Feeding your lizard

The diet of lizards will differ depending on where they are from. Lizards like iguanas are herbivorous, eating plants and leaves; other lizards like the Bearded Dragon eat insects when they are young and developing but change to a diet with more salad and greens as they mature. Many of the large lizards like the Monitors are omnivorous which means that they eat meat, eggs, fish, insects and leaves.

In the wild a lizard would eat whatever types of insects he could catch, depending on the season. In captivity you will have to buy live insects for him to eat.

Most of the insects that are fed to pet lizards are mass reared. Traditionally, locusts, black and brown crickets, meal worms and wax worms have been fed. Mario worms and calci worms can also be obtained. This diet is of course not as varied as in the wild. So, in captivity their diet is greatly simplified as we can only offer them insects that are commercially available to buy.

All insects are very low in vitamins and minerals. When you buy your crickets or other insects from the supplier, they are often hungry and have eaten their cardboard containers. This further reduces their mineral content. You can boost the mineral levels by ‘gut loading’ the insects. This is a process in which the insects are fed fresh food and vegetables. This allows the nutrients in their feed to then be consumed by the reptile. Essentially, the lizard will benefit from the nutrients. Dusting the insects with calcium/vitamin D3 powder before feeding them to your lizard will also help. The dust can sometimes fall off before being eaten by the lizard, therefore, gut loading the insects with specific calcium high insect feed is important. This will help your lizard receive adequate amounts of these nutrients in the diet. To be on the safe side ensure you research which foods are safe to feed to the insects that you intend to feed to your lizard.

Don’t be afraid to catch other insects, for example moths or spiders to feed to your lizard. These will be packed full of nutrients and will be better for him than the commercially produced live food. If you catch insects from your garden, make sure that it hasn’t been treated with chemicals.

The frequency with which you feed your lizard will depend on his age and stage of development. It is important not to put too many live insects into his house at one time. Some of them may inflict bites his skin, which will cause pain and damage. They can also be highly annoying and cause your lizard to become agitated and unhappy. If he is not hungry, take the live food out and try again later. There is nothing worse than having your dinner sitting on your head!

All lizards need water to drink. It is important that the water is clean and regularly changed. Without water his body will become dehydrated and this can lead to many conditions including constipation. It may sound unusual, but if your lizard were to become constipated it could severely affect your lizard’s health.

Humidity is also an important consideration when setting up your lizard’s house. When water evaporates it forms an invisible gas called water vapor. Humidity is a measure of the amount of water vapor that is present in the air.

In hot dry areas, like deserts, there is not a lot of water vapor in the air which means that deserts have low humidity. Rain forests are also hot but they have lots of water vapor in the air and so they have high humidity.

The level of humidity required for your lizard will depend on his species and the type of environment he needs to live in. You can use a gadget called a hygrometer to measure the level of humidity in your lizard’s house to ensure that it is suitable for him.