Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Stating the topic obviously, I just received a conehead lizard that had been sitting in a Petco for almost two years. The manager told me that little was known about it and if I could provide a good home for it, that he would give it to me. He's currently about 16 inches nose to tail, and I have him housed in a screen topped 55 gallon tank with a basking lamp, under tank heater, and a UV lamp. I have plenty of foilage, including trees, bushes, half logs, and some hanging artificial plants. I know that this is an animal from central american rainforests, so I am sufficiently spraying down the enclosure daily. I have researched a bit, but was curious about his appearance. His arms and legs are very thin and twig-like, and his torso is consistant all the way from his arms to his legs, but quite skinny as well. He (I think it is a he) is very alert and seems to take well to handling. I was just wondering if he is supposed to be this thin looking, and if any additional care should be provided. I also would like to know how to sex this beautiful lizard. Any information would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi,

they do always appear thin.
But I need a pic to tell you if yours looking abnormally skinny.
Also its not unimportant to find out which species you have: longipes or serratus (are the ridges of the casque smooth or somewhat toothed?) , since they have slightly different needs (serratuis comes from a dryer habitat).
Which of the numerous subspecies it is is less important.
Coneheads are calm but stress sensitive tree dwellers.
To make them feel secure, their tank should be at least 5 ft tall, the taller the better and very densely planted. Especially dense foliage and a combination of thicker and thin branches in the upper fourth of the tank are important. Also even though not too agile, they need quite some space. A 55 g is absolutely not enough. 3 x 2 x 5 ft is about a recommendable size, but 5 x 2 x 5 ft would be better.
Also I strongly recommend not to handle these lizards unless absolutely unavoidable. As I said, they are calm AND stress sensitive. So you easily oversee that they are stressed to death and tooo many specimens which are handled on a regular basis and/or squeezed into non appropriate tanks do seemingly well for a time and then rapidly decline and die.
A healthy conehead can live for longer than ten years.
If not disturbed and stressed they can even survive very long under quite adverse conditions-but thats nothing one should try, even though it helps them to survive pet shops.

Hope that helps

Ingo

I believe the Toledo Zoo does well with this species, if you can find a way to contact their herpetological department.

Katrina