The Species
COMMON NAMES
Sailfin,Sailfin Lizard,Sailfin Dragon,Giant sailfin,black sailfin,webers sailfin,ambon sailfin, Soa Soa,Indonesian Crested Water Dragon,Giant Crested Water Dragon these are some of the names I've seen them called and I'm sure theres probaly more and the common names seem interchangeable so make sure your getting what you want.
TEMPERATURE and HUMIDITY
75-90F day time with a 10-15F drop at night.I use 50-70% with great results.
FOOD and WATER
These guy usually eat almost anything ! I feed babies mostly crickets and mealworms(i calcium dust twice a week on small sailfins food),juvenils and adults will eat gold fish,ground turkey,chicken ,pinkie mice,small adult mice,superworms ,night crawlers,various fruits and vegtables.
I give Sailfins as large of a waterbowl as possable per enclosure size . I change the water as often as possable since sailfins like to bath in and often defecate in their water.I also occasionally mist sailfins as some smaller and newly imported sailfins seem to drink and shed easier this way.
Sexing
Sailfins are one of if not the easiest lizard to sex at least as adults!. Adult males have the impressive crest and sail(fin) while the females have an extremely small crest and sail or none at all.I have found that babies and juveniles can be probe sexed but do NOT probe by scale count like snakes,it is basically only done by comparison and is NOT 100% acurate. I also TRY to figure the sex of small sailfin by the femoral pores but this does not always seem 100% acurate either.
SIZE
H.Amboinensis average 3-4'
H.Pustulosus average 3-4'
H.weberi Average 22"-3' the smallest most offered sailfin
Some general features that help distuingish the species
Webers are the smallest and usually most colorful and are the most offered sailfin,there seem to be 2 phases 1)yellow/orange 2)green blue and they can be nearly patternless with heavy black speckeling or can have a reticulated pattern.
Amboinensis usually have bright blue eye sockets and are usually green and blue with no yellow or any other light colors at all.
Pustulosus are the darkest of the sailfins and have a very smoth skin texture compared to the other two species,they are usually dark olive green without much other coloring
GENERAL
Sailfins come from the general area of Indonesia,New Guinea and the Phillipines but never seem to be exact as far as documenting there origin.Large imported adult sailfins DO NOT make a good choice as a beginer lizard since they stress easily in captivity and will try anything to free themselves including ramming glass enclosures until either their neck or the glass breaks!(I've seen both happen) Imported Adults can also be quite mean and a real challenge for a begining keeper to handle.Babies either C.B.,F.B. or imported w.c. usually adapt fairly well to captivity and can become very tame and in MY OPINON much more trustworthy then an Iguana!
Breeding
I have breed sailfins a few times,but not on a consistant basis.(getting better results with time though)My sailfins seem to need a few key things to breed and here is what has worked for me. 1)Male-male conflicts,just letting two adult males see each other seems to be enough. 2)Misting seems to really help. 3)When trying to start breeding I have also found incresing the amount of feeder insects as food helps. 4)Longer periods of light 12-15hrs. 5)Also I don't know if it's just better chances or not but I seem to have more success with trio's then pairs.Incubating
I've tryed temps from 82-87 with varing amounts of success but seem to have the best hatch rate at 85 degrees with incubation taking 48-62 days at this temp.
I encourage anyone interested in getting a sailfin as a pet to look around and find all the information possiable first. All the information posted here is either just what I know or what has worked for ME personally and I do not claim to be any kind of know it all.I just like to help out when possiable but I belive there is no such thing as to much information especially with and animal like sailfins,and I also appericate anyone else's information which they would be willing to share!
I am also ALWAYS interested in obtaining additional sailfins (all 3 species) to add to my groups!
Other care and info pages
