Reptile & Amphibian Forums

during my teenage years i was quite the young herpetologist. though after i moved to arizona in 1998 i fell out of the hobby. but last weekend i went camping on the mogollon rim in arizona. while i was there i found a beautiful horned lizard. and several babies in fact! and while i let all the horned lizard babies go, i did keep the one adult. bringing this beautiful lizard home last weekend has really rejuvenated my interest. and while i knew all about horned lizards, i had in fact never seen a live one until the camping trip. i now keep big ass stinging ants as pets as well. for lizard food. and they are amazing pets in and of temselves. but yesterday the real magic happened... she gave birth!

she wasn't fat, she was pregnant!! 14 born, 7 making it through the first hour. the 7 remaining ones are healthy, active, and eating. mom as well has a new found appetite... eating 50 ants, 6 meal worms, and 4 crickets today alone. lizards giveing birth to live young... i love it!! they are too cute!

Now THOSE are some nice Short Horns!

I have read those are one of the more difficult species to maintain, but it seems like you have everything in hand. Congrats. =) You oughta document their husbandry, so you can share it with the rest of us jealous HL folks. If I may offer some advice, babies dehydrate, and starve a lot faster than adults, so keep on top of them. Seperate them if you have to.
Also if you have any other questions, check out www.phrynosoma.com It can help you with your husbandry needs. Again, congrats, and good luck with your new HL friends.

regards,
-Phil

Congratulations! Those babies are so cute!! lol.

Good luck with them!

Thanks,
Andrew

the babies seem to be doing well. active and eating. i've been feeding them termites, fruit flys, pinhead crickets, and these small black ants i catch in my back yard. i'm not sure of the ant species, but i live in phoenix arizona, and their sting doesn't cause much pain, but rather an itchy bump. like a mosquito bite. the mother has been eating western harvester ants, crickets, and meal worms.

i have a mecury vapor bulb coming in the mail within the next couple days, but thus far they've been stuck with just a UVA incandescent. i've been taking them outside in the morning for sunlight about 30-45 minutes at a time. though i get worried doing this though because it's so damn hot here, even early. is going a few days with out much UVB harming them?

the mom has been eating about 30-50+ ants, 3-6 meal worms, and 2-4 crickets daily. though today for some reason, she refused all food. usually before i feed her, i let her bask in the back yard and get some real sun, which usually warms her up and then she chows down. today was no different but she didn't seem interested in food. but otherwise, seemed to be acting normal. do they skip food at time? how worried should i be?

also, what's the reason they head-bob so much? just saying hello to eachother?

the babies:

Giving them a little sun every day like you are is great. As long as they don't get too hot. They should be able to get out of the sun if they like. If you are putting them out in an aquarium be very careful. This can heat up rather quickly and cook them.
I wouldn't worry too much about the female unless she won't eat for more than a couple of days.
Let us know how things are going.
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Phrynosoma.Com

well the mother ate a single ant this morning and one cricket after work. the few days i had her before she gave birth she also ate like this, just a bug or two a day. when i found her camping, i hiked around with her in my open palm. and when i would see a carpenter ant running down a log, i would hold her up next to it's path, and she would snap it up. the fact that she was eating while sitting in my hand was half the reason i decided to bring her home. do they eat in cycles? am i just being paranoid?

the babies on the other hand are still eating like champs. they seem to enjoy termites the most, they go crazy for them. they like the pinhead crickets and fruit-flys a lot as well. oddly enough, they seem to take least favor in the small black ants. while they do eat the ants, they much more activly hunt the termites and crickets. i have been collecting the termites from a piece of wood i brought home from the campsite. but soon i'll be out of their favorite food. doh!

pregnant short-horn lizard, last view for several carpenter ants:

mom got her appitite back today. a couple of the babies ate small harvester ants today for the first time as well. could the ant's sting hurt the babies? how immune are horned lizards to the ant's sting anyway? sometimes after eating a harvester ant, the mom will wiggle, shut her eyes, and open her mouth for a second. it looks a lot like something i'd do if i just got stung in the mouth.

Good to hear they are all eating. I believe the response you are seeing is part of their swallowing mechanism.
Here is a link to a venom study that sheds a little light.

http://ufbir.ifas.ufl.edu/chap23.htm
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Phrynosoma.Com