Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a new baby collared maybe 3 weeks old, this is my first one and he's eating but seems a little skinny in the tail. I'm hoping he'll fatten up, his mid section is pretty plump. My question is that he sits around with his eyes closed quite a bit, is this normal? My experience with this in my other lizards is that they are stressed, annoyed, or not healthy. Is this the case? Can anyone recommend any good husbandry sites?

Well there's a few question I'd like to ask before we could recommend anything.

What type of lighting?

Temperatures at the basking site and elsewhere in the cage?

Substrate?

Water Dish?

Hidey hole?

Type of food given and how often?

Size and type of terrarium?

Was it wild caught or farm raised?

I think that's about it at least that is all I can think of.

Welcome to the boards

Boost

all the usual temps from the caresheets in a 10 gal glass tank. 2 caves, one with a heat pad, 1 without. plenty of water. I've been feeding small crickets and pheonix worms since last weekend when I got him, which he took eagerly. He was lookin kinda weak today so I hand fed him some organic baby food and soaked him in water with electrolytes for a little while. He's eats and drinks everytime although with a bit less gusto today, as I mentioned he's lookin weak starting probably the last 24 hours. Oh and I have him on a sand substrate with large pieces of slate spread around so he's not really in the sand all the time, about a 30/70 sand to slate ratio if that makes sense. Could've been something wrong when I got him, I don't know. Also could be nothing but to me he seems a little lifeless at times and sits with his eyes closed quite a bit. just wondering if this is typical of babies. I tend to only see him in the early morning and evening after dark as well, Are they possibly sensitive to a day/nite schedule? -thanks

I have never used a heat rock with my collareds as they can handle a drop in temperature at night.

Was he a true hatchling when you got him? If so, I'm thinking that perhaps the phoenix worms might be abit too much so I'd stay with pinhead or just a tad larger crickets.

Are you using cleaned play sand, the type they use in playground sandboxes? If you aren't I would change over to cleaned playsand as soon as you can.

Most folk will tell you not to use sand at all for the babies, just kitchen towels or nothing at all, because they can be clumsy hunters. if you look at www.suncharmers.com or the site in my sig those two will link you to all the collared sites available

Hope that helps
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Kel

www.collaredlizards.co.uk

1:1:0 Common Collared Lizards
1:1:0 Auriceps
1:2:0 Desert Collared Lizards
0:1:0 New Mexico Collared Lizard

There is very little sand in the cage, I don't feel it is an issue as he never touches it. It's more like grout to fill in between the pieces of slate. When he poo's on a piece of slate I can easily pull it out, clean it and replace it. So I use the sand to fill the cracks. Anyway, I've noticed he's eating and moving around much more. He looks quite weak at nite but eats fine during the day. I fed him small crickets from tongs this morning and he was tearing them to shreds. I backed off on the pheonix worms for now. Should I be feeding veggies and fruit as well? if so, is there a list of safe or bad food? Thanks for everyone's interest and suggestions. I really hope the little guy makes it.