Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello

I am the Science Enrichment Teacher at Gallaudet School for the Deaf and I have a rescued Sudan Plated Lizard in my science lab. Spike's been our class mascot for 7 years and it wasn't until recently that I found reliable information about caring for him. He was rescued from a home in which the 13 year old boy was tired of his new pet and mom was tired of feeding it. They had him housed in a tropical/humid environment and as far as I could tell he had never been handled.

He is now in a 65 gallon well decorated desert environment and is regularly handled by me and my students.

When I first got my Sudan Plated the only information I found said they were insectivores so I've been feeding Spike exclusively crickets. He seems happy and healthy.

After reading several posts here, I've found out he is an omnivore. How do I safely introduce fruits and veggies without causing digestive problems?

I would like to keep him healthy and happy as my students and myself have grown quite attached to him.

Lizard
Loving
Tea

Hello,
There is nothing special you need to do when you go about introducing new food items to you Plated Lizard. As for causing any digestive upsets I think it would be highly unlikely to occur but you might want to make your first tastes of new food small amounts, say a tablespoon or so to see if the lizard is interested. I have two Rough-scaled Plated Lizards to which I feed a variety of foods. When I'm not feeding invertebrate prey I usually use one of the canned herbivore diets. They seem to like some types more than others. I've used ZooMed adult Iguana diet and I've also used the Box Turtle diet. I've been trying a new product put out by a company called VitaKraft - I believe it's their version of a land tortoise diet. So far my male will eat some of it but I don't seem to get much interest in it from the female. Additionally you could try freshly diced up leafy greens (mustard, turnip, collard, etc.), mixed with some other veggies like fresh green beans, some carrot, maybe some sweet potato and apple. Be sure to dice it all up into very fine pieces or if you can puree it all in a food processor.

Best of luck,
Matt Campbell

Thank you for responding. He loves strawberries, cantaloupe and bananas. He won't touch the romaine lettuce or spinach I have tried. I will try mustard greens or collard greens.

Do I need to cook the sweet potatoes?

Thanks again
Lizard
Loving
Teacher