Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would Really Like To See Where People Keep Their Horned Lizards. How Difficult Is It To Take Care Of Horned Lizards?

Thanks J

Although I have never had the pleasure of keeping a horned lizard, you can tell just from what they eat(mostly ants) that they are not very easy to take care of. Some guys from the forum can atest to how difficult they are to keep, and I highly discourage you from getting one.

Here is a pic of one of my DHL's enjoying a refreshing drip or two of bottled water.

My tank is a 60 gallon with one 160 watt Halogen PowerSun UV by zoo-med. I have alluvial sand from the DHL's own habitat with basking rocks as shown in the photo.
This guy has nearly doubled his size from the time I ordered him (he was skin and bone when he arrived mail order). My experience has not been great with ordering HL's. I ordered 4 and have struggled to get them all healthy (and still working on it). I lost one in the 5 months or so that I have had them.

They are truly fascinating to me at least. I enjoy the experience of observing them but it is not a simple proposition to have and keep them. I am lucky enough to have a large supply of ants available near my house most of the year. At this time of year it takes a bucket and shovel and much digging to get out what few I can find. (There are online sources for buying ants).
If you don't mind spending many hours a week taking care of them and doing alot of homework first then you might consider it.

My 4 were ordered online and I am really disappointed in that source. One option is to catch them wild but this has it's own challenges. They are skittish when they come from the wild and, depending on the individual, they don't want to relax from that fear. Of the three I have remaining, one is fairly happy to enjoy the 60-gallon tank they live in. They do well out doors when the weather permits. I have an 8 by 8 foot enclosure that they all seem comfortable in. Having them in the sunlight is also very good for their health.
The best solution would be to buy captive bred stock but unfortunately those are scarcer than hen’s teeth.
Read this forum and the old archive forum before you make your decision. You'll get lots of good advice and should be able to get a good feel for the difficulty level. Almost everyone will recommend you not get into HL's.
Good luck either way.
Cheers!

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Cables Home
2 Kings 6:15-17

here's mine, i have a desert horned and a round tail living in here, and temporarily 2 blue throated agamas that seem to be getting along very well with everbody. Its a 55 gallon with 2 super coil uvb-uva bulbs and 2 basking lights. they seem to love laying out and hanging their legs off the ledges and hiding in the crevices. after i put the rocks in, my HL's didn't seem to bury themselves in the sand as much, now they wedge up under a rock ledge and pass out at nite. I love watching their tails wag before they dive off the rocks for crickets. On the left you can see their water dish. I wedge it into the sand so they can see down into it and see the water. I learned the hard way that my roundtail didn't know it was there cuz he got all dehydrated and sluggish, but he's back to normal now. my lizards dash across it all day long, multiple times back and forth and then lay out on the rocks to dry. they must like it cuz when i get home from work its full of sand they track into it from running across it all day. i tried to curtail that by placing some rocks (more like stepping stones) around it so not so much sand would stick to their wet legs. it helps a lot.

this shot is from another angle. the pictures are dark but it's quite bright in real life.