Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a conehead lizard about a week ago. Well today i noticed that heis digging in his bedding to the bottom of the tank and when he gets to the bottom he starts pecking on it. Yes, pecking on it!! Like a chicken would. I'm worried that he is going to hurt himself. Is there anyone that can help me with this? I don't want him to get hurt because I'm quite attached to the lil guy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if he's bored, or suicidal or what! Any suggestions can be e-mailed to me @ h8tsluv2@punkass.com.
TIA,
Kimberly

Could there be any little insects in the bedding? What is the bedding? Is he eating it?

i don't think he is eating it, not that i have noticed anyway. i'm so afraid he is going to hurt himself. the bedding that i have for him is from the petco, so i don't think there is any insects in it.

Is the floor of the cage glass? If so, what is below the glass?

Is it an adult? If so, are you sure its a "he"...its still not to late for a female to be laying eggs.

Yes, the floor of the cage is glass. It is sitting on a coffee table. I don't know wether it's a he or she. If it's a she, and is trying to lay eggs, then brings me to a whole other situation! He or she doesn't look like he/she is 'with child' because he/she is not fat. I'm starting to get worried because he has what looks like a little bruise on his nose.

Is the coffee table glass? Can it see any other lizards? Do you have plants in the cage for it to hide in? (Trying to figure out why its doing what its doing.)

You said..."I don't know wether it's a he or she"...if you look at the base of the tail, males have a slight hemi-pene bulge. If you are new to lizards, then they aren't the easiest to tell the sex of. Males are also slightly slimmer in the area in front of the legs...but again it takes experience to see it.

You said..."If it's a she, and is trying to lay eggs, then brings me to a whole other situation! He or she doesn't look like he/she is 'with child' because he/she is not fat"...yup! They don't get very fat when they are carrying eggs. They only lay a few eggs that are about the size of a large green grape.

You said..."I'm starting to get worried because he has what looks like a little bruise on his nose"...keep an eye on it. If it shows any sign of infection, then it will need to see a vet. It would be good if it would stop doing what is causing the bruising of course.

Lizards of many species do such things if they are either gravid-als already mentioned-or if they want to escape a tank which does not fulfil their environmental needs.
You know that coneheads are arboreal lizards which do need a well planted tall tank with a dense foliage to hide in and a mixture of thinner and thicker branches to sit and run on?
Also Laemanctes prefer to sleep on extremely thin branches well hidden among the foliage and even though they are not extremely heliophile they love to bask from time to time.
Especially for L. serratrus you should provide an area well lit by a stronge rmetal halide.
Depending on wether you have Lemanctus serratus or Laemanctus longipes the tank has to be semi dry or quite moist. In any case, high relative humidity is needed at night.
The minimum size of a Laemanctus tank should be like 2 x 2 x 4 ft and especially no tank less tall than 4 ft should be used.
Talking about a minimum indicates that larger is better. I personally would recomment 4 x 1.5 x 6 ft or bigger for a single adult or a pair.
Could you post a pic of your tank and lizard?
That might help us in helping you.

best regards

Ingo

You did a much better job of answering this than I did, Ingo!

I don't know if you will remember me or not, but I was the one who asked you about the differences between serratus and longipes a few years ago. I have had quite good success with hatching/breeding/keeping the longipes that I have, but haven't managed to get as far as breeding with the serratus yet. I hope I will someday!