Basic Requirements

here is basic requirements and introduction to what a frilled dragon and other semi-arboreal reptiles need to live healthy happy lives.

-how to keep up humidity

-how to hold in heat

-how to furnish enclosure

-how to meat aquatic needs

Introduction

    Frilled dragons are semi-arboreal. They have sharp claws for climbing up trees, and they have strong, hind legs for getting up and running on 2 legs across the terrain. they require many climbing branches with coarse bark, open floor area, large water dish for soaking, and plenty of bright lights. they also need high humidity and high heat to stay happy. this is the basics!!

Minimum Enclosure Size

    Adult NG Female frilled dragons can be housed in a 36 tall, 36 wide, 24 deep enclosure, since females are alot smaller then males they dont require a very large area.

the enclosure size of choice in my reptile room would be 48 tall 48 wide 24 deep. i use this for adult frilled dragons, australian and ng. younger frilled dragons require less space.

a very young frilled dragon can be housed in a 10 gallon tank, but will quickly outgrow it with in a month or 2. a juvi frilled dragon can be housed in a 40 gallon tank, but i dont recommended one because they are not tall enough and will NOT hold the heat in well. with a 10 gallon tank, its small enough to be able to use one heat source and fill the entire enclosure. where as a 40 gallon tank would need 2 or 3 sources of heat on top and foil on top to hold in heat and humidity. to much of a pain since you have to take everything off to be able to open the enclosure. that is why i recommend  just making your own.

with my young frills i planned ahead. i started them in a 20 gallon size melamine enclosure, then moved them into a 4 foot long, 2 foot tall, 2 foot deep enclosure. once they grew up a bit i then placed another 4x2x2 enclosure ontop then removed the roof and floor of the 2 enclosures , making one large 4x4x2 enclosure with 4 sliding glass pieces. please visit My enclosures page to see this process.

please also visit this site for another perspective on size requirements: Rubix reptiles

Under construction

Hot and humid

frilled dragons need an enclosure that can withstand hot and humid temps. they need a well insulated enclosure to achieve this with out using to many hot lamps. the more insulated the enclosure the less watts you need to heat it, a warm enclosure will be easier to retain humidity, especially if you build it yourself and customize where the vents are and how many vents their are.

Lights

frilled dragons not only need a warm enclosure but they also need a bright enclosure. who would want to live in a dark closed in box... brightening up the enclosure will ensure the health of your frilled dragon. if you have a dark enclosure it will increase the risk that your frilled dragon will want to hide and stay in the dark areas. a dark enclosure also hints that your enclosure may be to cool for your frilled dragon. if the light rays are not hitting an area in your enclosure, chances are that that area of the enclosure is more cool then the rest of the enclosure..... brighten it up by adding lights, its easy , see this section to find out how Lighting

Water requirement

frilled dragons not only require misting daily but also require water changes daily. if you want a large water pond you are going to have to be ready to come up with the money for a good filtration system like a Fluval 205 or bigger to be able to filter out the nasty stuff. frilled dragons need a pond or water dish deep enough they can submerge themselves. they will drink from this water and also deficate in there daily, frequent water change will be a must.

Husbandry

the perfect ballance of heat and humidity, creating your own enviroment inside of this melamine box. that is husbandry! perfecting it is not that hard at all with the right stuff.

see this link to make sure you can achieve perfect husbandry, its easy if you have the right stuff!

please see Frilled Dragon Care for details on heat and humidity requirements. the husbandry page just explains how to make that happen.

Furnishing

    frilled dragons are semi-arboreal. they need thick branches to climb on. they spend most of their time in the wild holding onto the side of a tree or up in the foliage. having long climbing branches is a must for these guys. i am fortunate and have trees i need to cut down in my back yard, thats where i get most of my large wood pieces. frilled dragons need coarse bark on their branches so they can dig their claws into it. if you have branches that are smooth you can use zip ties to give the frilled dragon something to grab onto up and down the branch. for ideas and examples on how to make the furnishing WORK in your enclosure please visit this page Furnishing