Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a HL from the petstore last week and was told it had been raised on crickets. I got harvester ants after having read the info on several websites. I don't want to overwhelm it since they sting but don't know how many a juvenile should be eating. It has a SV length of about 2.5 inches. Any suggestions for how many it should be eating?

Hi there,
for an HL as large as you say, 40-80 ants a day should be no problem for it. Granted, you will need to put a few in at a time. No more than ten depending on the size of your enclosure. I would be prepared to feed it 80, but watch how many they average at. I assume you have a Desert Horned Lizard, and thus my advice comes from my own experience with that species. Hope this helps.

-Phil

Thanks for the advice. I think perhaps I haven't been feeding him/her enough (I've been supplementing with small mealworms). I was told it was a Desert Horned Lizard at the pet shop...whether or not that is reliable is another thing entirely.