Small dragons
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Pilbarensis
Active Member
Without a doubt listen to longirostris, he would have to be one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in Australian concerning the captive husbandry of Australian dragons. I would take on-board every bit of advice he gives and follow it to the letter.
Yep, goes to show how adaptable they are. There is NO perfect solution that works in every circumstance. That's why there's no point stressing about it. There's also no real contradictions in your quotes based on the information you supplied in your posts and when the guidance was given. Members will give you the best they have based on the information you supply. The more you explain in the first post the more relevant, and less divergent, the responses will be as the thread progresses.
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longirostris
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This is my last post on this thread. You can take my advice or leave it. I am neither offended nor care. To be honest now I know why I don't give out too much advice on these forums in the first place and understand completely why others with even more to offer in experience than myself don't ever bother. I think what frustrates me the most about this thread is, that judging by the comments coming back from the OP, the purpose of my advice has been completely missed.
To the OP, I have no problem with the comments made by Geckojosh or any body else advocating a high tempreture basking spot for dragons. Anywhere from 30 to 35 degrees even 40 is OK. Dragons like monitors have the highest tolerance to extreme (high) tempretures of all reptiles. However think about this, how many dragons do you see active in the middle of the day basking in the wild in 40 plus degree tempretures. I know every time I used to go herping in the wild looking for dragons, if the temps were in the high 30's plus we would find nothing or maybe one or two individuals. We would usually have to wait until late afternoon when temps dropped to the high 20's before we would start to see dragon activity. I am not saying you will never see a dragon when temps in the wild are up around 40, what I am saying is you will see a whole lot more of them with the temps around the 30 mark. You need to make sure you have a cool end in your enclosure that allows your dragons to thermoregulate their body temps or you will kill them in 40 plus degree heat. Dragons do die from heat exposure and being "cooked" at too high temprtures. I have had this problem myself. Your animals are from a very hot arid area of Australia so will be more heat tolerant than most dragon species. So the basking spots suggested by every one posting in this thread are fine provided the cool end is at least 10-15 degrees lower.
The advice I was offering you was not about your animals immediate husbandry requirements which others in this thread have more then adequately addressed. My advice related to the ongoing breeding productiveness of the pair of animals you have acquired. I believe I know the individuals you have acquired and therefor know that the previous owner bred these succesfully many times over the last 3 years. My concern was that the change of environment, husbandry processes, etc could have and most likely will have a damaging effect on the animals you have. They will most definately be stressed with all the changes going on. The advice from others about minimising stressful impacts on the individuals is well made and should be heeded especially relating to human interaction.
I have no doubt you are a competent keeper and can easily keep these animals alive well into the future. What I am trying to do is help you make sure these animals keep producing viable clutches of eggs now they have moved into your care and a totally new keeping environment. You need to go back and reread my 2 earlier posts. You will see that I am talking about gradually winding back day and night time enclosure tempretures and photoperiod to reflect as closely as possible what will happen in the region (Whyalla) where they have been living the last 4 years.
When I said no heating or artificial lighting in the encloure by the end of this month I qualified that by also adding that the presumption is that the animals are housed indoors, where tempretures are maintained warm enough for human habitation and the animals see natural daylight through a filtered source (window). I am also not saying it has to be 31st May either but you should be targeting to have you animals brumating by the first week or so of June if not earlier, if you are hoping to breed them next season. If not then completely disregard everything I have said and keep up the basking spot temps as have been suggested.
I realise you did not ask for advice on future breeding viability of the animals you have acquired, but knowing how rare dragon species are becoming in captivity and how good a breeding pair these individuals are, I really wanted to make sure you give them every chance to keep their breeding success intact and you end up with several clutches of youngsters later this year and early into next year (I am pretty sure I have offspring from these animals in my own collection). These guys should keep breeding for a couple of seasons yet. Let me assure you, if you do not put them through some sort of cooling process the chances of them breeding are almost zero.
Once again good luck with them and sorry for causing you concern by putting my nose into this discussion in the first place.
To the OP, I have no problem with the comments made by Geckojosh or any body else advocating a high tempreture basking spot for dragons. Anywhere from 30 to 35 degrees even 40 is OK. Dragons like monitors have the highest tolerance to extreme (high) tempretures of all reptiles. However think about this, how many dragons do you see active in the middle of the day basking in the wild in 40 plus degree tempretures. I know every time I used to go herping in the wild looking for dragons, if the temps were in the high 30's plus we would find nothing or maybe one or two individuals. We would usually have to wait until late afternoon when temps dropped to the high 20's before we would start to see dragon activity. I am not saying you will never see a dragon when temps in the wild are up around 40, what I am saying is you will see a whole lot more of them with the temps around the 30 mark. You need to make sure you have a cool end in your enclosure that allows your dragons to thermoregulate their body temps or you will kill them in 40 plus degree heat. Dragons do die from heat exposure and being "cooked" at too high temprtures. I have had this problem myself. Your animals are from a very hot arid area of Australia so will be more heat tolerant than most dragon species. So the basking spots suggested by every one posting in this thread are fine provided the cool end is at least 10-15 degrees lower.
The advice I was offering you was not about your animals immediate husbandry requirements which others in this thread have more then adequately addressed. My advice related to the ongoing breeding productiveness of the pair of animals you have acquired. I believe I know the individuals you have acquired and therefor know that the previous owner bred these succesfully many times over the last 3 years. My concern was that the change of environment, husbandry processes, etc could have and most likely will have a damaging effect on the animals you have. They will most definately be stressed with all the changes going on. The advice from others about minimising stressful impacts on the individuals is well made and should be heeded especially relating to human interaction.
I have no doubt you are a competent keeper and can easily keep these animals alive well into the future. What I am trying to do is help you make sure these animals keep producing viable clutches of eggs now they have moved into your care and a totally new keeping environment. You need to go back and reread my 2 earlier posts. You will see that I am talking about gradually winding back day and night time enclosure tempretures and photoperiod to reflect as closely as possible what will happen in the region (Whyalla) where they have been living the last 4 years.
When I said no heating or artificial lighting in the encloure by the end of this month I qualified that by also adding that the presumption is that the animals are housed indoors, where tempretures are maintained warm enough for human habitation and the animals see natural daylight through a filtered source (window). I am also not saying it has to be 31st May either but you should be targeting to have you animals brumating by the first week or so of June if not earlier, if you are hoping to breed them next season. If not then completely disregard everything I have said and keep up the basking spot temps as have been suggested.
I realise you did not ask for advice on future breeding viability of the animals you have acquired, but knowing how rare dragon species are becoming in captivity and how good a breeding pair these individuals are, I really wanted to make sure you give them every chance to keep their breeding success intact and you end up with several clutches of youngsters later this year and early into next year (I am pretty sure I have offspring from these animals in my own collection). These guys should keep breeding for a couple of seasons yet. Let me assure you, if you do not put them through some sort of cooling process the chances of them breeding are almost zero.
Once again good luck with them and sorry for causing you concern by putting my nose into this discussion in the first place.
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Thank you so much for the info you have supplied, and sorry I think I just got a bit confused and anxious on the husbandry for these small dragons I've just got so many different opinions on the dragon's husbandry, and was worried as these are my first small dragon species and yes I would love to breed these dragons in the future, thats my aim, please don't refrain from posting info on forms as your info is really valuable. I've got a cool spot and a mesh lid so there is alot of ventilation and it gets cold in the cool spot in the high teens. I will take your advise on and gradually cool them as you said until there is no heating or lighting, because it would be amazing to breed them.
GeckoJosh
Almost Legendary
Sorry when I wrote the 38-40 degree basking spots I should have been clear they were summer temps.
During winter I reduce the photo-period to about 9-10 hours, the ambient temp drops quite a bit as well so the basking spots are usually 33-55 and the cool end 18-22, I provide no heating at night.
I have been keeping my Netteds like this for about 4 years now and they produce clutches every year.
I suggest buying a good book such as "A Guide to Australian Dragons in Captivity" by Dr Danny Brown.
During winter I reduce the photo-period to about 9-10 hours, the ambient temp drops quite a bit as well so the basking spots are usually 33-55 and the cool end 18-22, I provide no heating at night.
I have been keeping my Netteds like this for about 4 years now and they produce clutches every year.
I suggest buying a good book such as "A Guide to Australian Dragons in Captivity" by Dr Danny Brown.
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Red barred dragon (Ctenophorus Vadnappa) - YouTube
Here's my female red barred dragon eating
Here's my female red barred dragon eating
ronhalling
Very Well-Known Member
Lol i watch my daughters little dragons and now your Red Barred and can't help but think they could benefit from having some Ritilin, my god they are quick 
.........................Ron
.........................Ron
DeadlyDanny80
Well-Known Member
Nice video... Thx for sharing...
sandfireackie
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what are you feeding them
Simon_Archibald
Very Well-Known Member
Glad to see the lizards are going well. Rick is a fantastic keeper and breeder of these small species. I bought a trio if his Painted dragons about 10 years ago. Fantastic. Bred plenty.
People should not be afraid to ask the person they bought from and take their advice about husbandry. If rick doesn't know it, it's probably not worth knowing.
People should not be afraid to ask the person they bought from and take their advice about husbandry. If rick doesn't know it, it's probably not worth knowing.
Just got five fertile eggs from my female
Female Red barred dragon by Melbourne herping, on Flickr
Red Barred Dragon Eggs by Melbourne herping, on Flickr
Female Red barred dragon by Melbourne herping, on Flickr
Red Barred Dragon Eggs by Melbourne herping, on Flickr
Simon_Archibald
Very Well-Known Member
Nice work cheeka, happy for you getting this result.
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