Dragons' Den

Welcome to the Dragon's Den

I thought it worth putting up a page about the enclosure that our Dragons live in.  Hence this page is called the Dragon's Den!

JT Presents....The Dragon's Den

So here we have our Dragon's Den as well as our fantastic Assistant Chief Dragon Keeper JT.  Very brave to look after Dragons isn't she.

The basics of the Den are that it is about 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 2 feet high.  What's that, is JT only 2 feet high??  No, the enclosure itself sits on a matching stand with cupboards underneath that raises it to the height you see in the picture.  The enclosure part for the Dragons is 4 x 2 x 2 feet in dimensions.

As you can see it is furnished with all the things that make a captive Dragon feel right at home.  Plants, rocks, climbing things and a purple paint job....Let's move on to what's under the hood as it were.

The Engine Room

Lighting \ Heating

Here is a side view of the Dragon's Den taken from the left hand side.  At the top of the enclosure you will notice 3 light fittings.  There were only 2 when we bought the enclosure originally, I have since added a third.  The original ones were the fluorescent fitting at the top right of the picture and the brighter one giving off all the light.

The fluorescent fitting is designed to take a special 2ft tube that gives off UVB light to help maintain healthy Dragons.  It is important for the development of their bones.  Lack of UV light can lead to problems like crooked jaws and tail bones.  Dragons require about 8 -12 hours of UV exposure depending on the time of year.

The bright light is a standard type of spot light bulb that gives off well....light.  It also gives off heat.  That is the more important bit.  Dragons like ours like a basking point that sits between 35 and 40 degrees centigrade.  Something for them to lay out on near a bulb like this gives them a good spot to warm their cold blooded little bodies.

The third fitting is one that I have added to hold a ceramic bulb that gives off heat, but, no light.  It get's pretty cold here in Canberra at night.  So a good heat source for the dim dark hours is very important.  Dragons need a day night cycle to stay healthy, so a heat source that does not give off light for when they need to sleep is required.  A ceramic bulb like this one is just the thing.

All three lights are on timers so that they run for the appropriate time each day and turn off to maintain the health of the Dragons as well as save power! We control and monitor the temperature provided to the Den in a couple of ways.  On top of the timers that run these fixtures, we also run a thermostat and dual probe digital thermometer  In the picture just above at the far right and the top left you can see a white dangly bit and a black cylindrical jigger thing respectively.  They are sensor probes.  The white is the first of two probes for the digital thermometer that we have.  The black is the temperature probe that controls the flow of electricity to the heat sources.  It measure the temperature against a preset value.  If it is too hot then it decreases the flow of power to the bulbs.  If it is too cold the power is increased.  In the image below you can see a white cord running down the left behind the bush.  This is the other probe connected to the digital thermometer.  The dual sensor thermometer gives us a good idea of the temperatures at the hot and cold ends of the enclosure.

The Mess Hall

Fine Dining

We're now looking inside the Den from the front again.  This is the left corner at the opposite end to the light fittings.  This is where we give access to food and water for the Dragons.

There is a big water bowl that they can drink from (and swim in), as well as a food dish which in this photo you can see has carrot and bok choy in it.  Despite their fierce nature, our Dragons are actually about 80-90% herbivorous when they grow up.

There is also a funny triangular shaped looking pedestal looking thingy with a plant on it that you can see in the back left corner.  That is a cunningly disguised water source.  We can open it up and there is a water bottle inside that trickles water down as it is drunk.  Dragons don't tend to drink in this way, they like to be misted with water and lick it off the plants etc.  This water dispenser came with the enclosure and we really use it to just hold up the plant.

A place to chillax

The Lizard Lounge


This is the central zone of the Dragon's Den.  It is half way through the temperature gradient created in the enclosure by having heat sources at one end and none at the other.  Dragons need to be able to warm up when they are cold and cool down if they are hot.  It is for this reason that a gradual change in temperature from one end of their enclosure to the other is required.

The central part of the enclosure provides plenty of nooks and crannies for Dragons to laze about and cool off after a day's strenuous basking activities.  It is also where you will find that they bed down for the night most times.  We often see them (or struggle too) sleeping in one of the plants in this area each night.

The Tanning Room

Heating things up!

This is the far right hand side of the enclosure and probably the most important zone to get right to maintain healthy Dragons.  Here we offer several locations in and around their heat source at the top of the enclosure.  Additionally, there is a flat space near the bottom where they can flatten out and still get very good exposure to heat at this, the hot end.

Also, there is an entrance into the base of the "rock" you can see at the bottom right that allows the Dragons to enter it like a cave so they can hide.  It is in fact called a hide for this very reason.  This hide provides an additional warm place out of sight for the Dragons to get heat if they want to be a bit private about it.  Having said that, our Dragons don't seem to be shy at all!  I think I have seen one of them in there once.

Thank you for taking this tour of with us of the Dragon's Den!  See you next time....