Having seen a lizard living at home on the Internet or visiting friends, many people certainly want to get the same one for themselves. Because this is an unusual tenant and being in the house is, at the very least, quite exotic.

If you decide to have such a non-standard neighbor, then you should know how and what to feed the lizard. After all, when we get a cat or a dog, we usually do not have such questions, which cannot be said about information about reptiles, which is not so easy to find.

First you need to know that in our amazing nature there are a huge variety of species of lizards. At the moment there are about four thousand of them. Lizards have a different skin color, it mainly depends on their habitat and the temperature of the external environment.

In the temperate climate of Russia, reptiles that belong to the real or forest lizard family are most common. An exception is the southern regions of our vast Motherland, where such a species as the average omnivorous lizard is found.

By and large, all lizards can be divided into three types: meat-eaters, herbivores and omnivores. But in the wild, this distinction is often blurred and lizards can be found with a mixed type of diet, they do not neglect fruits, insects, vegetables and small mammals.

However, it is worth considering each type of food separately before deciding what to feed the lizard.

meat eaters

They are quite unpretentious in food, feeding them at home will not be difficult for you, but the costs will depend on the quantity and quality of “live” food and the size of the lizard. If your pet is a carnivore, then the basis of his diet will be insects, worms, locusts, flies, cockroaches and grasshoppers.

Also, depending on the size, you can pamper the lizard with rats and mice. Previously, rodents can be given a vitamin-calcium microinjection, it will enrich the body of the lizard with calcium after eating a mouse or a rat.

Of course, sometimes you can offer regular meat. It's worth noting that cockroaches aren't the ones that live in your kitchen under the sink, but are specially bred black cockroaches that are bred to feed spiders, lizards, and other reptiles.

Remember that there should be a norm in everything and you should not overfeed the lizard with meat and fish. And before giving such products to your pet, remove the cartilage from the meat, if any, and the bones from the fish.

Snails! Snails are a great food option for a lizard at home. They are very easy to breed, plus the calcium contained in their shells is indispensable for most reptile species. It is not for nothing that cuttlefish shells, eggshells and other sources of calcium are often present in a healthy diet.

herbivores

The basis of nutrition for a herbivorous lizard at home is vegetables and various fruits.

The most suitable ones are:

1. Apple.
2. Carrot.
3. Potatoes (rare)
4. Cabbage.
5. Grape.
6. Lettuce leaves.

And you can offer the lizard these products mixed. However, you should be very careful with potatoes, because they often contain a large amount of nitrates.

Before giving food to the lizard, remove the peel from them and cut into small slices. During feeding, observe the reptile, study its tastes and subsequently try to build on the preferences of the pet.

Herbivorous individuals at home should be offered insects once every two weeks. Carnivores, on the contrary, need to be given plant foods.

omnivores

With this type of food, the matter is quite simple; at home, omnivorous lizards can also be fed food, as listed above for carnivores and herbivores.

However, do not try to feed the animal with sweets and other human food, it is very harmful to their body and can lead not only to poisoning, but also to serious diseases.

Do not forget that lizards are cold-blooded animals, they will not eat food at temperatures below 20⁰ C, so a thermometer should always be at hand, which will allow you to carefully monitor the temperature in the terrarium.

Feeding reptiles should be daily, but if the pet does not eat the offered food, it may be worth reducing the feeding to once every two days. If the appetite does not appear within a week, immediately contact a veterinary clinic.

How to feed a reptile

So, we have considered what you can feed the lizard with, let's now find out what nuances there are in the process itself. Young reptiles are fed with tweezers, while adults are fed food in a petri dish type feeder. Lizards are diurnal and nocturnal, and they need to be fed at home during the hours of greatest activity.

After eating, uneaten leftovers are removed from the terrarium. Most lizards lick the water off the leaves of various plants, so be sure to mist them regularly. For some species, a simple drinker is also suitable. The water in it should always be clean and fresh.

Sometimes it happens that the lizard refuses to eat, but drinks plenty of water, do not be alarmed, most likely the reptile has a fasting day.

Contents and conditions in the terrarium

For normal nutrition of a lizard at home, you need to equip a terrarium that will recreate the atmosphere of its usual habitat. Firstly, the size, it should not overly restrict the movement of the reptile around the home.

A good height is selected quite simply, you need to measure the length of the reptile and multiply it by two, the resulting figure will become the minimum height for a suitable terrarium. The bottom is covered with earth, you can also use sand, tree bark or coconut flakes.

In nature, lizards love various trees, so you can put a couple of small snags on the bottom of the terrarium. When kept at home, keep an eye on the presence of two temperature zones in the terrarium during the day. In the cold zone, the temperature should not exceed 30⁰ C, and in the hot zone it should be kept at about 36⁰ C.

If you create normal conditions for keeping a reptile, then you will not have problems with the nutrition of the lizard.

If the lizard refuses to eat, then you should not immediately look for a disease and sound the alarm, perhaps the temperature is uncomfortable for the reptile, or she decided to arrange a fasting day, which does not go beyond the norm.

At the same time, the pet looks good and does not show signs of any ailment. Subject to the above recommendations, this exotic pet will bring joy to your house and surprise guests for a long time to come.