Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay. I did something bad. I bought a collared lizard before reading up on their care. I have a beardie which I did meticulous research before hand and the same with my crested gecko but unfortunately I saw this little guy fell in love and he went home with me. Now I am trying to back track and I feel bad.
He is a baby and is in a 20 gallon long with a 5.0 Reptisun and a basking light.
I live in San Diego so I am hoping the temperature here is good for him.
He is captive bred but I was told that I could keep him in a 20g long for life, but I think that is too small so I plan to give him at least a 40g as an adult.
I am feeding him crickets but I also bought some meal worms. I don't know if he is too small yet for mealworms. How many crickets should I be feeding him?
Another thing is I was told it was okay to put him on this sani-chip bedding which is like a pressed wood shavings, do I have to worry about impaction? I think I am going out to get some playsand today. I keep my beardie on newspaper but I think I am going to switch him also.
I am having a hard time find caresheets on them and if anyone can give me some good sites or just some good advice it would be greatly appreciated. He was fairly calm sitting in my hand at the store now he is a madman or woman. heheh.. He keeps jumping around.
Do you soak your lizard like I do with my beardie?
I am excited to learn all I can about them.
Shame on me for not reading up before I bought him but I am doing what I can to rectify that.

Congratulations on your new baby , they are awesome lil lizards, active, tame if handled, and beautifully colored.

A 20 long tank is good right now, but your right as he grows bigger is better, these guys love to run and jump.

Temps should be 100 - 105 (110 is acceptable in late afternoon) although mine usually rest for awhile then. The rest of tank should be in the high 80's to 90. These guys like it Hot.

A big yes on the crickets, young collareds can eat a few times a day, as many as they want usually a few and then they stop until later

They can have mealies, I even feed my small collareds that are about 3 months old superworms, they are fine. A month old collared can nail an adult cricket.

They also eat butter worms, waxies, small spiders, moths, grasshoppers.

Water should be available always, shallow saucer. If yours does not drink from the bowl you can try an eyedropper, drip on his nose and he should lick it, then continue to lick from dropper......

OR you can use a paper cup with a pin hole fill with water, sit on top of screen and let it drip down into tank on a rock and he can lick the puddle.

Remember just like with your beardie to dust your bugs.
As far as substrate I use washed playsand from home depot, depending how young he is, if really tiny use paper towels.

Here is a site you can do some reading, its a forum buddies site , Will Wells.
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http://www.mountainboomer.com/crotaphytus/
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Glad your here, some really nice collareds here, oh the people are pretty COOL too, great bunch,

Sure hope ya stick around and show us all your new friend.
My scaley kids & sexing collareds page

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PHEve / Eve

How many crickets do they usually eat? I am just asking so that I can gauge if he is eating enough.

couple times a day. May vary, 2-3 sometimes, depends on how hungrry he is , just put a couple in at a time and see , do it a couple times a day.

You will begin to know about how many he will take each time.

As hes older some eat every other day. I always offer food everyday even to my adults.

But young collareds should be offered food 2 to 3 times a day while they are growing in my opinion.
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PHEve / Eve

when i bought my first reptile i did the same thing. i was actually looking for a fish but the guy told me lizards were easier to take care of, sat walter the first on me and the rest is history!
how small is he? paper towels might be good at first? what do the rest of you on the forum think? but i do use playsand for all my adults. i have never had a baby and dang it i am going to get one this next breeding season (all my eggs died last year!)
your lights sound good, eve told you about the heat and you seem to be feeding him ok. i soak mine once a month because they are pretty good about drinking. i also dampen the sand on one side of their favorite sleep spots and they will fairly often burrow into it.
i also live in san diego and the weather here is awesome for them. they actually live in the wild not too far from here and i want to go see them this summer. i have a little reptile room and it is never cold in my apartment so i let them live in all screen cages but that is up for debate with some people but i think it is warm enough to do it in san diego.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

He is about 5 inches snout to tail. I have already put sand in his tank so I hope it is okay.

You would think I would have learned my lesson about buying on impulse after I had bought a sulcata hatchling. Of course I was told that they would only be 6 inches full grown. hehe...

All my other pets were bought after thorough research. I have two southern painted turtles, one bearded dragon, a crested gecko, a 60gallon reef tank, and two dogs.

I hope to get a hardwickii uromastyx, a frilled dragon, a herman's tortoise, and a gargoyle gecko.

It's a pretty ambitious list and we'll see, but I can always dream.

You want to talk dreams? I've wanted a caimen for like the past five years. I've researched the hell out of them and held off not because of size or temperment, but because I know I can't afford to take care of one at this time. Maybe someday!

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