Frilled Dragon Care

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 meet 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 as of august 8th 2012

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

Mental health:

    This is not something often explained about frilled dragons. I have noticed that frilled dragons suffer from Sulky behavior often. It comes and goes as they age. half of my frilled dragons require that their enclosure be covered so they may not see out. not being able to see out means that they can not see us walk around outside of their enclosure. in the wild when a frilled dragon sees movement near them they will try their best to be undetected, they will rotate themselves around the branch to the backside so they go unnoticed. they may also go into the corner, turn really dark, and hide in the corner for the rest of the day. if you go up and look at them they look very depressed and they are usually very scared. if you let them do this on a daily basis they may not want to eat their stress level may increase and parasites may become an issue. males seem to be more sulky then females but females seem to be way more skittish. if you see your frilled dragon with its head low, hugging the branch and has dark coloration often you may think about covering the enclosure's front so they can not see out.

    By covering the front you offer your dragon a better sanctuary to live in. they will still allow you to interact. i have 3 enclosures that i have covered, each day i tong feed my frilled dragons and they live a happy healthy life. its only when i do not cover their enclosure, and they can see movement outside their enclosure that they become scared and hide.

this is extremely important to note. your frilled dragon may some day snap out of it but its best to just cover the front.

    You may still interact with them normally, take them out and play with them and let them wander around the room. they may not be afraid of YOU but may just be afraid of movement and motion outside of their enclosure. you will have a normal pet lizard. the'll just require a little more privacy then others.

Dekota Sulking, May 2011

head low, like he is crouching low, dark coloration

young NG male showing sulking behavior, head low, dark cloration

looks very scared

happy frilled dragons, head up alert and medium colors,

a happy, healthy, stress free frilled dragon should have its head up like this!

Temps and Humidity

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

I cant stress enough how important it is to achieve correct Temps and Humidity.

Failure to do so will result in DEATH and SICKNESS

For help on achieving this please visit Husbandry on a how-2 achieve perfect husbandry

    Day temps should be a gradient 78-95 degrees, 80 degrees is bare minimum temps may not be lower then 78 degrees during the summer ANYWHERE in the enclosure higher temps are ideal, i keep mine at 78-100 degrees gradient. ambient temp should average 85 degrees. cool side is 78, hot side is 90 to at least 100 degrees. basking zone should PEAK at 120-130(read using an ir temp gun). this means the branch that is under the basking lamp should have a single spot on it that reaches 120-130 degrees. this can ONLY be measured by an INFA-RED temp gun found here it has a lazer and a better reading area then their other model. search "PE2 temp-gun" on ebay for a better price, must be pe1 or pe2 for accurate reading. this is the only way to get accurate temp readings inside the enclosure. dial and digital devices will only read ambient temp or air temp. infa-red temp guns read surface temp so you can also take skin temp of your reptile, Instant read makes it quick and easy. my frilled dragons hang out at 95-110 degrees all day and rarely move out of this zone. this zone i speak of is about 6-10 inches away from hottest area of basking spot. hence why 120-130 peak is important.

    Night temps should fall no less then 65. night temps do need to fall in order to keep your frilled dragon healthy and happy. if temps are to high they will get stressed. it is not ideal to use Red night time lamps at night to bring up temps. the ideal method would be heat tape, heat wire, ceramic heat panels found in snake enclosures attached to the top of the enclosure. all of these must be on a thermostate set to 68-70 degrees. if you live in a state that has cool winters this is a MUST.

    Humidity should reach 75-80%  during the day. i keep my humidity up for 3-5 hours during the hottest part of the day. humidity will sway back and forth threw out the day. humidity will be lowest in the morning. my humidity starts in the morning at 35% which is the humidity inside of my house. i do not keep my substrate wet. wet substrate will harbor bacteria, mold, mildew, coccidia and other nasty things, i spray the substrate durring the day but let it dry out by the evening. if i notice the substrate staying wet i toss it and mix it around the next day. humidity can be achieved easily with the right enclosure and right balance of ventilation and lighting. bringing the temps of the enclosure into the 80-100's will ensure that the moisture stay in the air longer. having many branches under basking lamps will also help hold humidity up. spraying the enclosure 1-2 times a day or setting your Mist King system to spray will help hold humidity threw the hottest part of the day. there is more information on Perfect Husbandry Here.

always keep a water dish in the enclosure at all times. misting and humidity alone wont prevent dehydration, change water daily, frilled dragons dedicate in their water and doing so increases risk of higher parasite count in the gut.

Feeding

Food items should consist of 75% insects and 25% greens as juvies. and 50/50 as adults says most care sheets, though some frilled dragons refuse greens entirely for their whole life. i feed dubia roaches that have been gut loaded with leafy greens like turnip greens, mustard greens and sometimes collard green. I also gut load with squash, apple, oranges, and some fruit. I NEVER use cat food to feed my roaches. Cat food contains animal proteins, and animal proteins can be deadly for some reptiles. Animal protein breaks down differently then insect or vegetable proteins. If a frilled dragon consumes to much animal protein, for example to many mice/rats, then it can lead to gout. Gout is caused by high uric acid, uric acid is created when a reptile can not absorb and break down the animal proteins properly, there is to much "left over" uric acid and it can build up in their system and leave deposits of crystals on their joints, it can eventually lead to kidney failure since the kidneys over work to remove the uric acid. it is best to feed these reptiles what is best for them and avoid feeding pinkies, mice, or rats more often then 1-2 a month.

Horn worms are great. I purchase my horn worms from Great lakes hornworm. mulberry farm does sell horn worms but i do not like the food they provide for the horn worms. The food they provide is silk worm food, and horn worms dont seem to do that great on the mulberry food. great lake horn worms arrive in better health and provide more wide spectrum of nutrient because of the special formulated horn worm diet they consume.

items i feed my frilled dragons, in this order:

• • dubia roaches

  • great lake horn worms

  • super worms

  • turnip greens

  • mustard greens

  • pinky mice (once a month)

common items i do not feed my adult frilled dragons

• • meal worms

  • butter worms

  • wax worms

  • silk worms

  • CRICKETS

These are commonly fed items that i do not feed my frilled dragon as juvies to adults. Meal worms may be a good treat for very small hatchlings, but do not offer much for a juvi to adult frilled dragon they have a high shell to meat ratio and could easily cause constipation and impaction you would have to feed to many meal worms to provide enough food for your frilled dragon to grow if you feed just meal worms you can expect stunted growth and possible dehydration and impaction. Butter worms can not be gut loaded, i see no use for them. Wax worms are ok but my frilled dragon hatchlings dont find them interesting at all. They also have high fat content and should not be fed often. Silk worms have no immune system, can be hard to keep, and they only eat mulberry food thus can not be easily gut loaded with nutrient like horn worms can be. Hornworms will eat most any food offered(prefer to stay with correct chow) where as silk worms will die if they consume anything but mulberry food.

lastly, crickets! i only feed crickets to hatchlings. they love to chase them. but as the frilled dragon gets older crickets dont offer much to a frilled dragon unless feeding in large quantity, seeing that i hand feed. i could feed 50 crickets or, 15 large dubia roaches. i also noted faster growth rate when feeding dubia roaches and a slower growth rate when feeding crickets as main food item. crickets just dont cut it for a growing frilled dragon especially Australian or hybrids.

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