Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was given one of these from someone who picked her up backpacking. I have noticed a few people asking questions about the mountain short horned lizards, and having no responses. Hopefully this post will fare better.

Firstly, is there anyone with experience keeping or breeding high altitude phrynosoma? I have heard that they do not eat harvester ants. I have also read that they have more of a 'varied' diet, with ants making up only ~3/4 of their food. Is this true?

Also, I know there are laws in Texas about taking these from the wild (which I didnt do), but I understand that they have healthier populations in the four corners area. Specifically, are there any laws pertaining to douglasi specifically I should be aware of?

the short horned lizards seem neat; Im willing to wager that they are a strech heartier than other species, due to their occurance at higher altitudes (this girl was found at -7500 ft)

I once caught one of these while on vacation in Rioduso New Mexico at 8,500 ft. We were fishing for trout. I took to our condo and purchased a 10 gallon aquarium and found that it would it many different kind of insects, but there was a smaller black ant specie that is local to the area, and he seemed to relish the ants. I did feed him moths and, other insects that I found in the pine scrub, they do look like they would be hearty in captivity, I let this one go, and tried to observe it as well as I could for the time I was on vacation. I didn't bring it back to California with me. I'm not sure if they fall under some protection law like Texas HOrned Toads and others. These animals seem to eat when it's cooler than say a California HOrned lizard, I would make sure they don't get extreme heat, or they might not do as well as other species. Perhaps Cable or Lester might have more experience with these guys...............

Well, I went down the hill to a large anthill I had remembered seeing, and collected some. These were red, and maybe around a third of an inch. She started chasing after them and lapping them up as soon as she thought I was out of sight. Are these red ants the local harvester ant? a fire ant? I can take pics for an ID. The main anthill was about 1.5 feet tall and maybe 2.5 in diameter, and found in northern new mexico at 7000 ft or so, if that helps