Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey...nice to meet you all, I've recently acquired a collard lizard, Sage. I saw her (one of my questions, Sage is a female right?) and had to have her! Anyway, my questions are as follow if anyone could answer them for me.

1. Sage is a girl right?
2. Does anyone know exactly what type of collard lizard Sage is? (I think she's just a common collard lizard - Crotaphytus collaris)
3. Do they do better and seem happier as a pair or do they seem to do fine and be happy alone too?
5. And last but not least (for now anyway) could I keep two in a 20 gallon long?

Thanks again,
Ice

Oops...sorry apparently my link didn't work for the photos, here it is again.
Meet Sage

Hi, glad to have you with us, and congratulations on your new collared pal. Sage, is a beautiful male C. bicinctores or Mohave (desert collared) Very Handsome

They do fine alone, I always think they are happier with others.

** But since you can not mix males, (very territorial and fight) that means you would need a lovely female for him. Which also means unless you are prepared for breeding/ eggs/ and hatchlings, then maybe you want to keep him alone for awhile. Thats something to think about, we are here to help you what ever you decide

And yes a 20 long is fine, even for a pair, but remember these guys love to run and jump and love space, so bigger is always better, when you can afford to get a larger tank, go for it.

Again nice to have you here, enjoy the forum
Collareds Care / FAQ and More

-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Hey thanks! Glad to know I got a new little boy (not a girl...lol...no wonder he's seemed so indignant). I’ve got a few more questions if ya don't mind.

1. How did you know Sage is a male, is it because he doesn't have a salmon band on his collar?

2. If I get a female does she have to be the same kind (C. bicinctores) or can I get any kind of collared?

3. Is using Bone-Aid (calci-sand) okay?

4. Completely un-related but I saw some Agamas on your site and at work we have this little agama, about 6 inches and I can’t figure out what kind it is. Its light green with brownish diamond shaped markings down its back and sides…any ideas on that?

Well all male C. bicinctores look like that, have a blackish dewlapor throat area, have black patches on their sides(inner thigh area) and have the brownish/gold striping on their backs.

Females look somewhat like them but different I will leave a pic of my pretty female bicinctore here for you to see . In the pic below, Zia is gravid (going to lay eggs) and has her pretty orange striping, girls get orange spots, strips, spotches when ovulating/ gravid lets the male know shes ready to mate or in this case has mated and almost ready to lay.

As far as do you HAVE to have a female of the same species, NO, thats up to you.
Many want to keep that species looking like that so they do get the same kind of mate. Others want to mix it up a bit since they are only going to be pets and use C. collaris (eastern collareds) usually the most colorful/ diverse.

And as far as the little agama sounds like it could be a toadhead agama they have the diamond shape down the back. There are many type agamas I would have to see a pic.

Zia, female C. bicinctores (gravid)

-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

It looks like the sand may be to corse and could plug up your Lizard, the best thing to use is washed play sand from Home Depot, I to made the same mistake and bought the hi dollar stuff and was advised to get rid of it, so it was out with the $50. sand and in with the $5. stuff and all was good. You can tell it is a male by the color and shape of the lizard, the salmon or orange on the female are only when they're gravid
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragon (Drago)
1.1 Desert Iguana(Dima, Dianne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Igor)
1.3 Collared Lizard (Fred, Wilma, Betty)
1.1 Desert Leopard Lizard (Simba, Kimba)
0.1 Hamster (Diamanta)
1.1 Kids
0.1 Wife

It looks like the sand may be to corse and could plug up your Lizard, the best thing to use is washed play sand from Home Depot, I to made the same mistake and bought the hi dollar stuff and was advised to get rid of it, so it was out with the $50. sand and in with the $5. stuff and all was good. You can tell it is a male by the color and shape of the lizard, the salmon or orange on the female are only when they're gravid

-----
1.1 Bearded Dragon (Drago)
1.1 Desert Iguana(Dima, Dianne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Igor)
1.3 Collared Lizard (Fred, Wilma, Betty)
1.1 Desert Leopard Lizard (Simba, Kimba)
0.1 Hamster (Diamanta)
1.1 Kids
0.1 Wife

I'm all for Toys R Us's washed playsand...its about $4 for 50lbs...But yeah the expensive sand isn't worth it, I don't know if it'll hurt your lizards, but the cheap stuff is just as good if not better.

I'm very, very new to collareds, but the word on other forums about Calci-sand is generally "don't use it". It tends to get clumpy when moistened, so is high likelihood for impactions. Plus there's no way to tell how much calcium your lizard is getting if he ingests some with his bugs - too much calcium is as bad as too little. Washed playsand is invariably the recommended sand choice.
-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Saharan Uros (Joe and Arthur)
3.1 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, Tank, and Lilly)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
0.1 Collared Lizard (Rorschach)
2.1 Green Anoles (Bowser, Sprocket, Leeloo)
1.1 Felis domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

Sage is a cool looking dude.

http://californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/c.bicinctores.html
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragon (Drago,???)
1.1 Desert Iguana(Dima, Dianne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Igor)
1.3 Collared Lizard (Fred, Wilma, Betty,???)
1.1 Desert Leopard Lizard (Simba, Kimba)
0.1 Hamster (Diamanta)
1.1 Kids
0.1 Wife

PHEve, onthefly, David, el_toro, thanks guys for all the help! One more question (and it may sound a little silly) but how exactly should I wash my new sand?

It comes washed from Home Depot, the bag will say(Washed Play Sand)it's ready to use

Cecil
-----
1.1 Bearded Dragon (Drago,???)
1.1 Desert Iguana(Dima, Dianne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Igor)
1.3 Collared Lizard (Fred, Wilma, Betty,???)
1.1 Desert Leopard Lizard (Simba, Kimba)
0.1 Hamster (Diamanta)
1.1 Kids
0.1 Wife