Frilled Dragons Help

[sweetmisery]

Beautiful man! So, how and what size did you distinguish the m from the fs?

 

[Jmugleston]

Males have bigger heads and bigger frills. Once you see enough it is easy. You can also look for the bulge caused by the hemipenes in the males.
The male was definite by August. Here is what they looked like when I first purchased them in March. They were tiny, only about 2 or so inches (~5cm) SVL (an estimate since I didn't measure them at the time). Large crickets were a challenge for them. They probably could have grown faster if I fed them more, so those you are getting are getting may already have some size to them.

 

[sweetmisery]

So you mentioned that they wont show their frill as much. How do you do so? Showing other lizards? And does it stress them if they frill a lot? Like ex., I want to show it to my family/friends...

 

[Kharnifex]

wow, the ones from new guinea are very different colour wise,very gray, im used to seeing reds browns yellows, (and purples in the babies).

 

[Jmugleston]

I would like to get some australian frillies, but the last I saw were 1500 each.

As for making them frill, good luck. I had a roommate that wanted to see it so everytime their cage was passed, he would jump at the cage to "scare" the lizards. They never frilled. They just sat there. Another roommate opened my door and to say something to me and one frilled at him. Moral of the story: they frill when they are surprised (i.e. stressed or frightened). They do it at random times now. If they are sleeping and I open the cage door sometimes they frill. When they are on my shoulder and I pass other animal cages, they just sit there on my shoulder and look into the cages. I guess they feel secure there since they don't try to flee or frill. It is a double edge sword. They calm down and make great pets, but one of their most noticeable features is only expressed when they are frightened. Just plan on having a good pet, and when it occasionally frills, be happy since it does not happen all that much once they settle in.

 

[sweetmisery]

OK thanks for the advice. Gotta go for now to meet my gf. I have more questions to you when I get back! lol.

 

[PhilK]

Yeah the Aussie ones (IMO) are much more attractive (perhaps a reason for the heftier price tag?). Basing it on the above pictures, ours seem to have bigger frills overall and are far more a reddish orange yellow brown colour, than the brown gray. Their frills have black, orange, red, yellow.. everything. Really quite beautiful.

My mate owns two 3rd generation captive frillies and they're both nut cases. If he needs to pick them up to move them from cage to cage etc, they thrash and carry on. Madder than cut snakes I tell you.

 

[Jmugleston]

The difference in price is related mainly to availability. Since Australia doesn't export, the small captive pop. is all we have in America so the price goes up. (The whole supply and demand concept.) As for adult size the Australians get about the same size. Frill size difference could be more related to the age of the animal. Mine are not a year old yet and they are still not mature. In time they will take on the adult proportions with the even larger frills on males.

 

[sweetmisery]

Sigh. I just hope when I get mine, they will frill more often than not! I mean I already have a sailfin lizard, and they look the same. lol

 

[GartenSpinnen]

Just thought i would add, they had one of these at the local exotic pet store down the road and it was huge. I asked about it one day and the women at the store told me it was extremely docile and they would prefer to handle it and work with it over pretty much any other reptile in the store. It seemed to be a very curious creature and would look at you just as much as you looked at it. Very cool. However i seen the teeth and those would make me nervous!
-Nate

 

[sweetmisery]

LOL! Yeah I seen videos of the teeth. Makes me nervous too. What did you see? The greyish one or the dark brownish red?

 

[PhilK]

I know someone who owns a few of our frillies over here, and got his whole thumbnail sliced clean down the middle by one of those teeth... Nasty piece of work.

 

[sweetmisery]

You shouldnt have told me that.

 

[sweetmisery]

How many percent greens and how many percent meat do you feed it daily? And what do you always feed it? Are superworms ok? Cuz for BD, they should be treated as treats.