Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First, thanks for the new information on watering HLs. I've been only able to get mine to take warm showers with a spray bottle. She (we guess she is a female) won't drink water from droppers, or dishes of water, and we were beginning to worry.

So, the question I now have has to do with hibernation. Last winter was the first winter we had "Spikey", and she did not hibernate. This year her eating really readuced back in Oct./Nov., and she began spending more and more time underground. At first she just slept in late - until the late afternoon. Then there were intermittent streaches of days where she doesn't come out at all. On the occasions that she does come out, she won't take any of the ants we offer her. She does seem to relish the warm showers tho. Then last week she went into total digger mode creating a small underground burrow which she hadn't done before. Since then, about a week ago, she's been underground, submerged in the "sand". Does this sound like healthy hibernating behaviors? Does the watering we've been doing sound ok? Thanks for any advice you can give. Chris

As a follow up, my wife just called to tell me that "Spikey" is out and about this afternoon after being underground for 4-5 days now. If she is hibernating, should we even try to feed her when she does this? When she comes out like this, we've been giving her warm water spray showers because she really seems to like that and I know it's important to keep them hydrated. My wife is going to give her the shower this afternoon, but we aren't sure about food (given the posts that say to kind of let them fast before hibernating). Thanks for all your help. Chris

Chris, sounds like fairly normal pre hibernation behavior. A couple things would help in youre case, first off - what kind of HL do you have? And second- where do you live? It seems to me that the when the overnight temps drop dramatically, my HL's tend to stay down later than usual and sometimes not come up at all for a few days at a time. This past week in So Cal the temps at night were in the lower 40's and sometimes dipping down to the upper 30's. Most of my Hl's, during that cold spell, stayed down most of the day and refused food even when they did came up. Hatchlings will sometimes not hibernate at all the first year.

The type of HL you have might also play a part in this. Example: higher elevation animals generally hibernate sooner than lower elevation animals.

Sounds like your hydration method is working just fine. I usually spray my HL's down once every 3-5 days. You can do it more often if the lizard will permit it.
Hope this helps.
Ryan

I hope the photos upload correctly. If not, they are in the photo gallery. We live in So Cal also, so temps outside are also low 40's at nights. Inside, where we have Spikey, not so cold. We do not know what kind of HL Spikey is. Hopefully, the photos will help identify the species. When she is spending time undergound so much, should we still be making a concerted effort to get her to eat when she decides to come up on the surface? Also, I noticed on another post advising not to use the crushed walnut shell stuff for the terrarium. I think that is what we have in there. Could anyone tell me why this is not good? It seems like she should be able to breath air better than with the play sand since the material is more coarse and hence air can move more freely. The first picture is a picture when I first found Spikey (about a year ago). The second picture is more recent, and shows her in her current terrarium.

Thanks for all your help. Chris

Chris, first off you have a very nice looking lizard. Looks to me to be a Desert Horned Lizard or phrynosoma platyrhinos. If you can get a decent close up shot of the underside of your lizard, the vent to be exact, we can tell you the sex. Generally males have two enlarged scales just below the ventral opening.

About your substrate. I could see a few potential problems with crushed walnut shell for HL's. The first being problems digesting small amounts consumed during feeding. Second, actual sand has calcium in it that lizards will sometimes lick to suppliment their calcium needs. (that's what I think anyways) Third, I would think that although walnut shell is crushed into bigger grain than sand, it lacks the density to retain heat like sand does. Besides, why not try and emmulate their environment as much as possible? Sand is VERY inexpensive and gives a nice natural look to your terrarium. Of course you have had good success with your lizard so far, you might not want to change a thing. I myself just recently switched all my snake terrariums to crushed walnut, but never feed them on it. It is very easy to clean and it looks decent as well.

Where did you catch your lizard at and where in CA do you live?
Keep up the good work!
Peace,
Ryan

Spikey came from 29 Palms. Actually, she was caught on a target impact range by some Army soldiers. I didn't catch her myself, but I traded her for a 6-pack of Gatorade - worth quite a bit in August out in the middle of the desert. Definitely, she is in a safer place now. We live in Oceanside California.

As for the walnut shells, the reason I started with that stuff was that is what they sold at the local pet store. On the front of the package, it even has a picture that looks like a horned lizard. Given this, I figured that it must be ok. I keep two terrariums of ants for Spikey's food, and those have the play sand. I don't think the walnut shell stuff would work for the ants because they need to build tunnels. The play sand is much heavier, and it would be more difficult to clean out the terrarium the way I do. Usually, I can carry the terrarium outside and dump all the contents. Because of the size, I wouldn't be able to do that if the terrarium was filled with play sand.

As for gender, I tried to take pictures of Spikey's underside, but my automatic camera keeps overexposing the picture. I'll have to figure out how to use that thing one of these days. I don't think there are really any scales down there underneath.

Chris