Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, my husband "accidentally" acquired a Horned Lizard today. He/she was running across the street in front of our house and almost got squashed so my hubby rescued him/her. My question is this: we have a garter snake already, is it possible to put both of them in the same tank or will they hurt each other. Also, I can't find any ants around here. Funny thing is, we just sprayed for the little buggers last week because our backyard had an infestation.....did the trick......now we find that unfortunate. What else can we feed him/her? We believe he/she is full grown. It is about the size of the palm of my hand.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Eva and Brian

In my opinion, the best bet is to take it out to an area of wilderness and let it go. I'm sure thats not what you wanted to hear. But putting it in with a garter snake is ill advised as whether it would or wouldn't eat it, there would be a heavy stress factor being subjected like that over a period of time. ALso if you should read down the posts on this sight the horned lizards main diet is ants. Usually big red ants. Because the care and husbandry for these animals is not for novice's and even people who have had many different species of lizards sucessfully have had major problems in keeping these lizards. There is a place where you can buy ants but your talking $10.00 a pop for 500 and it's not uncomon for them to eat 50 to 200 in a setting depending on the animal. So that would be a big committment. Then you would also need a uvb/uva bulb which given the different types or manufacturerers will run you around 30 to 50 dollars, then you'll need a basking bulb which is usually around 12 dollars and a light fixture for the uva/uvb bulb whioch is about 12 to 20 dollars at home depot. You also need a bulb holder for the basking bulb which is about 8 to 12 dollars depending on the one you purchase. You didn't say where you live or what specie, but at a minimum you should have a 20 long glass reptile cage and thats about 50 dollars, plus the reptile sand for it. YOu'll need to set up the cage so the abmient tempreture is somewhere around 85 degrees on the cold side and up to 100 or 110 depending pon the specie. So this is just the "get started scenerio" which unless I interpreted you question incorrect, you seem to not be at the point where this would be a healthy project to induce to this little horned lizard. I would suggest that you do some reading up on them and there care read this site as well and maybe first try some other lizard and keep them for a period of time first. Tackling a horned lizard in captivity is not an easy job. It takes a big expense as far as feeding and investment for the correct cage arrangement. There are many people that try and feed their horned lizards a regimum of non ant food such as crickets, mealworms, and wax worms and superworms, and horned lizards are opportunisic and will eat other insects and probably do, but scat anylsis of horned lizard poop is 90 percent ot more ants, therefore most of those that have been sucessfeul at keeping horned lizards must have a committment to providing ants. THis is a generality here and not specific because I don't have enough information from you, but I feel that that this little guy would do best if you let him go, and it was very admirable that you have rescued him. I hope you won't be offended at my answer, others may have more to add--but unless you are experienced in raising lizards specifically, I would opt for setting him free. Thanks and let me know................................

Something went wrong with my computer and I thought the posts were not going trough, so I ended up with three of the same posts, forgive me as one was more than sufficient. Thanks!!!

Hi Reptoman,

Thanks for the opinion and the advice. I'm sorry that I didn't really have the time to go into this completely yesterday. My hubby has been dealing with these animals all his life, it was just me that had the questions (except the one about the garter snake and the lizard together - that was a combo question from both of us). Brian already has the extra tank (which the lizard is in at this time) with the bulbs and everything. He seems to be quite happy in there. We happen to have big black ants in the back yard that are leaf-cutters (harvesters). We caught about 50 of them in a little container overnight and put them in there with him/her this morning. He/she seemed quite happy with that. Don't know if he has become a permanent member of the family or not but I won't complain too loudly if he is. We live in Phoenix Arizona so I did some research last night and it seems that he is the Regal variation of the Horned Lizard. I told my hubby we will try it for a couple of days, but if I don't think it's going well, I want to call the botanical gardens in downtown Phoenix and find out if they will take him/her. I know you would think, just take it to a natural area and drop it off, but Phoenix is an area of high growth. It is a shame but there are not many place that we could take him/her and just drop it off. We are too afraid that he/she will be right back in the same situation he/she was yesterday - in the middle of a very busy intersection thinking that because he/she is laying flat, no one can see him/her and will leave him/her alone. That tactic is not going to get him/her left alone, it is going to get him/her squished. And as much as I really don't warm up to these creatures, I can't stand to see something like that happen to ANY animal - except maybe a rattler, those are just yucky! lol
Like I said, I don't know if he is a perm addition, but I will let hubby try for a couple of days. He/she seems happy and comfortable for now.
Again, thanks for the advice!
Eva

I'm glad you responded, the regal is a very nice horned lizard. You might get a large potatoe spoon and lightly dig a small hole in front of the ants entrance and as they come out they will go into the hole and you can scoop them up into the container you have. Having friends in Phoenix I'm aware of how spred out it is, but my best suggestion about letting it go would be to take a drive outside the city limits and let it go there. I'm not sure the botonical gardens would have the right stuff for this little guy to survive. I hope your all successful, along with the ants you might get small super worms and once a week give him one or two or wax worms or catch an occassional moth by your porch light and feed that to him/her. If you were to post the underside of the animal some of the readers would be able to sex the little critter. ONe of the most important things is tempreture, hopefully you have that basking spot and high enough temps in the cage to keep him feeding well, and then of course the UVB/UVA bulb which they need as well. Also a lot of people use home depot play sand for substrate as these guys burry themselves so you need somewhat fine sand for him to burry in. Good luck and if you have any other questions let us know, I appologize for the multiple posts, that was my computer messing up. Thanks!!!

In my opinion, the best bet is to take it out to an area of wilderness and let it go. I'm sure thats not what you wanted to hear. But putting it in with a garter snake is ill advised as whether it would or wouldn't eat it, there would be a heavy stress factor being subjected like that over a period of time. ALso if you should read down the posts on this sight the horned lizards main diet is ants. Usually big red ants. Because the care and husbandry for these animals is not for novice's and even people who have had many different species of lizards sucessfully have had major problems in keeping these lizards. There is a place where you can buy ants but your talking $10.00 a pop for 500 and it's not uncomon for them to eat 50 to 200 in a setting depending on the animal. So that would be a big committment. Then you would also need a uvb/uva bulb which given the different types or manufacturerers will run you around 30 to 50 dollars, then you'll need a basking bulb which is usually around 12 dollars and a light fixture for the uva/uvb bulb whioch is about 12 to 20 dollars at home depot. You also need a bulb holder for the basking bulb which is about 8 to 12 dollars depending on the one you purchase. You didn't say where you live or what specie, but at a minimum you should have a 20 long glass reptile cage and thats about 50 dollars, plus the reptile sand for it. YOu'll need to set up the cage so the abmient tempreture is somewhere around 85 degrees on the cold side and up to 100 or 110 depending pon the specie. So this is just the "get started scenerio" which unless I interpreted you question incorrect, you seem to not be at the point where this would be a healthy project to induce to this little horned lizard. I would suggest that you do some reading up on them and there care read this site as well and maybe first try some other lizard and keep them for a period of time first. Tackling a horned lizard in captivity is not an easy job. It takes a big expense as far as feeding and investment for the correct cage arrangement. There are many people that try and feed their horned lizards a regimum of non ant food such as crickets, mealworms, and wax worms and superworms, and horned lizards are opportunisic and will eat other insects and probably do, but scat anylsis of horned lizard poop is 90 percent ot more ants, therefore most of those that have been sucessfeul at keeping horned lizards must have a committment to providing ants. THis is a generality here and not specific because I don't have enough information from you, but I feel that that this little guy would do best if you let him go, and it was very admirable that you have rescued him. I hope you won't be offended at my answer, others may have more to add--but unless you are experienced in raising lizards specifically, I would opt for setting him free. Thanks and let me know................................

In my opinion, the best bet is to take it out to an area of wilderness and let it go. I'm sure thats not what you wanted to hear. But putting it in with a garter snake is ill advised as whether it would or wouldn't eat it, there would be a heavy stress factor being subjected like that over a period of time. ALso if you should read down the posts on this sight the horned lizards main diet is ants. Usually big red ants. Because the care and husbandry for these animals is not for novice's and even people who have had many different species of lizards sucessfully have had major problems in keeping these lizards. There is a place where you can buy ants but your talking $10.00 a pop for 500 and it's not uncomon for them to eat 50 to 200 in a setting depending on the animal. So that would be a big committment. Then you would also need a uvb/uva bulb which given the different types or manufacturerers will run you around 30 to 50 dollars, then you'll need a basking bulb which is usually around 12 dollars and a light fixture for the uva/uvb bulb whioch is about 12 to 20 dollars at home depot. You also need a bulb holder for the basking bulb which is about 8 to 12 dollars depending on the one you purchase. You didn't say where you live or what specie, but at a minimum you should have a 20 long glass reptile cage and thats about 50 dollars, plus the reptile sand for it. YOu'll need to set up the cage so the abmient tempreture is somewhere around 85 degrees on the cold side and up to 100 or 110 depending pon the specie. So this is just the "get started scenerio" which unless I interpreted you question incorrect, you seem to not be at the point where this would be a healthy project to induce to this little horned lizard. I would suggest that you do some reading up on them and there care read this site as well and maybe first try some other lizard and keep them for a period of time first. Tackling a horned lizard in captivity is not an easy job. It takes a big expense as far as feeding and investment for the correct cage arrangement. There are many people that try and feed their horned lizards a regimum of non ant food such as crickets, mealworms, and wax worms and superworms, and horned lizards are opportunisic and will eat other insects and probably do, but scat anylsis of horned lizard poop is 90 percent ot more ants, therefore most of those that have been sucessfeul at keeping horned lizards must have a committment to providing ants. THis is a generality here and not specific because I don't have enough information from you, but I feel that that this little guy would do best if you let him go, and it was very admirable that you have rescued him. I hope you won't be offended at my answer, others may have more to add--but unless you are experienced in raising lizards specifically, I would opt for setting him free. Thanks and let me know................................