Here's the frilled lizard care sheet!!!

Natural History

Frilled lizards are agamid lizards that can grow up to 40 inches. These lizards are arboreal and insectivorous. A frilled lizard have a fold of skin that can be spread out like a ruff when the mouth is opened in aggressive display. The frill, which usually measures about 10 inchesin diameter and supported by cartilage, has serrated edges and red, blued and brown spots. Frilleds that are in danger will expand their frills surprising predators. If this doesn't work, they will flee with two legs. Frilled lizards range from Indonesia to Australia. They inhabit in terrain that is quite dry but where there is vegetation. They bask in the morning and look for foods when they are warmed up. If the weather is too hot, they may hide in shade. As all other reptiles do, they do not live in groups and do not take care of their babies.

Cage Setup

Frilled lizards are arboreal and very active. They need big and tall cages as they will be stressed if kept in small cages. Hatchlings can be housed in 10 - 20 gallons tanks, juveniles in 30 - 50 gallons tanks, and adults in 50 - 100 gallons tanks. Remember, bigger cages are always better than smaller cages. Wire cages must be coated with rubber as these lizards may rub their noses in an atempt to escape. If not coated, wire could inflict some serious damage on the lizards' noses. Climbing branches are a necessity for healthy frilleds. Branches must be pests free and thicker than the lizard's body.

A bowl of water is a must and should be changed everyday as frilleds may defecate in water. A basking spot of about 95 - 100F should be provided. But also there should be an area where the lizard could cool down ifself. Keep one end of the cange warm and the other cool. The cool part shoud be about 80 - 85F. The mid part of the cage should be about 85 - 90F. The substrate for the enclosure should be something that is easy to clean and not toxic. I use newspaper for my frilled which is easy to clean. The whole enclosure should be cleaned every week or so. I wash my frilled's cage with soap and water. Then dry it under direct sunlight which will kill pests and bacterias. There's no research done about effect of UVB light on this species. Carnivorous reptiles get vitamin D3 from their preys. Since frilleds are carnivorous, I assume that UVB light is not necessiry for frilleds as much as for iguanas. (maybe even useless for frilleds) But I let my frilled bask under real sun just in case. If you let your UVB light needed animals bask under real sun every or every other day for about 30 - 60 minutes, you won't need any of those fancy artificial lightings. Natural is always better than artificial.

Diet

Frilled lizards are quite piggy. Adult frilleds can eat 50 crickets at a time!!! I feed my frilled 5 crickets, 10 meal worms, and 2 small skinks everyday. My frilled is only about 13 - 14 inches long. Frilleds seem to be stirictly carnivorous. Some people seem to feed their frilleds some veges but most frilleds will refuse to eat veges. Vitamins aren't really needed if you properly feed your frilled. Meal worms, earth worms, crickets, grass hoppers, dragon flies, small lizards, pinkies and many other small animals can be fed. Preys must be smaller than the heads of the lizards. Preys that are about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of the lizard are recommended.

[Home] [Care Sheets] [Socializing With Your Lizards] [My Lizards] [Myths And Truths] [Pics] [Links]

E-mail me at salvadorii@hotmail.com

Sign My Guestbook Guestbook by GuestWorld View My Guestbook