We've adopted another lizard

Ryūjin

We adopted a new lizard from a local pet store yesterday. This is a female Chinese Water Dragon. We've named her Ryūjin after a sea dragon from Japanese mythology.

From Wikipaedia:

Ryūjin or Ryōjin (龍神 "dragon god"), also known as Ōwatatsumi, was the tutelary deity of the sea in Japanese mythology. This Japanese dragon symbolized the power of the ocean, had a large mouth, and was able to transform into a human shape. Ryūjin lived in Ryūgū-jō, his palace under the sea built out of red and white coral, from where he controlled the tides with magical tide jewels. Sea turtles, fish and jellyfish are often depicted as Ryūjin's servants.

Unfortunately her arm was broken and the pet store took her to a vet several times who put a cast on her arm. She healed up enough for the pet store to send her home but because she was injured they wanted to have her adopted out to someone with experience of taking care of reptiles instead of selling her to someone without experience.

Ryūjin is doing very well. She came home last night and we set up a vivarium with a waterfall for her so she could sit in water (something Chinese Water dragons love doing).

Ryūjin her new vivarium.

For now we're going to keep her in this habitat for a few months to ensure that she can take things easy and let her arm heal (it appears to be mostly healed at this point). Then when she's ready we're going to move her to a much larger vivarium so she can have more room to grow.

Unfortunately broken arms is a somewhat common problem with Chinese Water Dragons, for some reason their arms are very frail. But what they lack in upper arm strength they make up for in intelligence, this creature is smart and observant of her surroundings.

When she was at the pet store they gave her a lot of attention so she is also very socialized.

We'll post more about her later, maybe we'll have to change the name of this blog from Fluffy The Frilled dragon to Fluffy and Friends.

Fluffy got a new home!

If you have been watching the web cam you may have noticed that fluffy got a new home. How fast he has grown. not even a years and two feet already. He did out grow his starter tank. at this rate i will have to start, building by the end of this summer.  As you may have noticed that he enjoys his new log that came with his new home, right by the camera.
Fluffy has been a little pissy. He did finish his shedding a day after his move. Fluffy is always pissy when he sheds but add the stress of moving. I'm giving him a couple of days, before I handle him. I want him to get to know his new home. He does enjoy his home a lot more.

 

 

 

 

Today I took a picture of him and his frill. I'm going to post it along with the picture of when i first got him, and tell me what you think.

 

Reptile expo Iowa

 

 

 

 

Today I went to the reptile expo.  It was more like a snake expo. I will have to say I was let down a bit. there was a lack of lizards, and the frilled dragon guy didn't show up. I collected some business cards from the venders. I  have visited the sites, and I was not that impressed.  There was a lack of habitats, and reading information, (I mean that they had very few books out). I guess that I was expecting something better, and bigger. I didn't even see any educational classes. besides that it wasn't bad.  I did not come home empty handed, I did get Phi  (Dart frog). He has great markings teal and black. The guy and lady that I bought him from had some interesting prices for there frogs. First they were $15-$30.  When I came back to get Phi prices were $40-$50. I ended paying $40.  Now he is at home. Fluffy has a new cousin. I am posting a few pictures that I did get of PHI.

Update

Phi passed away…we're not sure why we think that perhaps it was either a problem with the vendor/breeder at the expo or just the stress of changing habitats, he was housed in a reptile terrarium with proper humidity and was fed fruit flies but phi unfortunately passed away.

New substrate and plants!

I know Fuffy"s blog has been down, but good news is that is back up and running! The Fluffster has grew!!! Here are some pictures!

And this is Bo, Fluffy's cousin...

 

 

Now I am posting some pictures of his new set up! iI have removed the sand, as cool as it was to have glow in the dark sand and a black light, it just was not the right type of substrate for a high heat and humidity... Now i'm using a compressed coconut fiber...  It has helped with the temp and humidity. I am really impressed with it! I took two blocks of the compressed coconut fibers and added water, and was that is it. It was so easy! I have also added two more live plants. I took the waterfall and let the substrate go around it. so it is now it is at ground level. I like it better that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fluffy pictures, and Vet visit...

After visiting with a reptile vet, Kevin L. Sanders, DVM, I made a few finishing touches to Fluffy's home. Here are some pictures. He seems to really enjoy it!!! That is good to see. He is good! He is eating again and he is active once again.

The vet did not have a lot to tell me because this was his first encounter with a frilled dragon. What he did say is that Fluffy is about two months old and is under weight. The vet also said that humidity should be at 50 to 60%, and should never get over 75%.

I also emailed a zoo in Australia to see if they would be kind enough to share any information that would be helpful in regards to housing a frilled dragon. I hope to hear something from them soon. I'm also going to try to call the San Diego Zoo, along with the Bronx Zoo to see if they can help me.

Here are some pics of Fluffy's new habitat:

Baby Pictures