What and how to feed lizards

Before you get any gecko, you will need your own insect "farm". Indeed, it is not profitable to buy live food all the time, but our clients prefer for the most part exactly this, and uninterruptedly, taking into account seasonal needs.

Invertebrates are a desirable food (often almost the only one). Only very large individuals eat newborns or very small vertebrates. Into the diet individual species and childbirth include plant food, and " baby food" (artificial mixtures).

However, the size of our brochure does not allow us to cover in detail the laboratory methods of breeding invertebrates. Fortunately, there is an extensive literature on this subject.

Traditional food for lizards - mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) and its larva; darkling beetle with larva (Zophobas morio), colloquially known as the "giant mealworm", a migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), four types of crickets: field (Grylitis campestris), brownie (Gr.domesticus), two-spotted or African (Gr.bimaculatus), banana (Gr.assimilis), four types of cockroaches: American (Periplaneta americana), ashen (Nauphaeta cinerea), Cuban (Blaberus giganteus) and Madagascar (Gromphadorrina portentosa). Two types of butterflies - wax moths - are excellent food: small (Achroia grisella) and big (Galleria mellonella). For all lizards, especially young animals, flies are the desired food: fruit flies (Drosophilidae); indoor (Musca domestica) and others. Some foods have a number of advantages, as well as their disadvantages.

Thus, mealworms are “not beneficial” in terms of vitamins and minerals. To avoid this, the larvae are fed with cottage cheese, bone meal and vitamin and mineral supplements. Breeding flies at home is hardly possible for sanitary reasons.

You should not collect “wild” cockroaches caught in objects unknown to you, or other insects in the field by “mowing”, on a lamp, etc. Your animals may get a good dose of pesticides. Collection is possible only with full guarantee of safety. In such a case, within all year round you can have "wild" black cockroaches (Blatta orientalis), as well as red Prussians (Blatella germanicd). When feeding cockroaches and crickets, you need to be careful and remove those that have not been eaten, since they spoil the plants in the terrarium, and in large numbers they gnaw off the delicate skin and fingers of animals.

Some feeds are extremely convenient to serve: “mealworms” are poured into a flat and low feeder; Overly active crickets and cockroaches must be crushed.

However, lizards do not react at all to stationary “food objects,” at least to newly acquired individuals. When kept for many years, such “long-livers” get to know the feeder well, get used to it and begin to grab dead insects. By the way, when feeding invertebrates, you will absolutely need long veterinary tweezers.

You should adapt to the rhythm of your pets' feeding. So, day geckos need to be fed during the day, after the animals have warmed up; night geckos - by sunset.

For young animals, feeds that are easily digestible should be offered. They should be fed more often than adults, almost daily.

Indoor pets need a variety of food; we must take into account their individual needs, the most delicious food for some species, when after a long fast our pet greedily grabs his favorite “delicacy”, say, it may turn out to be a pink mouse for a spotted leopard gecko.

In a word, gradualism is needed. Although feeding takes a lot of time, lizards should be fed in small portions, as they usually feed in nature. Terrarists who understand technology can make a simple automatic feeder, where a portion of 3 to 5 worms will fall onto the tray throughout the day.

Sometimes newborn geckos refuse to feed themselves. So, if there is no other food other than the “mealworm”, small, just molted beetleworm larvae (they can be seen by their characteristic whiteness) are squeezed out and coated with the gecko’s mouth. Usually he begins to lick the contents from his lips, and then, having tasted the treat, he greedily grabs it.

Overfeeding animals is a typical and, unfortunately, common mistake made by terrarists. With frequent belching, this leads to indigestion and often to the death of the animal. The digestion of swallowed food is directly related to the temperature regime, and with a sharp drop in temperature, regurgitation of food is not uncommon.

The use of vitamins and microelements will be indicated in separate essays devoted to one species or group of species.

So, adequate temperature regime, complete, rich feeding, taking into account the needs of animals is an almost complete guarantee of the well-being of your pets. It is better to spend time preventing diseases rather than treating your gecko.

More interesting articles

Having seen a lizard living at home on the Internet or visiting friends, many people certainly want to get one for themselves. Because this is an unusual tenant and finding him in the house is, at least, quite exotic.

If you decide to have such a non-standard neighbor, you must know how and what to feed the lizard. After all, when we get a cat or a dog, we usually do not have such questions, which cannot be said about information about reptiles, which is not so easy to find.

First you need to know that in our amazing nature There are a huge variety of lizard species. On this moment there are about four thousand of them. Lizards have different skin colors, mainly depending on their habitat and external temperature.

IN temperate climate In Russia, the most common reptiles are those that belong to the family of true or forest lizards. The exceptions are southern regions our vast Motherland, there is such a species as the average omnivorous lizard.

By and large, all lizards can be divided into three types: meat-eaters, herbivores and omnivores. But in wildlife this distinction is often blurred and lizards can be found with mixed type nutrition, they do not neglect fruits, insects, vegetables and small mammals.

However, it is worth considering each type of food separately before deciding what to feed your lizard.

Meat eaters

They are quite unpretentious in food, feeding them at home will not be difficult for you, but the costs will depend on the quantity and quality of “live” food and the size of the lizard. If your pet is a carnivore, then the basis of its diet will be insects, worms, locusts, flies, cockroaches and grasshoppers.

Also, depending on the size, you can pamper the lizard with rats and mice. Rodents can first be given a vitamin-calcium microinjection; it will enrich the lizard’s body with calcium after eating a mouse or baby rat.

Of course, sometimes you can offer regular meat. It is worth noting that the cockroaches are not the ones that live in your kitchen under the sink, but specially grown black cockroaches that are bred to feed spiders, lizards and other reptiles.

Remember that everything should be normal and you should not overfeed your lizard with meat and fish. And before giving such products to your pet, remove cartilage from the meat, if any, and bones from the fish.

Snails! Snails are great option food for the lizard at home. They are very easy to breed, plus the calcium contained in their shells is essential for most reptile species. It's not for nothing that healthy diet cuttlefish shells, eggshells and other sources of calcium are often present.

Herbivores

The basis of nutrition for a herbivorous lizard at home is vegetables and various fruits.

The most suitable ones are:

1. Apple.
2. Carrot.
3. Potatoes (rarely).
4. Cabbage.
5. Grape.
6. Lettuce leaves.

Moreover, you can offer the lizard these products mixed. However, you should be very careful with potatoes, because they often contain a large number of nitrates

Before giving food to the lizard, peel it and cut it into small slices. While feeding, observe the reptile, study its tastes and subsequently try to build on the pet’s preferences.

Herbivores at home should be offered insects once every two weeks. Carnivores, on the contrary, need to be given plant foods.

Omnivores

With this type of food, the matter is quite simple; at home, omnivorous lizards can be fed the same food as listed above for carnivores and herbivores.

However, do not try to feed your animal sweets and other human food, it is very harmful to their body and can lead not only to poisoning, but also to serious illnesses.

Do not forget that lizards are cold-blooded animals; they will not eat food at temperatures below 20⁰ C, so a thermometer should always be at hand, which will allow you to closely monitor the temperature in the terrarium.

Reptiles should be fed daily, but if the pet does not eat the food offered, it may be worth reducing feeding to once every two days. If there is no appetite within a week, contact your veterinarian immediately.

How to feed a reptile

So, we’ve looked at what you can feed a lizard, let’s now find out what nuances there are in the process itself. Young reptiles are fed using tweezers, while adults are fed in a Petri dish type feeder. Lizards are diurnal and nocturnal, and they need to be fed at home during their most active hours.

After eating, uneaten remains are removed from the terrarium. Most lizards lick water from leaves various plants, so be sure to spray them regularly. For some species, a simple drinking bowl is also suitable. The water in it should always be clean and fresh.

Sometimes it happens that the lizard refuses food, but drinks plenty of water, do not be alarmed, most likely the reptile is having a fasting day.

Contents and furnishings in the terrarium

For normal feeding of the lizard at home, you need to set up a terrarium that will recreate the environment of its usual habitat. Firstly, the size, it should not too limit the movement of the reptile around the home.

Finding a good height is quite simple, you need to measure the length of the reptile and multiply it by two, the resulting figure will become minimum height for a suitable terrarium. The bottom is covered with earth; you can also use sand, tree bark or coconut shavings.

In nature, lizards love various trees, so you can put a couple of small driftwood on the bottom of the terrarium. When kept at home, make sure that there are two temperature zones in the terrarium during the day. In the cold zone, the temperature should not exceed 30⁰ C, and in the hot zone it should be kept at about 36⁰ C.

If you create normal conditions for keeping the reptile, then you will not have problems with the lizard’s nutrition.

If the lizard refuses to eat, then you should not immediately look for a disease and sound the alarm; perhaps the reptile’s temperature is uncomfortable, or it has decided to have a fasting day, which is not outside the norm.

Terrarium

Before you get a lizard, you need to install a terrarium at home. The lizard must have a habitat, otherwise it can run away, get sick, or get injured. The terrarium can be cubic or vertical, the height should be equal to two body lengths of an adult.

At the bottom of the terrarium, pour soil without fertilizers and additives, sand, or place a special mat or coconut shavings. You can also use paper, large pieces of bark or shavings for rodents. Place the terrarium so that it central part was at eye level.

Decorating the terrarium

As you know, in nature lizards like to spend a lot of time in trees. Therefore, secure several thick branches in the terrarium and your pet will feel at home. You can also use pine bark as a trunk, attaching it to the walls of the terrarium. The bark should be rough.

To decorate the terrarium, you can use cork climbing plates, stones, and artificial plants. These plants, naturally, must be safe for the lizard, for example, without thorns that can injure themselves. They must be able to support the weight of the lizard well so that it does not slip or fall. You also need to keep in mind that these artificial plants can withstand elevated temperatures and do not melt. They are best placed in pots for easier cleaning.

Temperature

In order to keep a lizard in a comfortable environment, it is necessary to provide it with the required temperature regime. During the day there should be two temperature zones: hot - warms up to 36º C and cold with a temperature of 30º C, and the night temperature should not be lower than 21 ° C. For heating, various external heaters are used, such as incandescent lamps, infrared or glass-ceramic lamps. The soil is heated using heating mats.

Lighting

It is also necessary to provide lighting: the brighter, the better. Install in a terrarium ultraviolet lamp. In one large terrarium, the presence of several heated areas makes it possible to keep several lizards at home at once.

Humidity

But you especially need to pay attention to the humidity level, which should be 50-70%. To provide the required level humidity, place a bowl of water in the cool area of ​​the terrarium, the size of which should correspond to the size of the lizard so that it can freely climb in and out of it. You can also increase the humidity with damp sponges and spraying. But at the same time, high humidity can lead to the formation and spread of fungus and pathogenic bacteria. Now you need to worry about ventilation.

Lizards are divided into several age categories:

• cubs – from 0 to 3 months
• adolescents – from 4 to 12 months
• young individuals - from 13 to 19 months
• adults – from 20 months and older.

There is enough in the terrarium big size– 1000x1000x500 and with several heating zones, you can keep several young lizards or four growing lizards or two adults at the same time. It is absolutely unacceptable to keep lizards in the same terrarium. of different ages. IN as a last resort, you can place a young and an adult lizard together, which will require very careful observation of them. If they begin to show aggression towards each other, then it is better to seat them. Also, males should not be kept together, as they will begin to suppress other individuals.

Feeding

In summer, adult lizards are fed three times a week, and in winter time two times a week. Young lizards need to be fed every day until they are six months old. They are then transferred to three meals a day in winter and four meals a day in summer, until they reach two years of age. The diet of lizards includes insects: mealworms, crickets, spiders, small mammals, bird eggs, and even other lizards. You can prepare a healthy mixture consisting of 40% finely grated carrots, 40% finely chopped meat, 20% chopped lettuce, add calcium, vitamins and mix everything.

Feeding the lizard should be done during its maximum activity. If several small lizards and juveniles are kept together in a terrarium, they should be fed separately. You need to make sure that the food is eaten, as the remaining insect can harm the lizard. The lizard may not be eating well, but drinking plenty of water and still being active is nothing to worry about. There must be a container of water in the terrarium, which needs to be changed every day.

Adult, already tamed lizards eat from a bowl on their own, but young lizards and juveniles should be fed using tweezers. Always wash your hands with soap after finishing feeding.

Lizard Reproduction

It is best to start breeding lizards when the female reaches the age of two years. It is believed that this is very harmful and the female may even die. But males mature for reproduction at one year of age.

It is best to begin the breeding process in the cool, dry season, during which the lizards are inactive, then the warm, wet season begins, when they revive and become active, and a month later the mating season begins. Once the eggs are laid, the offspring should appear within 10 weeks.

After mating, the female must be transplanted into a separate terrarium, the bottom of which is lined with a 2 cm thick soil mixture with peat and moss. Since the lizard itself will not search for and dig a place for laying for a long time, it is better to prepare it in advance. The female will bury 8-14 eggs. The eggs are then removed and placed in damp vermiculite, half buried. Temperature in incubation period it is necessary to maintain 28-29° C and no more than 30° C. The eggs mature within 70 days.

Once the lizards hatch, they are also transplanted separately. The terrarium should be with high temperature, it needs to be sprayed 2-3 times a day. It is desirable to have access to natural sunlight. It is necessary to give the cubs calcium and vitamins daily 3-4 times a week.

There are different types of lizards: herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. Before you start feeding, you need to determine what type of nutrition is typical for the species that lives with you.

The most common reptiles in temperate climates are representatives of the family True lizards, as well as the genus Forest lizards. All of them are carnivores. However, the southern regions are home to omnivorous lizards such as the Middle Lizard.

Meat-eating lizards

If you determine that you have come across a common lizard, the problem of what to feed can be solved quite simply: insects, worms, small mice and pups, and occasionally meat. Locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, fruit flies - this is what you should feed an ordinary lizard. Please note that the cockroaches are not Prussians caught somewhere, but black cockroaches, which are specially bred to feed reptiles, amphibians and spiders. Ask at a pet store or look for people who breed insects: it will be much more profitable to raise insects at home than to buy them every time.

Another good solution for feeding your lizard at home is snails. They are easy to breed; moreover, their shells contain calcium, which must be mixed when feeding the lizard with other types of food. If you feed lizards with mice, you can pre-inject them with a vitamin-mineral complex. Another source of calcium is egg shells.

Herbivorous lizards

Fruits and vegetables are the basis of what to feed a lizard that leads a vegetarian lifestyle. Cabbage, carrots, lettuce, apples, grapes, potatoes (occasionally) are suitable. What to feed the lizard1 Serve fruits and vegetables together, cutting them into small pieces and peeling them.

Observe the lizard while feeding and do not be afraid to experiment - this way you will reveal the gastronomic preferences of your particular lizard. However, remember that the products must be safe for the reptile - that is, you do not need to feed it chips. Carnivores should be offered plant food once a week, and herbivores should be offered an insect.

The lizard must be fed daily. If she suddenly begins to refuse food, force feed her once every two days. If after a week the lizard does not begin to take food on its own, take the animal to the veterinarian.

Until recently, keeping lizards at home was exotic. Although the history of terrarium goes back several centuries. For example, the oldest treatise, dedicated to keeping reptiles at home, dates back to the 18th century. Its author, Johann Matthaus Bechstein, was an expert in aquariums and terrariums. That's why his work is still interesting today. Before you start a terrarium, you need to know the habits, physiology and what lizards eat at home.

Today there are more than 6,000 species of dinosaur descendants in the world. Most of them are carnivores, but there are exclusively herbivorous or omnivorous species. Small and medium-sized predatory lizards eat:

• insects, except poisonous ones;
• arachnids;
• shellfish;
• worms

More large species They hunt rodents, birds, and amphibians. They do not disdain their fellow tribesmen - lizards and snakes. Some reptiles prefer only a certain type of food. For example, the group of stenophages includes the Australian moloch, some round-headed lizards and North American toad-like lizards. Representatives of these groups of reptiles are myrmecophages - they eat exclusively ants. Famous flying Dragon- Asian flying lizard, also feeds on tree ants.

But the pink-tongued skink prefers terrestrial mollusks - snails and slugs. They form the basis of our diet and legless lizards spindles (sorrels) and yellowbellies (grouse). Vegetarian lizards have an equally extensive diet. They eat leaves, juicy fruit pulp, fruits and shoots, and flowers. Complete or almost complete squamate herbivores include:

• iguanas;
• agamas;
• skinks.

Adult representatives of these families are vegetarians, but juveniles can diversify their diet with insects and worms.

Omnivores eat both protein foods and plants. For example, a representative of the day gecko family madagascar gecko(felsuma), feeds, in addition to animal food, nectar and pollen of flowers. Long-legged skinks love to feast on mulberries.

Not only the food preferences of lizards are varied, but also the way they feed. Herbivorous reptiles primarily obtain food by gathering. Chameleons watch for their prey and sneak up on it. With the help of a sticky tongue extended at the end, chameleons capture prey (insects and even small birds, reptiles) at a fairly long distance. The length of the tongue is equal to 1-1.5 times the size of the reptile's body.

Nimble flail-footed geckos or geckos actively pursue their prey. huge monitor lizards. Lizards grab and swallow prey whole. If they come across one that is too large, they use a special “inertial” swallowing method. By relaxing and strengthening the grip of individual parts of the jaws and shaking its head, the lizard seems to “move” its mouth towards the prey.

What to feed lizards at home

From full balanced nutrition A reptile depends on its size, brightness of color, fertility, and life expectancy. Populating home terrarium, it is necessary to take into account all the feeding habits of lizards.

Types of animal food

Providing animal food for your pets is easy. You can catch it yourself, breed it, or buy it at a pet store. You can catch beetles, locusts, butterflies, flies and spiders both in the house and in meadows and fields using nets and flycatchers.

You should avoid stinging insects - wasps, hornets, bees, gadflies. Some types of caterpillars, fireflies, and giant locusts can become poison for your pet. Before catching insects, you need to know what poisonous species found in the region.

Flying and crawling prey can be immobilized by tearing off the wings and legs, but it is better when the lizard hunts insects itself. To prevent the “food” from leaving the terrarium, it is necessary to tightly close it with a mesh with small cells.

Living insects can hide from pursuit for a long time among stones and snags, and some omnivorous arthropods are capable of severely biting a lizard. Therefore, it is worth releasing prey into the terrarium one by one so that the lizard can catch it and eat it. Sometimes reptiles are placed in an empty vessel while feeding, where the prey has nowhere to hide.

Worms, blowfly and beetle larvae, crickets, and wax moths (moths) can be purchased at the store. They are easy to breed at home. There are also special companies that will provide your pet with live food all year round.

The hunting instinct is awakened by the sight of moving prey, so it is difficult to train a lizard to eat stationary food - pieces of meat, fish, offal. Food cut into small pieces should be taken with tweezers and moved in front of the reptile's face. Over time, she will perceive food as living prey. Later, when meat is firmly included in the diet, it is ground into minced meat and given to the pet in this form.

However, you should not replace meat food with live food. Meat can be used in winter or added to the diet from time to time. As a source of protein for large predators small mice and hamsters, bird eggs, fledgling chicks and even cottage cheese will go - all this is a pleasant addition to the main diet.

Plant food

Herbivorous lizards will like:

• leafy greens(spinach, parsley, lettuce);
• wild plants(dandelion, clover, plantain);
• chopped green and orange vegetables(beets, carrots, cabbage, zucchini);
• soft fruits and berries(oranges, melon, apples, pears, grapes, viburnum berries);
• flower heads(roses, hibiscus, nasturtium, dandelion, geranium, clover).

Plant food is crushed and offered in a mixture. If the lizard constantly refuses any ingredient, then it must be excluded. Plants should not be picked on roadsides or in industrial zones, so as not to poison your pet with heavy metals. It is also necessary to monitor the level of pesticides in vegetables and fruits.

The green mixture is laid out in feeders - heavy bowls with a low side. Mix the plant mixture into rice and into the meat of squamous omnivores.

Ready-made commercial feed

Ready-made food for reptiles appeared on the market not so long ago. Before introducing them into your pet’s diet, it is necessary to test them - not all types of lizards are ready to eat dry food. You need to choose it in accordance with the age and physiological state of the reptile.

Before use, it must be moistened with water, even if there is no such recommendation on the package. A dry product will force the lizard to drink a lot of liquid, which for some species (agama, moloch, alligator lizard) is not just dangerous, but fatal. Most often, ready-made food is administered as an additive to the main plant or animal food.

Feeding

Despite their naturalness, live food and plants cannot fully provide the reptile with the necessary vitamins and microelements. Plants grown in soil conditions poor in micro- and macroelements will not provide the necessary substances, especially to a growing organism. Therefore, feeding is necessary.

These can be ready-made vitamin and mineral supplements, crushed eggshells, crushed chalk, calcium glycerophosphate tablets. They are mixed with food and given 3-4 times a week - too much supplementation can be just as dangerous as too little.

Feeding schedule and rules

A feeding schedule for the terrarium pets is drawn up depending on their age. The amount of live food should be such that the lizard can eat it within 3-5 minutes. Leftover food must be removed from the terrarium.

The drinking bowl should always have pure water in abundance. The container should be used so that the pet can drink freely, but not spill it. When feeding adults, you need to take into account the time of activity, so the reptile will hunt more efficiently.

Young animals

During the period of intensive growth (4 months), lizards need " building material» – proteins and amino acids. During this period, even vegetarian reptiles eat insects, larvae and worms. Such habits are echoes of ancient times, when all lizards ate animal food. Therefore, live food should make up 60-80%, the rest comes from fresh plants.

Metabolic processes in the body
The disease progresses more rapidly, which requires more frequent feeding - 2-3 times a day. Once a day they are given vitamin D, calcium or vitamin and mineral supplements appropriate for their species and age.

Young reptiles' appetite may change, especially after a large meal, but this is not a reason to skip feeding. It is better to remove the leftovers than to starve your pet. If there are several individuals in the terrarium, then you need to make sure that everyone has enough food and that the stronger lizards do not eat the weaker ones.

Teenagers

Once your pet reaches 4-5 months, you can reduce the number of feedings. By this time, the reptile has accumulated fat reserves, the rate of metabolic processes decreases, and if three meals a day are maintained, there is a risk of overfeeding and obesity. Carnivores are fed live food, supplemented with a vegetable mixture and vitamins with calcium.

Large lizards can begin to be given newborn mice. Herbivores are given insects only once a week, increasing the amount of green mixture. Vitamin D and calcium should be added three times a week, and a multivitamin supplement 2 days.

Adults

At the age of 1.5-2 years, the lizard becomes adult and sexually mature. Adult reptiles are fed twice a day. For omnivores, the amount of protein food is reduced to 20-30%, increasing plant food. Once a week you can have a “fasting day”, as adults are prone to overeating.

Pregnant females require a special diet. They are fed the same as young animals. Some large lizards(monitor lizards, poisonous teeth) eat only 2-3 times a week. The amount of food depends on the size and type of reptile, so you need to give live food one piece at a time, only when the lizard eats it - give another. A well-fed individual will refuse to eat.

You can find out what lizards eat at home by reading specialized literature or by observing your pet. Reptiles can also have individual eating preferences.