Desert Reptiles and Landscapes
Captive Care for Collared Lizards
Turn off the heat sources and slowly cool the lizards down to between 50 to 60 degrees. If your room doesn't stay cool enough to induce hibernation, you can hibernate them in coolers. I fill the coolers with several inches of damp sand and with a few flat rocks for the lizards to burrow under. I use blue ice (found in Sportng Goods stores) to cool down the coolers and change it out twice a day. Use a thermometer to regulate the temperature. After hibernation, slowly warm the lizards up by keeping them at room temperature for a day or so, then you can turn up the heat. Start feeding the lizards insects dusted with phosphorus-free calcium fortified with vitamin D3. The females will especially need it for strong egg development. Within a few weeks the female lizards will develop their breeding coloration. After the lizards have mated, the female will start to show bulges near its abdomen. At this time, keep a moist spot in the cage and the female will usually lay the eggs in this spot. When she is ready to lay the eggs, she will begin digging. Check her daily, because she will appear skinny after she has deposited the eggs. The eggs must be removed from the cage. Keep them right side up and place them in an incubator. An incubator can be made from a plastic shoe box with a hole, the size of a quarter, cut in the top for air circulation. Fill the shoe box with about three inches of vermiculite and keep the vermiculite moist but not wet. Put the shoe box in a place were the temperature won't drop below the high 70's at night and won't rise above 90 degrees during the warmest part of the day.. Temperature fluctuations will insure that the hatchlings will be of both sexes. As long as the eggs continue to grow they should be fine, even if they turn an off white to brown. In about 40 to 60 days the eggs should be ready to hatch. It take several hours to more than a day for the hatchling to break free from their eggs. Their umbilical cords will remain attached for several days. Hatchling lizards need natural sunlight in order to develop properly. Without it, they will likely perish. They can be fed week old crickets, but they will eat anything they can get their mouths around. Collared lizards grow very fast and within a matter of weeks they can be fed adult crickets.
