Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dog (don't laugh too hard. that's what the husband wanted to name it) seems to be doing well. He pops up and looks at us whenever we come through the room. He ate his cricket Sunday and then ate a good mag=jority of the ants that I harvested and placed in the aquarium. There were about 10 or 15 left but they were gone this morning. I guess the cricket on Sunday filled him up, so he didn't need to eat as many ants. There's still some left in the fridge. All the beds in the yard are the same type of ants so I'll rotate around so I don't aggrevate them too much and make them move. Also, I'll be gone 4 days next week. I can feed him when I leave on Thursday but will he be okay until I get back Sunday? Or, will I need to dump a few extra ants or a cricket?

If he's in good shape the four days won't hurt, but don't put in ants, just feed him real good, and then if I was going to leave anything, I would put in a a couple small crickets, I am assuming they are 1/4" size? Not full grown? As crickets will also bite lizards. How many ants is he eating at one time? The others have worked with you on this so I'll back out and they will answer and know your situation, I don't want to start asking questions that have already been answered.
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Phrynosoma.com

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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]

The crickets are babies. None are more than 1/4" long. They didn't cost much. I got them at Petsmart.

I lost count of how many ants he actually ate. I watched him eat a couple and then walked away for awhile. From the number I dumped in ratio to what was left crawling around, I'd say about 20 or 25.

I appreciate all the help. As you can tell, my father raised a Tomboy. I've had all sorts of pets and been exposed to all sorts of creepy crawlies. When I was younger, Dad used to make the Hognoses passing through the yard go through their paces for us. Once he wanted to see how long the snake would play dead, so he draped him on a fence. We watched from the window. That snake stayed frozen for almost an hour.

hey, no problem here Lou. you just gave the best advise that could be given. same thing I was going to say. we're all in this together.

I will just add for emphasis, that if you think one cricket is enough to fill him up, that cricket is way too big! I will have to stress the content once again of my previous posts...use pet store quality crickets, and the smallest, smallest, smallest available. this is very important. crickets have a high amount of indigestible chitin. the larger or older the cricket, the harder the exoskeleton. wild crickets usually have a harder exoskeleton as well. these large crickets and hard exoskeletons can cause impactions, which is a digestive system blockage. it can be, and is sometimes, fatal. especially if you are new to reptiles and do not know what to look for in symptoms, or do not know how to treat it. they must also be clean as they are known to be filthy in numbers and can cause disease in horned lizards when they aren't kept clean.

I say this because when you are new to reptiles, and horned lizards in particular, one seemingly innocent mistake or a string of things the layman wouldn't think of as a problem, may be all it takes to kill the lizard. that would be sad and I wouldn't want that to happen.
as an example in relation to the ants I spoke of before; according to one of the foremost experts in the field of horned lizard study, Richard Montanucci, the "lawn ant" or "Iridomyrmex pruinosus ( now know as Forelius pruinosus ) emits a defensive chemical (methyl-n-amyl ketone; see Blum et al., 1963) that has toxic effects on young horned lizards. This ant does not have a sting, but releases its chemical aerosol when disturbed or eaten. Among a litter of 15 two-day-old P. douglassii ornatum to which I unknowingly fed these ants, five neonates thrashed violently, tried to disgorge the ants,and then died within 20 minutes. The remaining ten also went into convulsions, but eventually recovered."

even experts muck up sometimes. this is an alarm pheromone that is released and the odor of crushed specimens resembles a fruity or rotten coconut smell. I will post links and more on this species under the ants string below.

I have a 2 plus years experience feeding large numbers of crickets to horned lizards, when most people use ants almost exclusively instead. so I know what I'm talking about when it comes to using crickets. I don't recommend them being used as a majority of the diet in any way, if you are new to horned lizards and harvester ants are at all available. if you do use them they should be not much bigger than a harvester ant, and nice and squishy. vitamin and mineral supplementation is also necessary when using crickets on a regular basis. I think over the last 2 to 2 1/2 years I was able to demonstrate that it is possible to sustain a healthy horned lizard on crickets, but harvester ants are unquestionably better for them and require less attention to the lizard and manipulation of circumstance to keep the lizard healthy.

additionally, when you provide ants, especially harvesters or other types that sting, you should only give a few at a time. any more than that and they may turn aggressive toward the lizard, or the mere fact that the lizard feels surrounded by them in an aquarium will cause him to stress out and start climbing the walls. as was also stated before, do not leave any in with him if you will be gone. a dozen small crickets though wouldn't hurt him.

Mick

Before you leave you should consider leaving him with no light/heat source for the duration of the vacation. This will slow down his metabolism and reduce his need for food. He'll just sleep most of the time and should be none the worse for wear when you get home and crank everything back up.
Cheers!
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www.phrynosoma.com

That sounds good. He'll get a small vacation too.