Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't have a horned lizard but they seem to be on my mind alot at this point in time. What I was wondering is if I had one and decided to created a natural habitat of ants in it's inclosure, how hard would that be. Has anyone tried keeping ants!!? I know it would be hard to set up a tank that was capible of holding them in and being usable to care for the lizard but as it's likely a dream, not my concern yet. I've seen an ant farm befor so I figure it's not to hard to keep them. Would their be any problems with the ants living in close captivity with them, like eatting to much or the ants revolting against the lizard somehow? Don't think I'm crazzy or something, I'm defititly not jumping into some dream. It's just with the way I see my life going in the future I know I could take good care of and probably bread a few horned lizards to contribute to the good cause of preserving them in this world. I also know that it's most likly a dream. As I live in canada I doubt it's even leagal to get them here and I won't have the money or time for quite a while. So if it ever happens, it's way down the road.
Back to the ants maby I'll start with them. I think they'd be even harder to find in canada as insect importation is illegal. Are their certin specice of ants that are needed?
Well thanks for indulging my curriousity if you do.
Josh

It seems everyone who gets into HL's has this idea in one form or another. I have collected a lot of ants and fed a lot of horned lizards and it's my experience that one ant nest is not going to feed any number of HL's for very long. They get depleted pretty quickly.
In addition, you'd need a fairly large enclosure, probably outdoors, to give the HL's enough space to get away from an angry mob of ants. When feeding you have to be careful not to put in too many as they can get into a stinging frenzy.
But these are good thoughts and you are wise to give it all good consideration before making the attempt.
There are quite a few knowledgeable folks here and the group can answer most questions that arise.
Good luck in the future with your endeavors.
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Phrynosoma.Com

Thanks,
I was a little worried about the mob thing. No out door inclosure in canada I'd think. Geese, I realy have alot of respect for you all. I read that they were hard to keep fed well but you must order ant farms then every time! I have a uromastyx in my care at the moment. I adopted her from a friend leaving for school. Her names Annabella so you can wish her good luck as Ive had her for a while now and she's still stressed/depressed a little. I plan on making a pretty nice set up for her during the winter. I made shure to find a forum as soon as I got her cause practical aplication is always better convaied by people in my oppinion. I think I must be slowly getting adicted though cause I'm starting to look around at the other forums now.
Back to HL's, does any one know if it's leagal to bring them to Canada? I've only seen them in documentaries befor, never in real life.

If they are a species that is legal to sell from here, then there should be a way to import them. You'd want to check with your equivilent of the fish and game department.
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Phrynosoma.Com

YOu might go to the web-site Phrynosma.com which both Cable and I and others are a part of. YOu can get an overview and also realize the amount of expenditure your going to get into if you do horned lizards. After reading the information on the site and getting educated I would then and only then consider keeping horned lizards. They are not easy to keep, and some novices have good luck with them, but feeding them ants and the lighting and other expenditures are a very importatnt consideration before you purchase. There are many horned lizards dying after three months from people that are I'll informed as to how to take care of them and lose interest and are not committed. It does take a commitment.Cheers! (: