My very first!

[Trogdor_1]

I finally have the green light from my hubby... I can adopt a frilled dragon! A guy offered me his son's frilled dragon when he found out how many beardies I have. The dragon is about two years old and approx. 18 inches long. I have done tons of research to make sure I am ready for my newest edition, but I have a few questions.

Number one: I will be building him a cage that is about 4 feet tall, 2 feet deep, and 4 feet wide. Will this be sufficient? Also, will it matter that the cage is low to the ground? (Its a unit that has a beardies cage build above it.)

Number two: Does his size seem appropriate to his age? He is currently living outside, so I know he is getting plenty of UV rays. I'm just wondering if he seems small for his age. I read that males are usually larger than females... Although, I'm not 100% positive that he is in fact a boy.

Number three: At his age, about how much should be eating? I will be using superworms and crickets as his staples.

Number four: Should I use a substrate? I keep my beardies on either tile or papertowel... Should I do the same for my frilled dragon? Or are there substrates that are recommended?

I think that's it for the questions. Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[utahraptr]

Hey, congrats on your frilled dragon, you'll love him/her

The cage sounds about right, the taller you can make it the better as they love height. Evie's viv is 2feet wide, 4 feet long, and 5 feet high and she does fine in that. Yours would only be a foot shorter, so I think that's fine. Our viv sits directly on the floor but has things in it for evie to climb, so she can get about 4 feet up (we don't have climbing materials to the top due to the lights - I don't want her to try jumping/climbing on those!). So if your viv is on the floor, that should be fine as well. If you could set it up on something to raise it, your frillie might like it more as they like to be up high, but I don't think you'll have any problems.

Evie is 18 inches long and about a year and a half old. She's missing maybe an inch off her tail as well. I believe she's a New Guinea frillie, which are typically smaller than Aussie frilleds. I've been told 18 to 24 inches with females smaller than male. Aussies can get up to 3 feet long. I've also read in caresheets that they take 3 years to reach full growth - Evie at a year and a half is still growing and shedding, she's almost in constant shed (just did her frills last month, and again this month as well as a full body shed about to start). I'm assuming yours is a New Guinea as well based on size. And since males should be larger than females, once you get your frillie I'd double check that it is a male.

Evie gets a salad daily, sometimes she eats it sometimes she doesn't. The frillies are more insectiverous, so it's hard to get them on veggies, but she's been eating them since she was a baby so we still give them to her. She was eating worms and/or crickets daily as a baby, but now gets worms a couple times a week. She'll eat about 10 superworms in a sitting, but then won't eat any for the next day or so. If you use crickets, be sure to get big ones. Eive refuses to even look at little crickets or worms, she prefers large food. Hornworms are great as well, Evie loves them. She can eat one, maybe 2 large ones a feeding (once every other day or so). When I feed live food, I show her the food, set it next to her and wait a few minutes. If she doesn't eat it or isn't interested, I'll put the food back, try later in the day or the next day. She's not like my beardie who sees live food and gobbles it up. If she's not hungry, she ignores the food (unless it's a hornworm).

For a substrate, we use tiles. We started Evie out on reptile carpet which was fine, but in the big viv it's a pain as the carpet isn't long enough - you'll end up having to overlap several pieces. We don't use sand at all, I found it a pain to clean. The substrate isn't too much of a concern, as your frillie should prefer being up high in the viv rather than down on the substrate. Evie only goes down to the floor of her viv to eat, drink, poop, or let us know she wants out (she glass dances at the door).

If you have any other questions, feel free to post or pm me, I'm always willing to help out a frillie owner (or talk about Evie!). And be sure to post lots of pictures

 

[Trogdor_1]

Thank you so much for the reply. I love your frillie. And I think you picked the best name ever.

I'm very excited to be setting up my frillies cage but I still have more questions. I am going to get some fake plants and some wood for him today. Should I set up his basking spot vertically? So that he sits close to a 90* angle? Also, how many plants should I be putting in? Should he have open space with less plants to move around in?
Oh, and one other thing... For humidity - how can I keep it up with a tile substrate? Should I mist him/his plants during the day? I plan on having a large water tub for him on the bottom. And I was thinking I might add a fogger to his cage. Would this be ok for him?

Thank you again for all your help. I really want him to be as happy and comfortable as possible. I'm not sure how well his previous owners cared for him, so I would like to make sure his life with me is great.

 

[utahraptr]

You should have a vertical basking spot, or close to vertical. Evie's basking area starts out horizontal and then climbs up to almost 90 degrees. They need the vertical basking in order to digest properly, and I think they prefer being vertical or near vertical rather than lying flat out or horizontally.

For fake plants, I would get anything that your frillie can climb on. We went to an art/craft store (Michaels) and bought vines and fake leaf wreaths and then unwound everything and attached it in her viv so she could climb it. We tried to immitate a tree canopy and she seems to enjoy climbing under and on the plants. I wouldn't worry too much about putting fake plants on the bottom of the viv, unless they are used for climbing up to higher areas, as your frillie will spend most of its time near the top.

For humidity, we keep a water dish int he viv throughout the day. We also give Evie a bath or rinse each morning, and she drinks daily either in her bath or from her water dish. We tried misting when she was smaller, but she didn't like it. If you're concerned about humidity, you could mist the fake plants in the viv each day, just be careful that the water doesn't hit the heating lights. I've never used a fogger so I'm not too sure about using one. Some people put live plants in the viv to help with humidity. But you'd have to make sure there are no bugs or mites in the plant.

Here are some pictures of Evie's viv with the plants - we do have more plants to add to the basking platform, I just haven't had the time to put them in.

This is her basking spot, I've seen her hanging off the back side as well as the front

She loves the plants and uses them as pillows

Hope that helps a bit

 

[Trogdor_1]

Thank you so much! You have been wonderful.
I'm pleased to say that I got my frillie today. Unfortunately, my "donated" lizard has turned into a rescue case. My little guy is terribly thin. To the point that I'm worried for him. I got him home late tonight, so I will start his feeding program tomorrow. Apparently he was only getting 50 crickets every ten days. They were just getting dumped in his viv. Do you think he can handle super worms? He is definately over 16" in length but he is skin and bones. I'm going to try to get some crickets for him, too, since he is used to them.
Oh, and he has a nasty rub on his lower jaw. Apparently he ran his nose against the chicken wire in his old enclosure. I didn't want to stress him out any more tonight, so I will start cleaning and treating the wound in the morning.
Thanks again for all the help. Hopefully I will have a happy, healthy frillie soon.

 

[denise v]

How's the new frillie doing?

 

[Trogdor_1]

Thanks for the concern. My little guy is definately improving. Right now he is in a temporary screen cage which is much smaller than what his new cage will be. But I didn't want to overwhelm him. It took him a few days before he would come out to bask but he has finally gotten more adventurous. He also has figured out how to eat superworms. He is gaining weight slowly and his lower jaw is healing (now that he doesn't have wire mesh to rub against). So far, so good.
I'm taking everything slowly with him and I'm trying not to handle him too much... I don't want to stress him out anymore than I have to. But he is getting used to my hands in the cage and moving close to him, so I think he is relaxing and learning to trust human contact.