Horned Toads

[Dirty]

Is it true that horned lizards will eat only ants? Can they live on crickets/mealworms? I'm specifically looking for info on the Northern Desert Horned toad, but any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I believe I read somewhere their diet is exclusively ants......sorry I can't be more specific. I'll see what I can find for you :)

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Found this site, looks like that **may** accept other items, but ants are staple diet.

http://www.desertusa.com/april96/du_hliz.html

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Sounds like these guys are VERY hard to keep in captivity, if your lcuky enough to get one. And they can be very pick from the looks of it to what specie of ants they will feed on. Good luck if your going to get these neat lizards :)

[Manitoban Herps]

I almost bought a couple of these guys once, there not very expensive. They were eating crickets and mealworms at the time, and they were CBB.

Very neat lizards, and if you have an ant colany it shouldn't be a problem for a WC one.

[galad]

Yea isn't it illegal to collect horned lizards from the wild? I know there are many species, manybe its just a few that are banned. I'm not sure, but I remember hearing something like that.

I have also read that some of the captive bred ones will except small pin head crix, in replace of the ants. But this knowledge is just from books not experience. lol.But anyways you might as well give it a try if you are an experienced herper.

Good luck

ws

[DragnDrop]

Check out Phrynosoma.com (http://www.phrynosoma.com/) for all your horned toad questions.

A few years ago I had a (printed) copy of someone's PhD dissertation with detailed info about the lizards' digestion process. From what I remember, they need some of the chemicals in the ants to help digest their food. Even though they eat other insects, they need a specific percentage of ants in their diet to be able to extract enough of the chemicals to digest their meals. Without the right species of ants in their diet, they'll in effect starve to death even though they eat like pigs. If I get a chance, I'll try to dig up the info online since I know I don't have the paper copy anymore.

[Brock]

http://ssnakess.com/photopost/data/513/876Thorny_Devil_-_Alice_Springs-med.jpg

These Australian thorny devils eat exclusively ants, they also drink by standing in water and letting capillaries on the outside of its body act like streams working it to the corners of the mouth.

They eat about 3000 ants a day.

-Brock

[galad]

Were did you get 3000 a day?
In reptiles magazine it says that scientists have been studying them for 100 years. when they first started the study they found that the daily consumption was around 1000 to 1500 tiny "evil-odored", black ants. Also says anouther author rated a consumption of 45 ants per minute or a 15 minute meal. Putting the morning and afternoon meals together would be around 1,350 ants per day.
Now modern calculations suggest that adults eat 750 ants per day.
Unfortunatly there is nothing in the atricle on keeping them in captivity. Getting ahold of the specific species of ant could proove difficult. Hope they live else where other then australia

good luck

[Dirty]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Anyone know if it's possible to have a home-made colony of ants collected from outside? If so, how?

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

well I think thats a problem you might not be able to get the ants specific for the Horned you want. They may be illegal to transport in to the province/state you are in. (ants are very "destructive" so to speak) You should do extensive (I mean months of prep) like getting high-yealding ant colonys FIRST before you even think of getting the Horned. After you have that nailed down start on setting up the terrarium for the lizard. )IMO thats the best way to go about it!)

That site looks very cool. I might have to snoop around there :) If you find something on the Horned lizards DragnDrop, please email it to me if possible :)

[timminsreptiles]

The Thorny Devils will feed excusively on ants but the Horned Lizard will do fine on small crickets. Ive keep them with out any problems. Give him lots of small crickets troughout the day and dust them every few feedings. Also have nice size setup, a good light and a clean water dish. Some of these guys are found in high elavation and do survive in colder temps so make sure to have a cool spot.....Lucas

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Cool, got any pics for us :) I'd like to see how yours are setup/look like!! :D I'm always interested in new lizards/geckos LOL Plus the more you know, the better I always say!

[Brock]

When I was in Australia I saw a few different ones in reptile parks, the info on them said up to 3000 a day, others said 1500-3000 a day, which seems pretty astronomical to me. They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo cool!!!!!!!

-Brock

[galad]

Ok brock. Thats cool. But Lucas yea some pics of setups would be awsome. Those pics of the nasuta are cool, what an awsome snake. What is the common name?

peace

ws

[fedupdon]

all the horned toads in
the state of Texas are protected bystate Law in the late 60s they were shipped out by the 1000 most never lived more than a few months When i was a kid i kep them as pets mine would fee on ants and the like june bug beetals. They had to be kept at a high Temp upper 90 and never lower than 75 or soThey are not protected in all states. they never drink from a water bowel but would lap up drops from the glass

[Kyle Barker]

i believ eit is the formic acid in ants that they need. dont quote me. there are many ants in north america that have this acid.

breeding your own is easy. look up "ant farms". find teh queens bro.