Before you run out and buy supplies for a lizard, check out all of the facts about caring for one. Don’t buy supplies until you’ve decided on the lizard for you, and bought everything that you know your lizard will need. Lizards have certain requirements from housing to foods, and knowing how to care for one is a life and death situation for your lizard. Take the time now so you and your new lizard won’t suffer because you haven’t checked out all of the facts about them. Read on to learn some things you’ll need before the baby comes to your house.
Its home is the first consideration that you’ll need to look at, and then purchase. You can either buy a lizard cage or build one, but it needs to be sturdy, so your lizards can’t escape. An aquarium works nicely for lizards, make sure that it’s big enough for them because they won’t stay babies forever. Next, consider its heating source for the new reptile in your life. Lizards are members of the reptile family so they need to have an artificial heating source, either from a light bulb, or a heating unit under their cage. Whatever type of heating source you use make sure that it won’t burn the delicate skin. Place the light bulb above their cage and the pad is properly adjusted, and well maintained. If your lizard isn’t nocturnal you’ll have to purchase special UV lighting for their cage too.
Feeding lizards is a little more complicated than just putting out some lizard food. Some of them eat plants and vertebrate or invertebrate foods like bugs and mice as a staple of their main diet, while others eat less. For example, the bearded dragon eats all three foods, while the leopard will eat very little mice. For most lizards you’ll have to add supplements of Vitamin D to their diets by purchasing pellets at the pet store, and giving them a good mixture of vegetables, fruits, and leafy greens for their dietary needs. All lizards love bugs like the cricket, but you’ll need to make sure that they are ‘gut loaded’. Gut loading insects are ones that have been fed with supplements right before they are fed to your lizard.
Hiding places inside the cage will help your lizard grow too. Lizards in the wild will take refuge from predators, and they love to rest in crevices of wood or leaves, so be sure to put them in the cage. A flowerpot made of terracotta is used too for a hiding space, but don’t place one in a cage that has been painted, its toxic to lizards. When building or purchasing one include perches too, so if they need extra warmth they can get to the heat. The bottom of their cage should have loose gravel that is not dusty at all. Dust causes respiratory problems for them, and many die from inhaling it. Besides, some lizards don’t have eyelids, and the dust from certain gravels will irritate and infect their eyes. Their dish of water should be heavy enough not to tip over, and most people find that a ceramic dish works perfectly.
Caring for a lizard involves more than just lights and food. It might surprise you to find out that lizards are like puppies, and need their toenails clipped too. Invest in a good pair of clippers, and clip them down when they become sharp. If you don’t feel that you can do it, drop your lizard off at the local pet shop that cares for exotic animals, it’s not that expensive to do. Because they’re reptiles a lizard will shed it skin many times during the year. If a small rock is placed inside its cage they can rub it off naturally. If however you find it’s having trouble, then soak your lizard in water, but be careful when handling it. The new skin is very tender, and bleeding is likely if you don’t. Caring for a lizard means that you’ll need to pay close attention to its needs, more so than you might have thought.
Finally, it’s true that lizards are a lot of work, but if you really want to own one do your research first, don’t purchase a lizard, and then ask questions later. Reptiles are one of nature’s truly exotic and fragile creatures. Many times they won’t survive if you don’t think and act appropriately, so find out all about the type of lizard that you want, and then invest for its care.
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