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Food 

Collerad lizards are real predators. In the wild they maily feed on insect, small mice and even other lizards. They might even take fruit once in a while.

I feed every other day. Sometimes once every 3 days or 2 days in a row gives them a natural variation. With hatchlings and juveniles this pattern is a bit more stabile. They need smaller amounts more often because of growth.

Crickets is the main diet. Other fooditems are used to provide variation in taste and nutrients. So instead of crickets some grasshoppers, etc. etc.

Good foodsources are: crickets, grasshoppers, buffaloworms, dola’s, waxworms or maybe mice.

Crickets: 4 crickets a day per animals (so 8 when feeding every other day). The size of the cricket must be in comparison to the size of the animal.

Grasshoppers: Adults can be fed with grasshoppers for several days in a row. Two per animal/ per day is the max. If they eat more, they tend to throw them up the next day.

Waxworms: They really love them. They’re mend as a treat or to fatten up animals that have lost a lot of weight. Be carefull!!!! Hatchlings could get problems defaecating up to death. Don’t feed large larves or too many small ones.

Dola’s: These are a lot healthier than waxworms. Not all animals like them though. Large larves can bite hard and excrete, for defense, a nasty tasting fluid. Unfortunately they are left alone by most because of this. It’s certainly worth a try. BEWARE!! Don’t overdo.

Buffalo-, meal- and Black Funges beetlelarves: very easy end tatsy food. They have a few disadvantages though; the outside is difficult to digest and when tey start spreading through your enclosure they are  very difficult too exterminate. Feed them for variation and certainly in good sizes. Small animals no large larves and certainly not the other way around. As soon as those worms are swallowed whole they can cause tremendous damage to intestinals and mouth.

Mice (pinkies): Mice of 1 or 2 days old and hairless.Not every animal likes them byt for variation certainly not a wrong choice. I only give them too adults during matingseason. Frozen mice are no problem when defrosted. It may sound a bit harsh but collareds eat anything.

Lizards: I’m not really into this but at the bottom you’ll find a movie from the wild.

TIPS:

Two Spot crickets are nice and big but also very aggressive. Don’t throw a bunch of them in. These crickets can do serious damage to your animals at night. Fieldcrickets are also big and have this disadvantage a lot less. Another good thing is that they don’t make as much noise.groot en vertonen dit gedrag veel minder.

Insects bought from pet-stores often lack nutritional value and are mostly dehydrated. Tjis is often caused by leaving them in their container for too long before feeding.

Crickets are easily gutt-loaded with oatmeal, fruit and vegetables. Beware!! Don’t feed kale to prey-items. This contains high levels of tannic acid which desolves calcium. A lot of carrots is also unadvicable. This contains caroten with too high a level Vitamin A. Dog- or catfood is also acceptable. This contains high levels of diferent nutrienst like proteins, vitamins and minerals. Make sure that it doesn’t contain high levels of salt. Too much salt can cause problems to urenal passages. It will also cause a very pale complexion because too much fluid is contracted from the body fluids

Breeding your own food is usually better then buying it form a shop. If you have a lot of reptiles it’s certainly worthwile. How to go about his can be read in several books. I’ve als put up a link in the link page. 

From work directly upstairs too feed..

A young Cr. collaris collaris eating a cricket.

Click here for a movie where a collared lizard eats another lizard. (1,47 Mb)

Dusting your pry-animals !

It’s certainly important to dust the prey before feeding your collareds. How and what has been food for a lot of discussions. That’s why I stick to what I use, think or experienced.

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