Does anyone keep these?

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

I saw a beautiful red and blue lizard yesterday. A red-headed Agama (and its female, who looked almost nothing like him, color-wise). That's the first lizard in a LONG time that I've actually thought I'd like to have, perhaps....

I talked with the pet store owner, and from what he said, it doesn't appear too difficult to keep one or two of these. I'm fairly certain I could meet its needs, but I don't know for sure.

So--is anyone here familiar with keeping them? The two I interacted with were fine, and didn't seem too freaky about the store owner holding them. He says they're strictly carnivorous, which is fine, as we have lots of pet stores with the needed meal worms, crickets, etc., available. I used to have a Savannah monitor who was strictly carnivorous, and when he defecated, it stunk up the entire house within moments. Do these guys stink like that when they poo?

Their size is supposed to be 10"-12" grown. Is that including the tail, or is that for the body length only? How big should its habitat be, if I decide to get one? The owner suggested a 40 gallon breeder tank. Would that be big enough for an adult Agama?

Anyway, that's about it. If you have one or more, could you please tell me some of your experiences keeping them, and your advice/suggestions about whether it would make a good dispay pet (probably wouldn't handle it much--ime, lizards are too quick for me. I wouldn't want to have it escape!), whether it is truly as fairly simple to keep as the owner says (low humidity, warm home with basking light, etc.), how delicate their health is, etc.? I would hope it would be a fairly simple animal to keep, and that it wouldn't be too stressful to try to meet its needs.

Thanks in advance .

 

[Floof]

I don't and haven't ever kept the red-headed agamas, but, if I remember correctly, they're a not too terribly distant relative of my bearded dragons, and a few of aspects of diurnal lizard care seem to transfer over almost universally, so maybe I can be a little bit of help on a couple points.

A lizard that size would probably do well in a 40B, yes. With these types of lizards, though, bigger is usually better. Even if they don't seem to use the whole space, there seems to be a psychological aspect of having a bigger "territory." Take my male bearded dragon for instance, who's small and lazy enough to thrive in a 40 breeder, yet goes into a depressive state and refuses to eat or do anything when put into anything smaller than his 75 gallon.

The other thing I wanted to touch on, that I'm not sure the pet store guy would have touched on with you, is the correct lighting. Red-headed agamas are diurnal lizards, and therefore need UVB lighting to survive (let alone thrive) in captivity. If you do decide to get the Agama, or any other diurnal lizard, don't forget this important aspect. The two best bulbs are the Reptisun 10.0 fluorescent (don't use the coil bulbs, though! They've been known to cause eye problems) and the Powersun mercury vapor bulb. The fluorescent needs to be at least 8-12" from the animal itself, as it doesn't put out the UV rays very far, and should be replaced about every 6 months as the UVB output decays over time. With the MVBs, the bulb should be about 12-18" from the animal (very strong UVB output--which is why I prefer them) and mounted so they point straight down, as being mounted an angle can damage the bulb. The UVB output on these usually lasts about a year, give or take, and also put out heat--so it can be used as your basking bulb as well as your UVB bulb.

Anyway, that's about all I can say on the matter. I hope it helped some, at least until someone with more agama experience can chime in.

 

[pridecity]

I had a male agama until recently. With animal control problems, I decided to rehome him and miss him terribly. The people who adopted him are on my crap list now. Despite me doing a home check and asking them how they would take care of him, when I emailed them about a month later, they told me he had died. When I asked how, they said that they really didn't want to have another tank in the house so they put him with their adult bearded dragon. Needless to say, the bearded dragon eventually killed him. He was the coolest lizard ever.

Just be aware that most of these guys are wild-caught, so you'll want to get him dewormed as soon as possible. Also, if you get bitten, it hurts only for a second and is very similar to a cat scratch.

They are related to bearded dragons, but are from Africa. I'll have to pull my bookmarks so you can read them. Give me a little while to do so?

 

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

Thanks for the info, especially regarding the lighting. The pet store owner said that an Agama needs UVB lighting, but he didn't give specifics (they were getting ready to close for the evening, and he knew I wasn't going to purchase anything that day). I think that the next time we pass through, I'll take a look to see if the animal is still there .

 

[pridecity]

If you're able to open up pdf files, do a search for the following. These are just files I've found and saved about agamas that might be of help to you.

Search:
1. Studies on African Agama III. Resurrection of Agama agama turuensis Loveridge, 1932 (Squamata: Agamidae) from synonymy and elevation to species rank

This one is an overview of African agamas in general and is pretty technical in some places but might interest you.

2. sea dwellers red head agama

Very basic information

The problem is, there isn't much information out for these guys, hope these help though. If you don't have a pdf reader, I think I'll be able to copy the information if needed.

 

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

I have a pdf reader, no worries . Thanks for the suggestions!