Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just brought home my frilled, and he's kind of jittery every time I open up the tank. He hasn't eaten much (2 superworms) In 2 days. He won't let me handle him and even frills up when i try. Its a big inclosure for him as he's only 6 months old. Any ideas or sugestions?? Any help is appreciated

hes prolly still iffy about the move and new encloseur. just give him a couple days to adjust to his new owner and surroundings.

also for food did u try feeding him crickets or different types of worms? bc for my frilly i noticed he doesnt like superworms, or even mealies. i guess hes not a fan of the hard bodied worms. try feeding some soft bodied worms like: silkworms, butter worms, phoenix worms, and wax worms. dont forget to feed him regulary crickets, and roaches.

however dont get him accustumed to worms bc he will prolly get picky and hold out until he gets more worms.

hey thanks for the tips. I've tried crickets as well but I just left a few in the tank so I'm not sure if he ate them. Also he does not like to be sprayed down either. Has anyone else found this with their frilly?? Should I try hand feeding him and maybe he'll calm down and open up to me??

I would leave him alone as much as possible until you can confirm that it is eating consistently. Frillies stress very easily and handling and comotion around the cage will only make it worse. Be careful about leaving crickets to run wild around the cage. If the lizard is not interested in food this will only stress him further. Good luck!

One thing you need to check is temperature. Frillies like it hot and humid. Large cages are often a problem in both regards. I try to offer a hot spot of 100-105'F abd a cool spot in the 80-90 range. Frillies also like a gage that is vertically oriented.

For reference, my cages are 48H x 38W x 19D. Walls and back are 1/4" lexan covered with 1/4" cork tiles. The front is 1/4" lexan. The top is a screen that is pretty much seated up except for lights. I have a 100W SB UV lamp, 3, 26W 10.0 UVB lamps, a 60W heat emitter (night only) and 50W undertank heaters. That's 228W daytime and 110W night, and they hold heat in far better than a glass or screen cage. The hot spot is toward the top and they'll climb up and down to find the temp they want.

If frillies get too cold, they won't eat. They don't want a belly full of food during a cold night. It needs to be hot in the day and warm at hight, and then they will eat like pigs. When in doubt, throw heat at them.

Frillies will sometimes just not eat. Stress, handling or simply getting tired of the same old food will get to them. I offer mine crickets, silkworms, hornworms and king worms. Each one will have a favorite for a few weeks, and then suddenly loose interest. It's always a challenge to figure out who wants what at any point in time. Somewhere between 6 and 18 months, most of mine seem to loose all interest in crickets. Right now, my males like silkworms and the females like hornworms and nobody will touch king worms. It'll change.

Hey, Ill give you what advice I can. Usually when you first get a reptile, they dont eat too much, they need to adjust to their surroundings first. Best advice, dont hold him or even let him see you, put newspaper around the sides if you have to- thats what I do, also worms arent that great if theyre freaked out and small, they need something that will walk by them, but dont leave to many in there and take out what you can at night, they disturb the reptiles at night. My frillie also hates being misted as well, what she loves though is when I just do the straight spray, not sure what its called... you know... when you adjust the knob and spray it directly at thier mouth, thats when they tend to lap the water up. Hope I helped.

My enclosure is quite large, 48H x 30W (its a corner unit).
I'm running a 100W black light heat bulb 24 hours. Is this a problem for him at night? It doesn't give off much light. Also I'm running a 5.0 UVB for 10-12 hours a day.

Today I tried dropping water in his mouth with a dropper, and he hissed at it, until he realized what it was, then he started drinking.

I'm switching up the meals (crickets, butter, and super worms)
But he doesnt have much of an appetite. I guess he just needs to settle in for a bit. Any other suggestions are appreciated as I'm new to frillies, and trying to give him the best atmosphere.

Thanks for the help guys!

breaker's comments are really good. Just letting your frillie chill out and feel safe is really important. I have one female that has a curtain in front of her cage 24-7. Now she's eating really well.

Your cage setup sounds like a good size but I still don't think you have enough heat or light. Hang a thermometer where your frillie hangs out. You need at least 75 at night and 90 day. 80 and 100 is even better.

Frillies need a lot of light. 14 hours of bright light with lots of UVA is needed to stimulate their appetite. I have a lot of light in my cages (and a big electric bill), but a quick measurement with a light meter will show that my cages aren't even in the same ballpark as daylight, but it seems close enough to fool them.

this is one of the best replies. this pin points the problem i have with myfrill because he only has 11 hours of light and i was told 85' and no less then 70 at night. and was told 90 is to hot.
this misinformation is leaving my dragon sick
proper information is GREAT and i love this forum!!!!!!!

Oh just thought of something else. I set up an 18x18x18 exoterra cage with the biggest UTH that would fit and put 1" thick foam on the back, top and sides.

Guess what? That's where I keep my distilled water bottles and sprayers. Now I can spray them with warm water and they love it. If someone sprayed you with cold water, you wouldn't like it much either.

So the warmer the water the better?? Since their temp is high. I think I'm going to upgrade my heat lamp to 150w. Is it alright to run the black light heat lamp while he's sleeping??

I'll post picsin my next msg

A blacklight at night really is not necessary. If your house is about 74ish or above it will be fine without one, just make sure its that temp, if you need to put the cage near a vent or buy a cheap space heater. If anything, the intense temperature at night might disrupt its sleep. Also, get a temp gun, mine is a little rod attached to a long cord with a little screen that shows the temp. Just use that to make sure the basking spot is 95-100, once you have the basics down, its actually fairly easy.

Probably the #1 thing of importance- Dont do anything to make it hiss or get scared. Frillies are wierd like that, some die because they are too busy trying to avoid predators, and everything else they do, sleep, eat, drink, etc. will come to a hault.

every time I open the cage he kinda gets jittery. Right now he's sleeping at the top of the cage but not under the heat lamp, so I guess he's alright with the temp. I do have a thermometer and its at 80f near the top but he can get closer for more heat if he wants to. I have to run the heat lamp at night because my basement is too cold.

Is there anything I can do to calm him down and not get freaked out by everything?

It is inevitable for him to get freaked out. Happens with most frilleds when you first get them, they are one of the harder lizards to calm down. You will want to hold them regularly later on to get them adjusted to you, but for the first few weeks to a month, you just want them to feel safe in their environment. Do not try to interact until the frillie is eating normally. If you have not put newspaper on the sides, I recommend you do so, their eyesight is much better than youd think- they are able to see across the room, and just because they dont run and frill doesnt mean they arent afraid.

I just covered up the cage with a towel.
How am I supposed to give him water if he hisses and frills at the dropper?

ive seen this technique and used it. what u can do is u can feed him his water a little thru his dropper. then u squirt his water in and out of his water dish. get him accustumed to know that there is water in his water dish. and get him to recognize that when u squirt it in and out of ur dropper that this is where the water is. or what i do is that i just use a hamster water feeding thing and mine knows that when i bring that its for water.

these guys are smart animals.

If all else fails...please take him to a vet to get a check-up and fecal exam. I had a nice captive bred baby that just would NOT eat on his own. The environment was fine, no external stress, etc. Turned out with a week of treatment for pinworms, he began stuffing himself.

thanks for everyone help with my frilly.
especially the warm water misting trick

He seems like he's starting to get used to things, but I still cant handle him. Which kind sucks but I'm sure he'll open up soon