Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 of these guys. the bigger one is bright redish orange and the smaller one is a darker grey wit some orange. they both have been eatting like pigs. they love these red ants i catch in my front yard. they seem to like it where they r at. they r really active and love to sun bath on the rock thats under the heat lamp. right now i have them in a small 10 gallon tank and yes i feel bad but in the next couple days im lookin for a 25 gallon. im sure what would be the best size for these 2 so any help would be great. i took these pics to c if anyone can help me determin the sex of them. if not how would i be able to find out.thanx
Joey

Hey Joey,

Its Phil, did you nail these guys recently? The top one is most definately a male. You can tell because of his tail region. Obvious hemipenal bulges at the base of the tail, what look to be a pair of enlarged post-anal scales just beyond the vent, and enlarged femoral pores along the bottom of his back legs. The bottom one I can't tell so well, but I tend to think female, simply because the vent area doesn't appear to be bulging as in your other specimen. Someone else chime in here, to correct me if I'm wrong. You'll want something bigger than a 25 gallon dude. HLs stress really easily, which can make them go on hunger strike, or worse. 40 gallons is considered the minimum by most keepers. As always, larger is better. They need good basking lights, but for where we live, I'd look into keeping them outside year 'round. Sunlight is the best light source of all. Red ants (Pogonamyrmex californicus)are good food for them, and so are the large black ants (pogonamyrmex rugosus) that are around. so basically thats it. check out www.Phrynosoma.com for more detailed care on Desert horned Lizards. Where'd you get them by the way? I want to get out next time you guys go, so let me know brother.

-Phil

ya luke and i got these guys the day we asked u if u wanted to go. Thanx for the info on the tank size. i do have a 40 gallon tank wit my lil milk snake in it. im thinkin about switchin them cuz i know the lil milk can live fine the 10 gallon. i know hte 10 is to small but i figured a 25 would be ok but i was wrong. im glad there eattin like pigs and not stressed to the point to where they wont eat. we r thinkin about goin out tonight for a few but we will diff let u know the next time we go out. we should plan a whole day trip some time soon. maybe u can come over some day and check out our collection. well talk to u soon bro.
Joey

They look like a couple of males to me, but like Phil says, that second pic makes it hard to say for sure. Check the post anal scales and that should tell you for sure.
Nice DHL's! Glad you're willing to set them up and feed them properly.
Cheers!
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www.phrynosoma.com

sorry for the bad 2ed pic i took a better one today. hope this helps. thanks so much for all the info. im am puttin them in a 40gallon tank in a couple days.

That's about as male as you can get. Thanks for posting the pics.
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www.phrynosoma.com