Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was not sure where to post this but didn't want to post it on the general forum and it is an Agamid so here goes.
I received 8 imported Draco volans(sp?) on 1/22/08. Several of these were gravid and one laid a clutch of 5 eggs on 1/28. All the gravid females and the lone male died in the first few weeks except one that survived until 4/05. Many of these agressively ate PH and slightly larger crickets and looked like they were doing reasonably well until they showed up dead. I misted frequently and they often drank surrounding drops. While they do have the reputation of being impossible to keep, I was disappointed since there were few clues that they were not doing well. Four of the 5 eggs hatched starting on 3/17 through 3/19 (~50 days). They were all active but 2 did not gain weight on the freshly hatched crickets and died by 3/31 and 4/03. A third one died on 4/13 just before I returned from a week away to Costa Rica. The last one that had grown to 3" from 2.5" TL and had gained 160% over hatching weight died on 5/03. They were cute little lizards and seemed active and (some) did gain weight and length so I do not know why they did not survive. Anyone with any experience that can shed light on this please reply! Thanks.

99.9% die in the hands of lizard keepers, however in the hands of a comited frog keeper they thrive.

iv kept and produced dracos for many years, feeding them smaller preys (ant-size) and polutant (floride-chlorine) free water is of vital importance.

other then this a choice of temps and good hydration in single male set-ups, thers no special needs.

Hi! In what way do you provide hydration for these? And what temp range do you recommend? How many different kinds have you had? Do you treat them for parasites? Thanks!

they are not as fragil to dehydration as most keepers belive they are, 50% to 80% zone is good. dont forget this is a glyding species too much hydration would only weigh them down, thats why they favor dryer nich.

iv kept several locals in similar husbandry, 75f to 130f regular sraying, nothing special other then smaller meals.

I would never ever treat them for parasites, such a delicate lizard with tiny organs, your looking at kidney damage for sure.

the point is lizards are very well adapted to controle parasites if you provid them with thermal choices, only subsaharan parasites can tolerate 44c all other known species die way befor this temperature, so by providing basking your lizards will take care of these without problems.

Jobi, I read alot of your post and get alot from them. My question is about parasite control(internal). Is heat the big factor there or another good bi-product of high temps?

the first step is to alow better temp option and reduce stress to a minimum, this should alow your lizard to feed and behave normaly.

when lizards are provided with good husbandry options and still not thriving after some time, then flagil or panacure should be considered.

the problem is not the drugs, its pepoles trying to solve husbandry faults with them.

in most cases parasitism is not a problem when lizards are ofered good options, they have evolved millions of years in symbios with parasites and still reproduce if nature is clement, only human fools think we need to interfear with drugs.

I use drugs with unknown species untile I can figure out how to properly care for them, its a little like force feeding, in the sens that it keeps them alive a little longer. sometimes a few more weeks is all I need to fine tune my husbandry.

Jobi, Thank you. FR and you have done alot to get great information out there. Explained in a way that should make sense to even a novice. Thanks again and glad you are doing so much better.cheers