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Jesus Christ! It's a basilisk!

AshleyShadows

It piss me so bad.
Green basilisks, AKA Jesus Christ lizards, are probably the worst pets you can ever own. Not only do they need a huge habitat for size and need ridiculous humidity and heat levels, they just plain hate you. I've heard of very few nice ones, and I'd say mine is about as tame as they come just because I don't take from him.

His name is Abel (there was a Cain at first, but he was killed by Abel...revenge of biblical proportions?). He's about to turn one years old, and despite how bad he is, I couldn't love him more. I've never been more entertained by a reptile, and I can't imagine my life without him.

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This is when he had MBD. I didn't realize when I got him that he'd been wild caught in Nicaragua and had horrible nutrition. He'd fallen about 5 feet down in his custom 94 gallon vivarium and his tarsus turned to dust. After good care and many vet visits, he's all better.

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6 months old! Just getting the first signs of a head crest, proving that he's male.

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8 months old. Must larger head crest, and his vivarium is complete with cork bark!

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Leg comparison pic showing that the bone is completely healed. Also his dorsal crest is coming in!

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Meeting Lucian, the beardie, for the first (and possibly the last) time.

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Lol this never stops making me laugh. He's 11 months old now, and I'm feeding him Gerber garden vegetables baby food because he refuses to eat veggies on his own. He also fails at eating like an adult. Look at those crests!
 
Very cute little guy, but you know they eat insects as well and don't thrive on baby food. Mashing your own greens and adding in some insects will help his growth pickup and prevent future MBD:)
 
He eats crickets daily, and I breed my own mealworms for him. Of course the crickets and mealworms are gutloaded extensively. Mealworms, as a treat, are provided 3 times a week in the babyfood. He might get one or two bites of the baby food. Trust me, after 10 months of cutting and mashing a variety of veggies (collard greens, mustard greens, carrots, etc) and not having him eat any of it got old. I'd even tried stuffing some in his mouth when he opened it or cutting it into mealworm-like rods to trick him. He's far too smart for that.

Trust me, I've done my research on this guy. The MBD happened before I had him, and by adding a proper diet and UVB lighting, he's in perfect health.
 
Well then it sounds like he's in good hands. My parents live in south florida and those guys are now all over the place. Definitely entertaining to watch for sure:)
 
Thank you! And I do appreciate the advice...I realize now that the way I posted it seemed like I was just feeding him baby food. Lol poor guy wouldn't make it.

That sounds so fun. They're truly hilarious to watch. I can't study in my room because of him. I just sit there staring with the stupidest smile on my face.
 
Thank you!

I don't have any pictures of the completed project..which makes no sense, so I can get those by tomorrow.

But basics go that it's made out of a book shelf where I removed most of the shelves and cut large holes in the others. There's a large tree limb with biovines and fake leaves. All of the walls are covered with cork bark, and the front is plexiglass (luckily no problems with nose rubbing!). There's also lots of moss, water sources, and I keep a humidifier at the bottom. UVA/UVB mercury vapor bulb as well. If I had to guess on the total cost, it'd probably be around $600. That was digging into the savings and lots of birthday money given in advance!
 
Here are pics of the enclosure. If anyone wants more details on the construction/materials, I'll be happy to share.

Top level
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Middle level
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Whole thing
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Abel enjoying life
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It's very nice to see people that are dedicated to the care of their pets, like the people on this forum are. I can't see the pics of the enclosure, though.
 
This should work. And thank you very much! I've put my heart and soul into keeping him healthy.

Top level
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Middle
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Whole thing
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Abel at 11 months
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lucky guy!! You've done a great job with his enclosure....its nice to see someone actually provide the proper care for species that are harder to keep in captivity.
 
I love Jesus lizards! My friend kept one in a 500 gallon tank. It was too large, as he was able to get a good running start before slamming into the other side of the tank knocking himself out. He ended up building one vertical like yours, and gave me the giant one, which I ended up keeping a Chinese Water Dragon and a few other species in, but always had these and the Frilled on my want list...
 
Wow, I'd love to see the setup you worked with that 500 gallon.

They're really fun animals. I never really intended to get one; my mom got him and his brother because they were cute. So misinformed. So I rescued them from her :D

Love frilled lizards too! So fun!
 
Wow, I'd love to see the setup you worked with that 500 gallon.

They're really fun animals. I never really intended to get one; my mom got him and his brother because they were cute. So misinformed. So I rescued them from her :D

Love frilled lizards too! So fun!

I set it up naturally, with soil, plants, and a water feature for a Python first, but he was always buried, so I ended up putting the Dragon, a couple Iguanas, a couple Skinks and various other lizards the ex brought home, so it was pretty cool. I also had a huge piece of driftwood in it that housed a pretty big colony of crickets that I used to sprinkle with cricket food, so i never had to buy any after the first 100, lol... The hardest part was changing out the water. It was so big and heavy that it sat on the floor, so I couldn't drill a drain. I'd have to siphon it from the top while getting tail whipped by the iguanas. I had a welt on my forehead for 2 weeks once because of one of those damn iguanas...
 
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