Reptile Care

[My2heartboys]

Anybody know of any good reptile care forums? Our dear son decided to catch and bring home a horned lizard. Now I am frantically trying to figure out how to take care of the dog gone thing.

Thanks,

Anne

[Lucid]

Anne, not sure which species you have but here are a couple of links I just looked over from Google.

Horned Lizards Genus Phrynosoma (DesertUSA)

Because they are so fearsome in appearance, yet quite harmless, desert visitors tend to collect them to show the folks back home. Horned Lizards are neat creatures but hard to keep because most of them are obligate ant eaters and, at that, eat a very limited number of species of ants.

:/

And Horned Lizards which shows drawings of different species and also their characteristics.

I used to keep a redtail boa (Columbian?), and with most reptiles you'll need a heat rock and/or a basking lamp. Without that essential, any reptile won't survive too long. Also if it eats ants as a main food, not sure if it will adapt to meal worms or other 'critters' at your local pet shop.

HTH, oh reptileforums.net came up too...

[SPasse]

Anne,

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but Eric hits the nail on the head regarding Horned Lizards (AKA Horney Toads); they live exclusively on Ants and to make matters worse, very specific species of ants.

I have kept a lots of herps in the past, including challenging species like Old World Chameleons. Even with my past experience, I would not attempt to keep a Horned Lizard unless (possibly) I had access to the native species of ants that the particular specimen was accustomed to. But there are cool creatures… My mother-in-law lives in the White Mountains of AZ and they are very common there. My mother claimed they were one once to be found in Denver as well.

Is there any way it can be returned to where it was caught?

Regards,

Scott

[My2heartboys]

Thanks, no it is too cold to release it now. I am hooked up on another board trying to get some help. Will fill you in in a bit.

Anne

[My2heartboys]

Ok, I am trying to get my hands on some harvester ants. I was told on another forum that the heat wave rock I bought was going to burn the poor thing. So I have compromised and am plugging it in at night and unplugging it during the day. We are trying to put this thing together on worse than a shoestring budget.

At this point I also have an incandescent light above its tank. I know that is probably not good enough, but I am just looking to get it by until we can get proper stuff.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Anne

[SPasse]

Anne,

I did some more reading on this critter. Evidently the dietary recommendations/possibilities have expanded since I last investigated keeping them.

From Wikipedia: “The diet of most horned lizards species varies from 60-90% harvester ant of the genus Pogonomyrmex, though they are opportunistic and supplement these with termites, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers and other small live insects.”

This is fortunate as coming up with enough harvester ants might prove cost prohibitive. Methinks smaller crickets etc. would be in order. Gut load you feeder insects. Starved food is nutritionally bad news.

I will investigate the basking lamp issue. Metal halides proved to be best for my Chameleons because of their full spectrum output. The enclosure needs to be big enough so the lizard can move closer/farther away from the heat source. (Thermo regulate)

Hot rocks have been a controversial subject.

Hot Rocks and Reptiles

Regards,

Scott

[My2heartboys]

Thanks, Scott. Personally, the crickets will be bought from a local pet shop. The ants are on order. I am also checking into bulbs. Currently the lizard is in a 10 gallon tank with a screen over the lid. We have an incandescent bulb over the tank. Yeah, I know that is not enough. Right now, we are on emergency measures. Man, I feel like I am chasing my tail!!!

Tomorrow I will be going and getting some play sand from home improvement store. I will also stop by WalMart to get a covered tub for the ants as well as gloves to handle them with. Also need to remember to get a misting bottle for water. Good thing I have a RODI unit as I do believe that chlorine would be bad for the lizard as well.

As we get better lighting, heating, and food set up for this critter the heating rock will go. If I have my say about it, assuming the critter survives the winter, it will go back into the wild where it was caught when things warm back up around here.

Anne