Collared lizard care sheet

The collared lizard is definitely one of the more colorful lizards to own. They are a smaller lizard, reaching lengths of 11 to 14 inches, but are considerably active and need a large cage.

They can live for more than 10 years if cared for properly.

Check out this video showing the Impressive collared lizard in action.

Cage

As mentioned above, their cage needs to be somewhat larger than what you would think. I would say a minimum cage size would be 4 feet long by 18 inches tall by 18 inches deep.

As with most pet lizards, never house two males together, as they are very territorial and will fight for dominance.

You need to create a temperature gradient, whereby one side of the cage is hotter than the other. This is easily achieved by putting a heat lamp on one side of the cage. Your collared will appreciate this as it allows him to self regulate his temps.

As with other pet lizards, the collared needs two hides -one on the hot side one on the cool. Providing a temperature gradient in addition to two hides will greatly reduce the stress your collared has to go through.

Even though a collared is not known for its climbing abilities, rocks and large branches should be provided. Care must be taken to make sure these items are secure and will not collapse and injure your collared lizard.

Newspaper or paper towels can be safely used as substrate. Sand should probably be avoided as there is a risk your collared will ingest some of the sand and become impacted.

Lighting

A Collared needs a full spectrum of lighting. A UVB bulb plus a heat lamp is needed to mimic the Suns rays in the wild. Most lizards need UVB to produce vitamin D3 in order to properly absorb calcium.

A collared lizard needs a basking spot in the neighborhood of 105°. The cooler side of the tank should be around 75 to 80°. Temps can fall to 65° at night.

A mercury vapor bulb will provide both heat and the UVB light. Whatever lights you get be sure you read the directions as to how far away the light needs to be to safely provide UVB light to your collared.

Put your lights on an automatic timer, in which the lights are on 12 hours a day.

Food

Collared lizards dine on insects. Crickets, roaches, super worms, horned worms and silkworms are all good items to feed to your collared.

A variety of the insects above should be offered. Always gut load your feeder bugs with nutritious vegetables and fruits 24 hours to 48 hours before you feed them to your collared. The size of the insect you offer needs to be around half the width of your collared's mouth.

A vitamin supplement and a calcium supplement needs to be incorporated into your collared's diet. Babies and juveniles need to have their insects dusted with these supplements three times a week. Adults need a dusting once a week.

A water dish needs to be provided and changed on a daily basis. Your collared will walk through and defecate in the water, so care needs to be taken to avoid excessive bacteria.

Be sure and read three or four more care sheets, and research a book or two to better prepare yourself for owning the beautiful lizard known as the collared lizard.