Horned Lizards

[Ravnos]

At the Austin Herp Society meeting last night our guest speaker was the president of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. He brought a slide presentation and talked about the various species in the US and how the laws for them are extremely screwed up and their populations are dramaically low.

He went on to talk about how most of the key members of the HLCS are getting up there in years, since the last time Horned Lizards were widely spread and easily found was in the early 70s, the newer people getting involved just don't have the same memories and urge to contribute to the society as a whole. Much work needs to be done, and they sponsor grants and many projects to further our knowledge of the Horned Lizard.

Some species info... there are 13 recognized species of Horned Lizard native to the US. Seven species are oviparous and six are viviparous. They live in a variety of semi-arid environments in most of the SW states. California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, with pocket populations in other places as well. Their diet is insectivorous and they are near impossible to keep in captivity. Even the people trained for years on how to care for Horned Lizards in captivity have an incredibly high mortality rate - they just simply do not do well, even when given a 'native' diet. As a defense mechanism against canids, they have an openable valve on the side of their eyes from which they can shoot a stream of blood. An incredible amount for an animal of such a small size. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Most species are protected by state laws in their appropriate ranges, but not all of them. The Horned Lizard Conservation Society has been trying to get some uniformity in the laws, or even get the animals federally protected since the early 90s, with little success.

I encourage anyone interested in learning more about Horned Lizards, or contributing to the society to join. They have a mailing list, news letters, and various events around the southwest.



Rav
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[Blackwidow_woman]

[img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img] Very nice Rav,, these lizards use to be caught by the hords,, i mean lots of people would catch them back in my days and keep them as pets only to watch them die slowly, lack of there natural food prey-ants,, and they should be feed a certain ant to boot.. Harvester ants,, some horn lizards would take wax worms and maybe few crix but they sometimes throw up the food they ate...Pluss they were not housed properly.. I think its great you put this post in Rav,,, and that you encourage people to learn more about them and to suport these wonderful little lizards...... [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
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	Crickets Crix

[Ravnos]

Of course, it would probably have been more useful if I gave a link to the Horned Lizard Conservation Society web page.

I can't stress enough that these little guys need our help, if there is a cause you want to get involved with to do with native lizards - this is the one. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Rav
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[Bry]

I found a supplier of harvester ants for horned lizards. There are a few others, but they're supposedly more expensive, and I can't find their sites anyway. This site sells 500 harvester ants for $10 + shipping.

Ants Alive

Bry
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[Ravnos]

Even when being fed a native diet, horned lizard still do not do well in captivity. The 'experts' have trouble keeping them alive even. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] And not all species eat the ants, and the ants still are not their entire diet. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Rav
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