptiles

Hey there, looks like Chey gave you some good advice there. I don't know if she mentioned it, but it is a good idea to get a poop sample over to a vet to check for parasites. EVERY single Wild Caught dragon I have gotten has had parasites. It's typically only about $15 for the poop check and meds to give them. Make sure they only try and give either panacur or flagyl.

anyways, here is a link to the cage plans that I made. if you go back a few pages in my gallery you can see some pictures of the A. Armata's, and my other tank that is housing a few capra's right now. The plans are exactly what I used to build my tank and they have worked great so far, I have had the tank for a year now. The only thing I did that I couldn't fit on that pictures was that I coated the inside of the tank with Fiberglass resin to waterproof it, and I also added a 5 mil thick plastic liner in the bottom for added security. if you have any questions on it go ahead and ask.

Welcome to the forums!
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

lol...I'm a retard. Going back and reading my post it looks as though I forgot the link at the bottom. My fault! here it is: www.pbase.com/joe_MHD copy and paste that and look under enclosures and you will see the plans right there. Sorry bout that
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

So, by neonate, what do you mean? Is this a really tiny baby or is that what the pet store told you? I don't like to be critical but I am so sick of people at pet stores telling buyers that they are buying MHDs that are less than a year old when they have full sized MHDs.

On the other hand, there is a place, unfortunately, that is selling young or baby MHDs that are CB for dirt-cheap. It is a big importer so I am assuming that they are harvesting the eggs from females that are being imported gravid and that the babies are captive hatched, not captive bred. I feel like Chey and I and many others have worked so hard at finding out how to keep and breed these guys and now the importers are gonna profit from it and eliminate any chance for us to breed and sell our babies. It costs me too much to raise little buggers to be able to compete with the price this importer is selling them for.

So, my point here is that if your MHD is in fact a very young dragon it is possible that they are in fact captive hatched and may be in good health. I wouldn’t count on it though as I am not sure how the importer is keeping them and what their environment has been.

I totally agree with the information that Chey gave you. IF you want to find our more you can find my caresheet at www.froggieb.com/MHDCaresheet.html

I have had a lot of emails from newcomers who don’t want to read my entire caresheet so I recently created a short version that gives the basics. The first part is my disclosure to dispell the pet store myths. You can read this “jump start” caresheet at www.froggieb.com/MHDshortcare.html

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new MHD. Post pics if you can, if not, just post. We need a little chatter here

Marcia – FroggieB Dragons

if U have babies that need a home, I can afford one or 2 more
just let me know
and I M also willing to take on a full grown one that needs a home as long as it is not full blown Hospice work (waiting for it to die of abuse/Neglect)
You have my Email addy if U want to contact me privatly

Oh BTW, you were right, Shed is UNMISSABLE, and UGLY
she had some head shed, and BOTH her horns are now gone, with white patches where they were (could they have been damaged before I got her? Or is it something I did?)
she is jumpy about me touching the shed until i actually pull a small piece off, then she TURNS to show me more places
it is SO COOL!!!!
she even closed her eyes (like when she is doing a dead dragon imitation in her tank) when I pulled off the piece on the top of her head, and just kept her head there afterwards
She is not eating much, but she IS eating
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Elizabeth (ecb)

'Good Judgment Comes From Experience
but Experience Comes From Bad Judgment'