Baskden a warm den for reptile folk · baskden.com Frilled Dragon — Vet-Prep Sheet
🔍 Find a reptile / exotics vet — before you need one
- Search the ARAV Find-a-Vet directory (the Association of Reptilian & Amphibian Veterinarians), or in the UK the RCVS Find-a-Vet — or search "reptile / exotics vet near me".
- Call ahead and ask the key question: "Do you see reptiles?" Not every practice does.
- Ask the exam fee when you call. Knowing the cost up front removes the money-panic in a crisis.
- Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.
📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis
Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.
🚨 Is this an emergency now?
See a reptile vet promptly if you notice any of these:
- Soft, bendy, or bumpy jaw/limbs, tremors, or trouble climbing/standing - classic signs of metabolic bone disease from poor UVB or calcium; see an exotics vet.
- Open-mouth breathing, wheezing, mucus/bubbles at the nose or mouth, or lethargy - possible respiratory infection (often from cold or chronically-damp, stagnant air).
- Refusing all food for an extended period alongside weight loss, sunken eyes, or hiding constantly - especially in a new or previously-eating animal.
- Straining, or a female that seems gravid but can't pass eggs (egg-binding) - this is urgent.
- Stuck shed (especially around toes, tail tip, or eyes), swelling, wounds, discoloration, or bite injuries from an attempted cohabitation.
When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.
🚗 On the way / while you wait
✅ Do
- Keep it warm at a safe transport temperature — a cold reptile crashes fast (a warm car or a covered container with a warm, not hot, pack helps).
- Keep it calm, dark and quiet in a secure, ventilated container — stress makes almost everything worse.
- Bring it in its own container so the vet sees it as it lives.
⛔ Don't
- Don’t offer food, or any OTC, aquarium-shop or online-forum remedy — many are useless or harmful and can mask the signs.
- Don’t let it get cold on the way in.
- Don’t handle it more than you must.
🎒 What to bring
- A short video and a couple of clear photos of the behaviour or sign — it may not show it in the clinic.
- A note of your setup (basking, cool-side and night temperatures, UVB, humidity, substrate) and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
- Your reptile, transported safely in its own secure, ventilated container — kept warm (see below), not in a cold car.
🗣️ What to tell the vet
A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:
- Temperature
- A genuinely hot basking surface of about 105–115°F (40–46°C) directly under the lamp. Aim for the middle of that band and verify with a probe/temp gun at the branch, not a guess. Warm-side ambient in the mid-to-high 80s°F (~29-32°C), grading down to a cool end around 75-80°F (24-27°C) so the animal can thermoregulate. A natural nighttime drop to about 70-78°F (21-26°C) is fine and healthy; try not to let it fall below ~68-70°F (20-21°C).
- UVB & lighting
- High UVB need. Use a high-output T5 HO tube (Arcadia 12% / Zoo Med 10.0 or similar) spanning roughly the warm two-thirds of the enclosure, positioned to give a basking-zone UV Index of about 3–5 (Ferguson Zone 2, the standard classification for this species). Distance depends on the fixture and whether there's mesh in between — measure with a Solarmeter if you can. Replace the tube on schedule (about every 12 months for quality T5 HO), not when it stops glowing.
- Humidity
- Moderate: aim for roughly 50-70% average, allowed to swing (drier by day, higher overnight/after misting). Provide good ventilation and let it dry out between mistings - chronically damp, stagnant air above ~75% is linked to respiratory infection.
- Enclosure
- Tall and arboreal. Treat 4 x 2 x 4 ft (L x D x H, ~120 x 60 x 120 cm) as a realistic adult minimum, and go taller/bigger where you can - many keepers aim for ~4 x 2.5 x 5-6 ft. Vertical space and climbing branches matter more than floor area for this species. Babies do better started in smaller enclosures so they can find prey and warmth.
- Substrate
- A moisture-holding, naturalistic mix works well for adults - cypress mulch, coconut fiber, or a soil/organic-topsoil blend - deep enough to hold humidity (and for females, a deeper lay-box area). Skip loose sand-only setups, cedar, and pine. Very young animals are often kept on paper towel to reduce impaction risk and make prey easy to find.
- Diet
- Primarily insectivorous. Base the diet on gut-loaded, varied feeder insects: crickets, dubia and other roaches, black soldier fly larvae (calciworms), locusts, plus occasional hornworms, silkworms and (sparingly) waxworms/superworms as treats. Many adults also nibble some greens/soft fruit, and occasional vertebrate prey (e.g. a pinky) is a rare extra, not a staple. Feed hatchlings/juveniles daily; adults roughly every 2-3 days / several times a week.
- Supplements
- Dust feeders with a phosphorus-free calcium (plain calcium most feedings; a calcium + D3 product where UVB coverage is uncertain, less often), plus a reptile multivitamin about once a week. Gut-load insects for 24-48h before feeding. Don't over-supplement - variety plus real UVB does most of the work.
⚕️ Reptiles are ectotherms kept at species-specific temperatures — a cold reptile can’t metabolise medicines properly, so tell the vet your exact temperatures and keep it warm for transport. Reptiles are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so early changes matter. Mention your UVB/lighting and any supplements or remedies you’ve already used, and ask for reptile-safe products and doses.
Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.
❓ Questions to ask
- Do you routinely see reptiles? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
- What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
- What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
- How do I prevent this from happening again?