Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I rescued these two Collared Lizards from a friend of mine who clearly could not maintain these animals. I think these are Eastern Collareds and I believe that the "greener" one is a male. I can't be sure the other is a female, although I believe that it is. Notice the Orange dots/bars on her side... is she Gravid? I do not see any visible eggs. It's my understanding that hatchlings/juveniles all take their mothers colorings in order to prevent attacks from larger males. Are these two juveniles? Is it a male and a female? They will be going into a HUGE terrarium that measures 6ft long by 3ft wide by 3ft tall, and on that note, how many could I keep in an enclosure that size? I apologize, there isn't very much information across the web regarding this species.

Sorry if the first photo looks like I took it with a microwave
Pics of my Collareds..

HI, someone forwarded me this post :0) so I will try and see what we can figure out here. Your collareds are eastern and they look to be from the " Missouri/locale or vicinity", some look similar in the Kansas area but maybe more green and orangey on the males.

Anyway they do not appear to me to be juvenile from the photos, I'm not there but they look a bit older. The female does appear to be gravid, shes got the wide look through the mid section and you can see some of the orangey blush color.
Now this can mean she already layed, and will be laying again, or she is ovulsting and will breed, or has recently. Now since you got them from someone and they did not mention her laying, then I would assume she mated and will lay.
After mating it takes about 2- 3 weeks to lay. After laying 1 clutch they can lay another or even a third every 22 days or so....

If it were me I would just observe and keep a damp or several damp sand spots in her tank or under rocks/ hides for her.

I have many and mine all bred late this year I have only had one clutch hatch so far and many eggs incubating and it's almost fall, I think a cooler spring slowed them up, and now we have had a hot summer and they continue to mate.

As far as your Large enclosure, sounds awesome but I always tell people having all that space is wonderful but only if you can keep the temps up, otherwise they have a large enclosure but do not thrive as they are not warm enough. Temps should be 100 - 105 and 110 is acceptable at basking spot. The rest of tank/enclosrue should be in the upper 80's

Plenty of CLEAN water these guys get bacterial infections easy and once they are sick they go down quickly.

*** Make sure your girl gets plenty of extra calcium I dust the girls insects with calcium every feeding , making eggs and laying takes alot from them.

As far as how many in that enclosure, well one male per enclosure ... so with your male you can provide him with quite a nice harem maybe 4- 5 females ... up to you once you see your space.

Hey I do have a site(Below in signature) and have a care page on these guys(Collared Lizard care),,, I have to update some things but there are alot of things you may find you can use. I have worked with, and kept as pets, collareds 16 years ... I lost count. :0) if you need any help give me a holler

Best wishes with your new kids!

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Eve
Suncharmers Colorful Collareds & More

You are dead on correct, they were acquired here in Kansas. Fort Riley, to be exact. My buddy caught them wild and I'm afraid to let them go, they have been in captivity for over a year, would it be safe to release them?

As for a lay box, I have about a 10x5 inch container sloped with damp vermiculite. The shallow end is probably an inch and the deep end, towards the back is more like 4 inches. The male gets in their quite a bit and tracks vermiculite around . Should I separate the two for the time being? I have noticed the female digging, however, I can't tell if she is feeling around or trying to escape.

I may have some issues keeping the enclosure warm. But I will be sure one way or another that the temps reach 115 on basking and 80-85 on the cool side with plenty of limestone hides. If I can't meet these requirements, I will place the pair in a 40g breeder. Initially, that enclosure was going to be for my Bearded Dragon.

"*** Make sure your girl gets plenty of extra calcium I dust the girls insects with calcium every feeding , making eggs and laying takes a lot from them."

I fed her a pinky mouse yesterday. She took a little convincing but she ate it and seems to have digested/digesting it well.

Is it possible to mix subspecies of collareds? Better yet, what am I to do with these hatchlings if they come? Do these sell relatively well? I'm not looking to make a profit, however, if people do in fact purchase them then I consider that a bonus, otherwise, I will have to separate the male.

Your website is amazing! I will be reading that entire care sheet tonight. I'm not sure how I didn't stumble across it to begin with, darn google... You have some beautiful collareds... I take it these Easterns don't get that colorful? Thank you so much for responding and for helping me, I am very grateful.

Hi, No, do not release them after a years time. Once a lizard is in captivity it is frowned upon letting them return to the wild as they could be carrying back some sort of bacteria or virus/ whatever, from captivity or other animals and then pass it to anything in the wild they come into contact with, so don't do it.

You don't have to have large lay boxes, just a place they can climb in , or under, that "seems hidden" to them that has some damp sand or your damp vermic in there. YES, you will see her dig and dig..... that's usually a sign they are going to lay soon. They push out all the damp material, lay the eggs then you will notice her taking all the damp material and putting it back over the eggs.

The collareds from this area are not as colorful as some, but the males usually get a very orangey dewlap(throat) I alwasy liked this locale's collareds :0) I find the females to be quite charming , cute looking. But heck I love them all, lol

You can mix whatever you want, they will all mate, lol ;0) but some like to keep locale with same locale. I do both, have some the same, and some I mix. People do purchase collareds, just make sure to keep them as healthy as can be. I find they are not as hardy as other lizards, but I do have a long time passion for them .

I personally think your better using your 40 gallon breeder as far as keeping temps right. I use alot of the zilla 40 gallon critter cages, I hate the tops though the way they pull out and you have to take them off, STINKS, and eventually they tear (the screening at the edges) I then buy hardware cloth wire and make a nice wire top, they get better light, better air flow with the more open wire.

Oh by the way I keep muy basking at about 100- 105 sometimes on real hot days the temp may go up and some people think 110 or even a few degrees hotter is fine, but for me,,, I keep it more towards 100 - 105

Thanks for the nice words about my site, it's hard keeping up with collared kids,,, gecko babys, babies ,,,, babies babies.... ehhehehee.

A Few Baby New Mexico Girls

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Eve
Suncharmers Colorful Collareds & More

Those females are beautiful... Too bad mine would eat them. I will be looking for another female however! I think I am going to get them the 40g breeder instead of the crate terrarium. Thanks again for all of your help.

Hey it was FUN ! Hope it helped some. feel free to email me anytime eve@suncharmers.com Take care!
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Eve
Suncharmers Colorful Collareds & More