Water Dragon Vs Frilled Dragon

promdom · 10-23-12, 10:56 PM

I'm looking to get one of these lizards. Ive heard the frilleds tend to be a little smaller but have more personality. I dont really know much about there personailties/temperment. I know all the care requirements for both, just wanna hear peoples opinions about these lizards!! thanks, Dan.

BarelyBreathing · 10-23-12, 11:05 PM

They're both crazy. If anybody says one has less personality than the other they were obviously not taking care of them correctly.

promdom · 10-23-12, 11:10 PM

define crazy??

Ragnar · 10-23-12, 11:13 PM

Frilled dragons look awesome but are expensive as hell and aren't too good for handling. When they frill up, they look awesome, but if you intend to tame it, it wont frill very often. CWD are cheap and beautiful lizards who can be quite tame. Both are active and need large -tall enclosures to house properly. Here's my CWD's enclosure, it's over 6' tall:

bladeblaster · 10-24-12, 03:10 AM

both pretty cool lizards, but over here almoat all the CWD are WC and don't always do well. I think I prefer Frilleds over all, I don;t have really any experince with them other than we have some in my mates shop I help out at.

Lankyrob · 10-24-12, 09:54 AM

We had a frilled for a while, looking back now i wish we gave her more height to her viv than the 2foot that we did give her.

She was handleable but you had to be quick to catch her in the viv

and she wasnever ever "tame". Each session would end with scratches and tail whip marks over ands and arms.

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...ile-tilly.html

Wildside · 10-24-12, 10:04 AM

I have a lot of experience with CWD's and none with Frilleds. So my vote lies with the CWD's!

StudentoReptile · 10-24-12, 10:12 AM

From what I've read, frilled dragons are almost like squirrels in their basking and perching behavior; they like to cling to the side of a tree, staying ever-alert for predators or insect prey. When approached, they will run up the tree, trying to stay on the opposite side of the tree as the encroacher. Of course, a lot of smaller lizards tend to do this as well, but anyone in North America or Europe and has been around squirrels knows exactly what I'm talking about.

So while yes, they are slightly smaller and lankier than their cousins, the bearded dragons and CWDs, they nevertheless require a decent amount of space, including height with lots of vertical (or nearly vertical branches and perches). Look at their body shape compared to a bearded dragon. They are not flattened out, ideal for resting on boulders and rocks. They have longer limbs:body ratio, longer fingers, a slightly-more compressed torso...all conducive to a more arboreal, forest-dwelling lifestyle.

As others mentioned, they do tend to be much more flighty and highstrung then beardies or CWDs, but some adults can calm down enough to tolerate some occasional handling. Downside is that they do not "frill up" as much (kinda like hognose lose their tendency to "play dead" in captivity).

I have kept an Indonesian (or Irian Jaya?) frillie in the past, and found it to be very entertaining and unique. Maybe not the best candidate for a lizard you can regularly take out and handle.
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I have no personal experience with CWDs, but all my experience in pet shops caring for them has indicated that they seem to respond a little better to human interaction. Babies will come up and eat right out of your hand, and taming is not a difficult process (much easier than a frillie or say, a green iguana!).
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As far as housing/size requirements, I would say they're very close, simply because both are rather active species. You will probably come out better building something on your own. I would venture to say something in the range of 4 ft long x 2 ft wide x 3 ft tall is an absolute bare minimum for either lizard.

UwabamiReptiles · 10-24-12, 01:02 PM

I had a big male cwd for about 7 years before he passed of old age(he was an import that they said was three years old but who knows). He had a great personality, great feeding response and he was a good size lizard. A full grown male, about 3 feet, with all his colors bright is a sight to see. I'll say cwd all day long. No experience with frilleds but I hear they are also good animals but can be more flightly.