Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

[tas_devil]

Hi all!, i am a newbie to this site and pretty much to the game of caring looking after a little lizzard, after looking through the site i thought i would ask a few questions..​

i have just collected my self a beautiful baby mountain dragon from the east coast of tasmania, have brought myself a nice little tank and heat matt, the pet store was out of lights but the guy said it would be too bad for a little cause of the weather were having down here

so when should i start feeding my little guy?? i have brought crickets and mealworms(think they are a little too big..) and how should i go about all of it???

it would be great if some help could be thrown my way,

thanks again

jim



also should i leave the heat mat on all the time or only thru the day?

 

[Daniel_Penrith]

Do you have a license?

 

[tas_devil]

sure do

 

[shane14]

Pics?

 

[tas_devil]

my little guy or gal.. not sure..

 

[tas_devil]

cant any body offer me some help/advice???

 

[ryanharvey1993]

hey, if the crickets are to big break them in half, you can start feeding it now if it is warm enough, what lightning are you getting?

 

[JasonL]

Keep the food item as small as possible ( about the width of the dragons head) forget the mealworms, no good for a few reasons, small woody roaches are best, or crickets. temps for mountains 15 - 25, they are great little dragons, probably my favorite agamid to keep.

 

[tas_devil]

awesome! thanks for the advice! would what you say is the best way of getting food to them?? should i just drop it in the tank and let let him do his own thing or should i use tweezers and try and offer it to him?
i know snakes can only eat every few days but are lizzards the same??

cheers again

jim

 

[JasonL]

Lizards will eat every day whilst the weather is good and temps suitable. Just drop the food in front of him and let him hunt it down, don't have too many places where insects can hide, esp crickets as they will attack and eat sleeping dragons.

 

[mark83]

theyre so tiny

 

[tas_devil]

thanks for the help again, i just put a amount of black ants in with him and hes going nuts on them as we speak! very happy now that i can see he's eating..

 

[owcurat]

As I'm assuming this is a wild caught animal (it's legal down there before you all get on your high horses) make sure you worm it (panacure is a good all rounder) when it gets a little bigger. also try www.allaboutreptiles.com.au for some good local advice.

 

[Renagade]

what sized crix did you get? pin heads or small would be good. got any panry moths? he'l like them too.

 

[malachi]

i didn't know they were in tas im from devonport and i never heard of them vic boy now

 

[TassieHerper]

Where did you get him from? I am lining up an expedition soon to get some, did you get him from a breeder or did you find him yourself?

 

[Northern]

In my opinion... whether it is legal or not taking an animal from the wild is wrong... they are wild animals therefore that's where they should stay... no amount of artificial pampering will ever make it right or justify taking him/her from his/her natural environment.

I'm sure if you had purchased from a respectable breeder like most decent keepers would have they would have happily passed on all the info you needed when you got the little guy/girl.

And really if you are going to take from the wild do your research BEFORE you go and kidnap the poor creature and not after.

 

[H.bitorquatus]

If you keep reptiles yourself, then don't complain about someone taking a single animal legally, all your animals relatives came from the same place!

 

[Northern]

If you keep reptiles yourself, then don't complain about someone taking a single animal legally, all your animals relatives came from the same place!

and it's attitudes like yours that feed the continual decline of native species... how wonderfully narrow minded of you

 

[H.bitorquatus]

It's true though, I don't condone poaching, but am not gonna have a cry about someone taking 1 or 2 common animals. I care about native animals too, I kill feral animals and feral plants to help them, do you? or do you just whinge on the internet about the problems?