Hello Nate.

I've heard alot of stories of people keeping horned lizards without ants. There was a paper written several years ago by Richard Montanucci. He suggested offering the horned lizards vinegar in the absence of ants. HLs seem to be succeptable to intestinal infections and the acidity helps to combat it. You can spray vinegar on the crickets or small superworms before feeding them to the lizards. Wild caight horned lizards often do well for a few months and then start declining. It might be because they are often carrying parasites so it seems that worming them would be a good idea too.

As far as UVb goes I can't say for sure. I have some 2 month old captive hatched platyrhinos that have at least tripled in size without any UV lighting, just Reptocal vitamins. I don't think they need it for calcium metabolism but I do think that UV has an invigorating affect on them. It would probably enhance breeding success, especially UVA. I breed alot of collared lizards without any UV but I haven't seriously tried to breed HLs yet.

One more thing before I quit rambling. I think that feeding the insects a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is important. I don't know if there is anything to this but I've heard people recomend feeding the crickets limes and bananas.

Good luck with yours.

Paul

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