Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new DHL buries him/her self (btw, anyone know how to ident gender?) in the sand occasionally. I am using only the under-tank heat pad, which makes the top of the sand 85 degrees. Could the lizard be burying itself because it is cold and needs more heat, or is this just a normal behavior? I'll post pictures soon. Thanks!

That is perfectly normal behavior, that is actually how the sleep, they will bury themselves in the evening when it is their bed time and come up from the sand when it is time to wake up. Not sure on the heat issue though, depends on what time it is, it should be around 100 degrees in one end of the cage and about 80 degrees on the other.
- Jim

The behavior is normal. That is the way HLs "cool down" during the heat of the day. Do not use a heat pad under the enclosure. Use lights and rocks for heating. You need to have a thermal gradiant in the enclosure i.e. one end of the enclosure the hot end (100 degrees) and a cooler end (down to 70 to 75 degrees). At night, let the enclosure cool down as low as possible (65 to 70 degrees). Provide a very shallow water dish and use distilled water daily. The sand depth should be 3 to 4 inches. Make sure the sand also has some moisture content to prevent HL dehydration. Lester G. Milroy III

Thanks for the information Lester, as I was originally told the complete opposite by the pet store. I should have known that they didn't know what they were talking about, especially since they said to feed him mainly crickets.

Daniel

Well, as far as I know. Gender picking is somewhat difficult and the HTL needs to reach or pass it's jevenile stage. Males have glands on the underside of their legs as well as two bulge like objects on either side of it's tail. Females have only the glands on the underside of their legs. I think that is for the most part correct!