Considering a frilled dragon, or moderate to high maintenance lizard

[ScarecrowGirl]

I used to live in a house where I had all the animals I could ever want to take care of and maintain, I'd get up earlier and be more active just to see them. Now that My bf and I have our own place, I'm pretty well starved for things to do and I sleep until I have to go to work.

You can only take so much care of tarantulas, centipedes and dirt(pet holes,millipedes,scorpion ect). Even Mr. carpet python doesn't take up much time, he doesn't really appreciate being handled, sitting and looking pretty is much more his style.

If any one has any suggestions for a good sized pet lizard that takes a fair amount of care please toss it this way. I like active and large, but not so large like a savanna monitor. Preferably diurnal. Nothing that will require stitches if I get bit because I need both hands for work. I know frills can bite hard but I haven't heard anything about stitches yet.

From what all I've read up on, frills are active, need a tall wide cage with every thing to climb jump and hang on and hide in, and a basking spot of at least a 100. Uvb and heat lights, lots of food & a large water dish, moderate humidity. Some can be puppy dog tame, others are vicious hell fiends.

I wont be settling on anything soon, still doing research and calculating funds. Any tips, advice, experiences, stories are welcome!

 

[lizardminion]

I was about to throw out a green iguana but I guess that doesn't quite qualify.
You could always try a bearded dragon, or uromastyx.
Or maybe, something that better fits your description, you should try working with desert iguanas or chuckwallas. Not too big, and not too easy. I recommend the former species. Try introducing some CB babies to the trade, if you need a specific goal.

Edit: If you want to shoot for the stars, I suggest a large chameleon or if you wouldn't mind the smaller size, a day gecko.
Or maybe you can help give a species such as the red agama a start in the trade.

 

[le-thomas]

Blue tongue skinks are great pets, but they certainly aren't high maintenance.

 

[ScarecrowGirl]

I was about to throw out a green iguana but I guess that doesn't quite qualify.
You could always try a bearded dragon, or uromastyx.
Or maybe, something that better fits your description, you should try working with desert iguanas or chuckwallas. Not too big, and not too easy. I recommend the former species. Try introducing some CB babies to the trade, if you need a specific goal.

Edit: If you want to shoot for the stars, I suggest a large chameleon or if you wouldn't mind the smaller size, a day gecko.
Or maybe you can help give a species such as the red agama a start in the trade.

le-thomas

Blue tongue skinks are great pets, but they certainly aren't high maintenance.

Lol well to that I reeeeeeeeeally think bearded dragons are cute but also DULL BORING they are great as other peoples pets but not mine lol.
I've never been able to be interested in uro's, though I saw a couple of little babies fighting over some greens at a lps(more on that) and that was really cute. I really don't like tropical iguanas but the desert iguanas I've met have been pretty nice. I never even thought of those so I'll look into them.
I know absolutely nothing about agmas so I'll look into those guys too. Hatching things out is one of my favorite things to do, I just need to make sure I don't give my self too much to take care of, but I know my limits.

Day geckos are too skiddish, the lps I was at today had them, they were really pretty an really active, but they also had frillies there, and not just babies but adults too! The employees there today were really knowledgeable and nice compared to a few other times I've tried going in there.

I got to handle almost every single frillie they had and they were just the nicest little guys! The adults(more like yearling sized I don't remember when they mature) were so calm you could roll them over and scratch their bellies and they would fall asleep, you could pet their heads and scratch behind their frills and they would lean into it, even the babies were almost as tame! No jumping, no threats, you could just reach in and give them a scratch and they would just close their little eyes like they were loving it. I think I' kinda set of frilled dragons after today.

Also I was caught by surprise when I say a HUGE centipede under all the tarantula containers, I asked 'how much is that chunky bad boy?' and got a good deal on it. Yay new pedes to the mix!

AND Bule tongues are sooooooo on my list of lizards to own! But like said they are too low maintenance for the time being. But I will get 1 or 2 eventually.

All my favorite lizards come from Australia it seems. Beardies included even though I think they are a wee boring for me. Though the particular frillies sold in pet shops are from New Guinea, same species but each distinguished. Australian frillies are reeeeeeeeeeally expensive. Way out of my budget for now.