Desert Reptiles and Landscapes
Captive Care for Collared Lizards
Collared lizards make excellent captives as long as their basic requirements are met. These lizards are very active and you can not give them too much room. Adult lizards should be kept in at least a forty gallon aquarium. These lizards are very territorial, no more than one male and two females should be kept together. Sand makes an excellent substrate. Collared lizards are saxicolous, so rocks piles make natural basking sites. If more than one lizard is to be caged together, make several basking sites. Be careful that the rocks can not come down on the lizards when they dig around them. Like most lizards, collared lizards require ultraviolet light. Use a full-spectrum fluorescent bulb along with a incandescent bulb above the basking site. For healthy and colorful lizards, natural sunlight is a must. Collared lizards like it hot: their basking site should be between 100 and 105 degrees. The rest of their cage should be in the high 80's to 90's (degrees F) during the day. Most individuals will drink from a water bowl, but some wild-caught lizards will only drink from water droplets. Mist the rocks and glass in their enclosure to stimulate drinking every few days. Collared lizards eat a lot and can be fed daily. Crickets are the most convenient food source available. It is best to feed them a variety of insects. It is always fun to watch them catch flying insects in mid-air. Some individuals will also eat lizards and pinkies.Captive bred lizards make excellent pets. Wild caught lizards don't always do as well. Many die from the stress of being taken from their natural environment. They are usually loaded ticks, chiggers, nematodes, and other parasites (McAllister and Trauth, 1985), and will need to be dewormed. Wild caught lizards will often rub their nose raw trying to escape. If the lizard doesn't adapt, it will go off feed until it is too weak to move. It will lose weight and wither away over a period of several weeks. Once this has started, it is almost impossible or very expensive to turn them around.Collared lizards are fairly easy to breed in captivity. They must hibernate at least two months but can be left in this state for several months. Two weeks before hibernation, stop feeding them so their entire gastro-intestinal tract will be empty. Failure to completely empty the GI tract will result in colitis and certain death of the lizard during hibernation.