Spiny Lizard
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Texas Spiny Lizards are most often found in mesquite trees. Their camouflage makes them quite difficult to see when they are lying still on a trunk or branch. They often prefer hollow trees that have lots of cracks or holes in which they can hide, in addition to live trees. They are very quick and agile and eat insects.
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Males also have a slender blue patch on either side of their bellies, while females may have dark, wavy lines over their legs.
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Males have lighter colored stripes running laterally over their backs. Females have darker colored wavy lines and their background colors are often lighter than those of males. The scales over their backs are long and spiny. The toes and tails of Texas Spiny Lizards are also quite long.
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A good way to slow a lizard down without doing harm is to spray the lizard with cold water from the hose. The cold water slows down their bodies, this making them easier to grab. Make sure to dry them off if it is cold out, or they may be freezing for quite awhile.
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Texas Spiny Lizards usually grow to between 7.5 and 12 inches. They are mostly reddish brown, olive brown, or grayish brown, marked with a contrasting patterning over their backs.
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Texas Spiny Lizards spend the majority of their time in trees, though they can be observed on fence posts or walls in areas inhabited by humans. If a Texas Spiny Lizard does happen to be on or near the ground, it will run up a tree if startled.
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Will attach itself to you if it feels threatened
Average Life Span 8 – 10 years
ABOUT
Basic Care Plan for Spiny Lizard
They are hardy, adapt easily to captivity, and readily consume commercially available crickets, though they do require specialized ultraviolet (UVB and UVA) lighting. Care should be taken, though, in avoiding overfeeding of these lizards, as they will readily consume all available prey - causing digestion issues and possible deformities.
Desert Spiny Lizards are strict insectivores. Offer a variety of live insects including small
crickets, small mealworms, small waxworms, and cockroach nymphs.
Some lizards will eat store bought food such as freeze dried crickets and worms. Since this food source doesn’t move, not all will acknowledge its presence.
Feeding Feed babies and adults daily, although some keepers will feed adults every other day.
Dust food with calcium powder daily & a multivitamin once a week. Feed them the
amount they will eat in 10 minutes. Worms can be left in the food bowl.
Desert Spiny Lizards may be kept alone or in pairs. Never house two males together in
the same tank. Two females generally get along well. A male and female will likely
breed if housed together.
Size - An adult must have a minimum cage size of 30” Long x 12” Deep x 12” High.
Acceptable substrates are ground walnut shell, sand, or cage carpet. The main concern with walnut shell and sand is the possibility of compaction. If the dragon consumes large amounts of the substrate, it could cause intestinal blockage. Cage carpet is the safest option, however, it is difficult to clean easily.
Desert Spiny Lizard’s the environment should be kept hot and dry. Provide hiding places along with flat basking surfaces.
Temperature - A Desert Spiny Lizard’s basking spot should be 95° - 100° F. The cool
end of the tank can be as cool as 70° F.
Watering - Provide a bowl of fresh drinking water at all times.
Desert Spiny Lizards don’t drink often, however providing a water bowl is recommended. Some keepers mist their dragons once to twice a week with a spray bottle.
Lighting - Since this is a diurnal species, it requires two light bulbs. One is the heat
lamp which also emits UVA. The second is a UVB lamp. The UVB lamp will specifically say UVB on the box. If the box doesn’t say UVB, its not UVB.
