Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My DHL has been sleeping a lot. it seems he does not come out during the day, but when my husband gets up at 4:30 a.m., my DHL is up. Is something wrong with him.
He is in a 20" long tank. He has a heat light and a repti glo 8.0. He has sand for substrate, a cave, and a water dish. He eats red harvester ants, however, the last few days he runs from them, but finally eats them. Even if I put in one at a time, he still runs from them. Any help would be appreciated. I have had him for 3 months now. I bought him at a reptile show. He has shed once.

Are you feeding him at an off hour? His internal clock could be confused after being taken from the wild into an indoor environment. Temps could be too low as well, or he could have a nutritional or other health issue. Most wild caught HLs end up being in poor shape by the time they are sold from what I have seen.

Put the ants in the fridge to hibernate them. Then put them a few at a time in the tank with him. As they begin to wake and stir he should get interested. A harvester ant moving about quickly in an enclosed space can spook a HL.
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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246

It is 12:20 P.M. and he is up. He got up around 10:45 p.m.
I try to feed him after he has been up at least an hour. The person I bought him from said he had him for 6 months. I am not sure if he was truthful however. Eragon (DHL) just started this behavior after I fed him western harvester ants instead of red harvester. Ants alive took 10 days to ship them so I had to get them elsewhere and they did not have the red ants. Could the different type of ants cause this?

Is there any way to get him back on schedule?

Ants alive took 2 weeks for me too....they used to ship same day.

Harvester ants, the primary prey item for HLs, are not just red ants. The genus Pogonomyrmex or harvester ant, are also dark brown/black. There are several harvester ant genus that horned lizards eat. Pogonomyrmex is just one genus. There are also Messor, Myrmycocystus and numerous others. There are a minimum of 17 different genus of ants that horned lizards eat and are beneficial. You might want to try and find local supplies of ants that are available in you area and collect small supplies and test you HLs reactions to these ants. Refrigeration is an excellent way to maintain the ants and offer only a few ants at a time. In captivity, the HLs are confined and react/stress easily.

Lester G. Milroy III
Conservation Biologist