I used to keep these as a kid in Texas. They pretty much only eat harvester ants and plenty of them so you need an ample supply of these to keep them. There are harvester ants in Fla. but they are not as numerous as in Texas and you almost never find them in heavily populated areas. Horned lizards are protected in Texas (at least Phrynosoma cornutum is there are one or two other species found in west texas P. modestum I think is one of the other(s) and I am unsure as to their status.) Generally fish and game people would turn a blind eye toward kids keeping them by saying it was ok to keep them for a few days as long as you turned them loose when you found them afterwards. Sure enough after a few days of hauling them out to the nearest ant bed every day to feed them (the easiest method) you get tired of it and turn them loose(this is when I was a kid btw.) Anyway they don't eat fire ants and fire ants have actually been implicated in contributing to their demise along with habitat destruction and other factors (I think arial pesticide spraying for cotton fields is highly responsible for their decline.) There are other species of horned lizards occasionally available and some people say you can feed them other food items besides harvester ants but in general they are difficult captives and I wouldn't recomend them to the average keeper unless you had access to harvester ants(there are comercial sources for these btw but I am unsure as to there cost and horned lizards eat lots of these guys.)

[ Show Entire Thread ]