Draco Volans
- Thread starter MJKowal
- Start date
bugboy
Established Member
I've always wanted to keep these, they are an incredible animal. Though from what I've heard they don't fare well in captivity. Many times I've heard that only a space the size of a greenhouse will keep them happy. Being the "flyers" they are, this does make sense to me. Not to mention they are specialized ant-eaters in the wild, though they have been known to eat crickets in captivity, and recently there have been supplements produced containing extra formic acid, which ants carry a lot of. But I have never heard of anyone having long-term success with them, which may be why you aren't finding much information. There was a guy on here a couple of years ago who posted a thread saying he had bought a few and even had a female lay eggs on him. I posted on the thread asking what he was feeding and the size of the enclosure that he kept them in, but he never responded, and that was pretty much the end of the thread. What happened? I can't say for sure, but I would ASSUME they ended up the way most of them do, dead. I would also be curious if anyone has kept them successfully, as they are truly amazing animals and I'm always up for a challenge haha. But I would tell your BF it's probably not gonna happen, at least not anytime soon; we just don't know enough about them to truly understand what they NEED.
Here's the thread I mentioned if you wanted to take a look.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/draco-flying-dragons-83428/
Here's the thread I mentioned if you wanted to take a look.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/draco-flying-dragons-83428/
The allure of dracos is how they race through the trees like little jet fighters. It is truly amazing. In a vivarium they are just scrawny little lizards. They tend to come in with high parasite loads. I looked deeply into them a while ago and had to come to the conclusion that this was just not a good vivarium subject.
fluxlizard
Avid Member
I've seriously looked into them in the past too.
Bottom line- they feed on ants. Anything that is an ant specialist does poorly in terraria.
Bottom line- they feed on ants. Anything that is an ant specialist does poorly in terraria.
bugboy
Established Member
Frilleds are another one on my list of wants, and are about a billion times hardier haha. Definitely consider them, they are a very cool animal and will often tolerate handling similar to a bearded dragon. In fact, most of them seem to become SO tame they hardly if ever "frill up" haha. From what I understand an enclosure virtually identical to a chameleon's (with a few thicker branches) is what they prefer, so if you have the space I'd say go for it!
fluxlizard
Avid Member
I used to breed frillies.
They become tame- but don't really have the bearded dragon personality. Closer to a water dragon type personality- sit around when handling and then maybe take off. One of my funniest educational presentation memories is chasing a baby frilly who was sitting calmly one moment, then making a mad dash on his hind legs the next, across the stage and literally diving onto the floor to catch him before he could disappear beneath a cabinet with feet. I didn't spend a lot of time playing with mine though- so maybe they could become super tame.
They do get used to everything and rarely frill up. But their is some frill action whenever they feed.
They become tame- but don't really have the bearded dragon personality. Closer to a water dragon type personality- sit around when handling and then maybe take off. One of my funniest educational presentation memories is chasing a baby frilly who was sitting calmly one moment, then making a mad dash on his hind legs the next, across the stage and literally diving onto the floor to catch him before he could disappear beneath a cabinet with feet. I didn't spend a lot of time playing with mine though- so maybe they could become super tame.
They do get used to everything and rarely frill up. But their is some frill action whenever they feed.
