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Cncyana   Acre   Cncyana   Cncyana   LizardnamedCookie   Acre   Cncyana

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#2265289 Cncyana View Profile	How long will health alligator lizard go without food? We need to go on a 2 week trip this summer and want to leave the lizard at home. We have a healthy medium sized alligator lizard, well fed, original long tail intact (good fat stores). Caught the critter at our Southern CA home - sitting at our front door one afternoon LOL! I am thinking about doing the following: 1) Place a box with a hole containing a couple dozen small crickets into the lizard cage (plus cricket food in box). 2) Bowl of mealworms with oatmeal/apple slice. 3) Water dish plus water dispenser. 4) Loading up the lizard with food prior to trip - my past experience with OTHER alligator lizards has been to hold the lizard and place a mealworm into the mouth and repeat several times until the stomach folds on the sides expand a bit. Haven’t tried this with this particular lizard yet. 5) Place cage in shade indoors. What do you all think? What do you do for your lizzy when you have to leave town?
05/04/12  02:02pm
#2265298 Acre View Profile	Message To: Cncyana   In reference to Message Id: 2265289  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? For two weeks I would do absolutely nothing except leaving water in the cage and possibly removing the heat source. Two weeks is a short time for a well fed gator lizard. The mealworm-in-the-mouth business is excessive. SoCal may be different but in the northern coastal area where I live the fog often blows in for two weeks at a time, shutting everything down. Or there’s a false Spring followed by several more weeks of Winter. This is an animal from the wild and in the wild, stuff happens; they’re used to it. He’ll just be glad to see you when you’re home.
05/04/12  04:34pm
#2265428 Cncyana View Profile	Message To: Acre   In reference to Message Id: 2265298  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? Acre, thanks for your help. I appreciate it very much. Now we can leave town without feeling guilty or worrying about that critter. Our kid has named it ’Sammy’. Almost got completely lose in our living room this morning - had to move furniture and a lot of stuff to chase it down - what a way to start the morning lol! I also took a real good look at it today up-close with a flashlight - especially the toes and ear holes to look for ticks. Looks clean. Don’t want to get lyme disease which would be way more than we bargained for. Anyway, thanks for putting our fears to rest. Critters so far: Sammy the Southern CA Alligator Lizard. Romans 14:12: So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
05/06/12  03:42am
#2265430 Cncyana View Profile	Message To: Cncyana   In reference to Message Id: 2265428  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? One more question: Member ’frogfreak’ said alligator lizards can be fed a mix of crushed dog or cat food mixed with some water and calcium and the lizzy grows faster and is more energetic. Has anyone else tried this?
05/06/12  04:01am
#2266115 LizardnamedCookie View Profile	Message To: Cncyana   In reference to Message Id: 2265289  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? What I would do is feed him a lot the day before you leave and a lot right before you leave also. Make sure that when you’re leaving there are still some crickets jumping in his cage. Turn of his heat lamp if he has one because If he has no heat he would be as active and won’t burn off as many calories or as much fat
05/12/12  12:16am
#2266344 Acre View Profile	Message To: Cncyana   In reference to Message Id: 2265430  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? It’s been done but my feelings about it are negative. It’s not a natural diet. Some reptiles fed diets richer than what they would get in the wild grow more rapidly but end up with skeletal problems or obesity down the line. It may be a harmless thing to do and it certainly sounds more convenient than crickets but crickets are easy and cheap enough (go with Pet Club, not Petco - Pet Club is half the price). I’m sure a little once in a while is OK.
05/14/12  11:16am
#2266766 Cncyana View Profile	Message To: Acre   In reference to Message Id: 2266344  How long will health alligator lizard go without food? Acre, ok you’re right - that high calorie/high protein from dog/cat food is not a natural diet. Talking about obese allligator lizards, I was commenting to my wife on the fact that when I google alligator lizard images, I get a lot of fat lizard pictures show up on my screen. You can actually see that they’re fat! Obesity in lizards? LOL! Only in America! Thanks for the Pet Club recommendation. I will use them to purchase crickets if we still have the lizzy toward winter. For now, it loves the large gnats we catch around here. I must say though, our lizard must be a female because it just doesn’t seem to get tame no matter how often we handle it. Always opening its mouth and threatening although it stopped hissing at us a few weeks ago. Bone to be wild I guess. Verse for the day: Matthew 12:36: But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
05/18/12  02:58pm

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