Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how often and what quantity would you feed an adult pair of Horned Lizards, i am under the impression that they eat high volumes of ants in the wild, so i am wondering what you need to do to give the equivilent in crickets

thanks
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Positive Thoughts Equal Positive Results

You have a lot more reading ahead of you, or stay away from HLs if you can't provide ants. You can't give an "eqivalent" in crickets unless you have a short horned species. This is not a genra that often lends itself to much successful playing around with boundaries.

They live in the southwest amongst harvester ants for a reason. They are virtually non-existent now in areas where harvester ants have also disappeared in the last 30 years...yet other species of ant and lizard remain. Only the harvester ants and then Horned Lizards disappeared. Why is that?

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Well for the desert Horned Lizards ( which i believe are the short horned species)i read that crickets are an acceptable food item, i am just curious what amount would make up for the absence of ants, i can always order ants, that isnt a big deal, but i was curious about the cricekts. what about suplimenting with phoenix worms and butter worms?
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Positive Thoughts Equal Positive Results

No, the DHL is not a short horned species. That's why I said do some more reading before getting one. Yes, you can use some small ( 1/8"-1/4" ) crickets with them ( adults ) to supplement, but not to "replace" ants. DHLs actually eat more ants in the wild than a lot of other species do. My DHLs get about a dozen small crickets each a week, spread out; and a waxworm or two about every 2 weeks. Daily though, they get several dozen large P. barbatus harvester ants.

Phoenix worms or Butter worms are ok "occasionally" too. But much less frequently even than crickets. I would advise you to stay away from mealworms if possible, or use only small ones, freshly shed if possible. Mealworms are the least nutritious of all mentioned and most likely to cause impaction. None of these worms mentioned are actually "worms" anyway. They are larvae, and larvae are not usually that healthy, even if one is better than the other. Some small or diced up earthworm would be even better, but messy and you have to keep them on a dish, out of the substrate.

You can use a lot of things to supplement, as long as that is what you are doing. I have been down that road of trying to use something other than ants, and others have too, including Wade Sherbrooke. It usually doesn't work out so well for the lizard and I don't advise it. They should have a lot of ants primarily.
DHLs love honeypot ants as well as harvester ants.

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freewebs.com/wichitafallsreptilerescue

groups.yahoo.com/group/HornedLizards