The lizard is a fairly exotic pet. If you don't want to walk your dog in the morning or clean the litter box every day, and the noise from the guinea pig makes you nervous, try introducing a pet lizard. She does not wake up in the morning, does not make any loud sounds, she has no wool, she does not need much space in the room. But in order to keep this animal, you must provide it with a number of specific conditions.
Keeping a lizard at home
Before you decide to get a lizard, you need to set up a terrarium for it. This animal must have its place in your house, otherwise it can get sick, injured, or simply run away. You can choose a terrarium for your pet of almost any shape, but its height should be 2 times longer than the body of the lizard.
The bottom must be covered with earth. It should be free of various additives or fertilizers. Instead of soil, you can use sand or coconut flakes. Pieces of paper or rodent shavings are also good options. Alternatively, you can line the bottom of the terrarium with large pieces of bark. In its natural habitat, the lizard loves different trees, so you can put several branches in the animal's housing.
Keeping a lizard house assumes that there are always two temperature zones in the terrarium. The cold one should be warmed up to 30 degrees, and the hot one - up to 36. The temperature at night should not be lower than 21 degrees. It is possible to preheat the hot zone with a glass ceramic / infrared lamp or an incandescent lamp. A special mat, which you can buy at the pet store, will provide heating to the soil.
Domestic lizards need constant bright lighting. Therefore, install an ultraviolet lamp for it. If you want to have several pets at the same time, you need to make sure that there are several heated areas in the terrarium.
For keeping lizards at home, humidity is considered optimal at least 50-70%. There are several ways to create it. Place a bowl of water in a cool area of the terrarium. The size of such a bowl must be chosen taking into account the size of the pet: the lizard should easily climb into it. You can achieve the required moisture and using damp sponges or spraying. Do not forget to periodically check the quality of ventilation in the terrarium, as pathogenic fungi can form at high humidity.
How to feed lizards at home?
In summer, you can feed the lizard 3 times a day. In winter, two meals a day will be enough for her. Offer your pet different insects - for example, crickets, spiders, mealworms. In addition, the lizard will not refuse to eat small mammals or bird eggs.
You can make the following mixture for this animal at home: Mix the minced meat and finely grated carrots in equal proportions, then add the chopped lettuce leaves, and sprinkle with a small amount of vitamin and mineral supplements on top. Pay attention to the fact that the latter does not have a pungent odor that can scare off the lizard.
This animal should be fed during the period of its activity. If you have multiple pets, they need to be given food separately. Be sure to make sure that your pet eats her portion. When the lizard is active, it drinks water well, but at the same time it eats a little, there is no reason to worry.
Young animals need to be fed with tweezers, while adults can feed on their own from a small bowl. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after feeding the lizards.
