i found this little guy sitting on a wall in the backyard of where we were house sitting. i tried to grab him and he tried to get away, but he was too small to be able to move quickly. i put him in a little powerade container with some sand. i fed him about 10 ants. he seemed happy. i think he’s a hatchling of this species, but it’s hard to tell when he’s so young.
once we got home, i put him into a bigger cage. i need to decide if i want to buy a hot rock and keep him in the house or keep him outside and hope he doesn’t freeze to death. the weather is fine now, but there isn’t much sun basking opportunity on our porch facing the west until about 4pm.
the other problem i’m faced with is how long i really want to keep him. my initial idea was to keep him for a while until he’s about adult size, then set him free in the wilderness. but i’m afraid he might die or he would grow too accustomed to being fed, that he wouldn’t go and find his own food once reintroduced to the wild. and feeding him is a pain in the ass, because foraging for insects is not my favorite thing to do. especially the size insects he currently requires. when i find something, it dies in my fingers because it’s so damn small. i wish i could just go pick something up at a reptile fast food restaurant. (you know, for convenience sake.)
catching ants are easy, set a drop of corn syrup on a container lid, set it outside for a few minutes (or hours) pick up the lid and bring it into the area where the lizard is and set the whole thing down in the corner of the tank… some of the ants will burrow under the sand for safety and come out for later meal times.
you lizard is so cute, i’m jealous!
thanks for the tip. the graham crackers are just not doing the trick.
and he doesn’t like the fire ants i found on a hike because they are bigger than his head.
np
hope it goes well for ya, he’s a little keeper! =)
lucky! The lizards here are usually too fast to catch. Its is easier at night though because you can stun em with a flash light.