Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

I'm curious about alternate/optimized diets for captive HLs. This in part driven by a desire to find a way to reduce my dependence on mail-order ants, but also to determine if there isn't a healthy diet, with a lower ant content, on which HLs might thrive, which would seem a logical first step to successful large-scale keeping/breeding of HLs away from their regions of origin. Also, with loss of ant species that are the usual wild food for HLs (as discussed in the article posted by Cable_Hogue...thanks), it may become difficult to supply captive populations even in areas where they are native with their "natural" diet. Has anyone tinkered much with the diet of their HLs, and if so, have you found any reduced-ant diets that seem to work?

Hi Gary,
Two long term keepers and breeders of horned lizards have kept many species healthy with small mealworms(both worms and adults)
grasshoppers and crickets (although crickets may pass diseases), with ants making up only a small portion of the diet. Jeff

I'd like to know the details, such as what species?, how long of a time frame?, were they successful in propagating HL with that diet?.........facinating.

Wade Scherbrooke raised solare young exclusively on small crickets.
herp. review 18(1)

Richard Montanucci has bred and raised ditmarsi,hernandezi and douglasi with detailed descriptions on how.
international zoo yearbook 23
bulletin of chicago herptology 24(12)
zoo biology 8

Bertrand Baur has bred asio, platyrhinos, coronatum, coronutm, modestum, ditmarsi, and orbiculare.
The book Krotenechsen(the best phrynosoma book, although it's written in German) written by Baur and Montanucci has numerous color photos of breeding, eggs, and young.

The German text is beyond my capability, but I will read the other referances.
Thanks
Winston