Personally I think these are awesome lizards. There are 2 subspecies, don't know what you'll get in the states, but the northern ones here in England get to about 2' max, the southern race actually get about a foot larger and are much bulkier but the mnarkings aren't as intense (quite rarely encountered)

These guys like a temperature of around 90F in the basking area and around 75-80 around the rest of the cage. To facilitate maximum 'behaviour' its best to have more than one basking site. These are Europe's equivalent of a monitor lizard, they'll eat anything. They love soft fruits such as bananas, mangos, peaches etc, and if you mash these up and add the vitamin supplements to them then there is no requirement for dusting the food. They'll eat snails, just about every available insect that doesn't have a chemical defence, mice (if they're too large they'll tear them apart into smaller pieces), eggs, nestling birds, and being a coastal animal are quite adept at eating large crabs. They'll initially take the plincers off, eat the legs, and actually pull the carapace apart to eat the inside of the crab. They are extremely active lizards, and will take up all the space you give them. As for tameness, they can become almost completely fearless of humans given the correct up bringing, and can be handled with ease although they're not usually content to just sit on your hand for ages like a bearded dragon, these are active lizards and the more stimulating an environment you can give them then the more rewarding they'll be as captives. As far as humidity goes they're not too fussed, but it's vital that there is a humid box, and hatchlings seem to prefer regular mistings about 2 times a day. Provide a water bowl obviously. They're quite terrestrial but will climb occasionally. They love digging as well, so I use cocoa bark substrate. You can add mealworms and waxworms to this and they enjoy rooting around and digging them out (they're sense of smell is very acute).



Well, I've written a lot here so better stop. I'm quite fond of these animals as you can see, definitely go for it mate.



Best of luck with them and if you have any questions please e-mail me.

Rob

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