Frilled Dragon — Fact Sheet

Chlamydosaurus kingii · Frilled Dragon

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

Plan for an adult enclosure of at least 180 x 90 x 180 cm for one animal. Larger is preferable, particularly for a large male. The enclosure must allow a full-body basking perch, a cooler shaded route, several vertical trunks, and enough turning and jumping room that the frill and tail are not repeatedly damaged.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

Use thick vertical and diagonal trunks, cork slabs, stable branches, foliage, and at least one high visual barrier. Every perch must support the animal without rolling. Leave a clear route between the basking site, shaded retreat, water, and feeding area.

A 10-15 cm soil/sand/leaf-litter blend can buffer moisture and permit normal ground behaviour. Keep it dry at the basking end and lightly humid in protected areas. Use paper during quarantine. Loose substrate is not a substitute for drainage, and feeder insects should not be allowed to disappear into it overnight.

Secure doors, vents, lamp cables, and service openings. Frilled dragons can accelerate and jump through a surprisingly small gap when startled.

💡 Lighting

• High-output linear T5 UVB and bright visible light
• Ferguson Zone 3; target measured UVI about 3-4 at the basking branch
• 10-14 h seasonal photoperiod; no visible light at night

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 35-40 °C
• Daytime air: 28-32 °C
• Cool zone: 24-27 °C
• Night: 18-24 °C

💧 Humidity and water

Maintain roughly 50-70% relative humidity, allowing short rises after misting and partial drying between events. During difficult sheds, local humidity around 60-75% and well-hydrated surfaces can help. Continuous saturation with weak airflow promotes respiratory and skin disease.

Provide a large, stable, shallow water dish and replace the water daily. Mist foliage and trunks several times per week, more often during the wet-season cycle or when the room is dry, so the lizard can drink droplets. Drainage and cross-ventilation are essential.

🪳 Feeding

Use varied, gut-loaded invertebrates: crickets, locusts where legal, roaches, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, and occasional other safe feeders. Adults commonly eat about three times weekly; juveniles need smaller meals more frequently. Adjust portions to growth, body condition, season, and reproductive status.

Dust most juvenile meals and a controlled share of adult meals with plain calcium. Use calcium with D3 and multivitamins according to measured UVB exposure, diet, and product directions rather than at every meal. Occasional plant sampling or vertebrate prey reported in the species does not justify routine fruit, rodents, or fatty foods.

Remove uneaten insects promptly because they can bite resting lizards. Record weight and feeding response; a seasonal reduction can be normal, but sustained loss is not.

☠️ Safety

Treat this as a minimal-handling species. For transfers, darken the room, close doors, remove hazards, and guide the lizard into a secure container rather than chasing it. Support the whole body and never restrain the frill or tail.

A frightened adult can bite, scratch, jump, or whip with the tail. Do not deliberately trigger the frill display, and do not allow children to handle the animal.

🩺 Health — warning signs

Common preventable problems include metabolic bone disease from inadequate UVB or calcium, burns, dehydration, respiratory disease from cold stagnant humidity, retained shed, rostral abrasions from escape attempts, injuries from falls or unstable branches, obesity from rich food, and parasite burdens in recently traded animals.

Watch for weak grip, bowed limbs, tremors, repeated gaping away from the basking area, nose rubbing, noisy breathing, discharge, incomplete sheds, yellow urates, or sustained weight loss. Quarantine new animals and discuss fecal testing with a reptile veterinarian.