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What Do Baby Lizards Eat? [3 Food Items Discussed]

What Do Baby Lizards Eat? [3 Food Items Discussed]

Are you curious about what young lizards feed on? We were curious too, to fulfill our curiosities we did some digging.

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What do baby lizards eat? Baby lizards eat insects such as crickets, spiders, ants, flies, worms, vegetables, and fruits. Baby house lizards eat insects, wild baby lizards should be fed insects. You should also make sure baby lizards have access to clean and fresh water daily.

What baby lizards eat is determined by whether they are carnivorous, herbivorous, or, omnivorous. Carnivorous baby lizards eat insects such as crickets, ants, flies, grasshoppers, worms, spiders, small rodents, while herbivorous baby lizards eat fruits and vegetables. Omnivorous Baby lizards eat insects while young and herbivory diet as adults.

Baby lizards also need to drink clean, fresh, and chlorine-free water, and they will need to eat regularly. To take care of baby lizards always ensure their enclosure has optimal conditions.

Baby lizards can go for about a week without food and a bit longer for baby lizards that belong to bigger lizards. Contrary to what most people think, baby lizards can eat plant materials such as fruits and vegetables besides eating bugs.

Most baby lizards tend to be carnivorous when they are young and graduate to a diet composed of both animal protein and plant materials. Adult lizards tend to prefer a more herbivorous diet compared to a carnivorous diet for instance the bearded dragons.

However, there are lizards that are herbivores throughout their life such as iguanas.

The diet of a baby lizard is determined by whether they are insectivorous, herbivorous, carnivorous, or omnivorous.

For baby insectivorous lizards

  • Small crickets
  • small grasshoppers
  • small spiders
  • small worms
  • small cockroaches

For baby carnivorous lizards

  • small mice
  • small rats
  • small gerbils
  • small worms

For baby herbivorous lizards

  • Collard greens
  • mustard greens
  • Turnip greens
  • Romaine greens
  • some flowers
  • Swiss chards
  • Parents feces (skinks)

For baby omnivorous lizards

  • alfalfa sprouts
  • carrots
  • insects
  • yellow squash
  • most leafy vegetables

What do wild lizards eat?

In the wild, the diet of baby or adult lizards is determined by the species of the lizard. For instance, bearded dragons prefer a more insect-rich diet when young and graduate to a more herbivorous diet as adults.

So, in the wild lizards eats

  • Small worms and insects such as flies, spiders, beetles among other insects
  • Small animals like nestlings, smaller lizards and rodents
  • Veggies and fruits
  • eggs
  • Carrion

What do lizards eat in the desert?

In the desert, the diet of lizards is made of

  • Insects and their larvae plus worms [spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, other lizards and scorpions
  • Ocassional fruits and vegetation

Some of the plants that lizards in the desert include cactus or some of the seasonal plants that grow after short rains.

What do garden lizards eat?

The diet of garden lizards is made of insects, worms, and vegetables

  • Hornworms
  • spiders
  • crickets
  • ants
  • flies
  • Insects larvae
  • Fruits and vegetables

What do small lizards eat?

Small lizards eat the following food items as long as they can fit in their mouth

  • Mosquitoes
  • Grasshoppers
  • Crickets
  • Worms
  • Ants
  • Termites

Do small lizards eat grass?

There is a group of lizards that eat a herbivory diet for their entire life such as iguanas. Such lizards may eat some types of grass as part of their diet, however, grass should not make up their entire diet.

However, most small lizards prefer an insect-based diet rather than a grass diet.

what do common lizards eat?

The common lizards eat a diet composed of either insect such as mosquitoes, crickets, grasshoppers, ants, termites, fruits, and vegetables. They can either hunt during the day or at night, hunting near light sources at night.

How do lizards reproduce?

Lizards generally reproduce via two methods Laying eggs or giving birth.

Egg laying Lizards

Egg-laying lizards are the majority, animals that lay eggs are normally called oviparous.

Normally after fertilization which is internal eggs develop inside the female lizards who then deposits them in a thermally stable environment such as under a rock, abandoned bird nest, rock or tree crevices, tree trunk in the wild or in some rugs, or wall crevices for lizards that are found in our homes.

On average lizards takes about 4 to 8 weeks to hatch, with some exceptions that may take longer than 8 weeks or shorter than 4 weeks.

Live birth lizards

Well, very few lizards belong to this group of animals known as viviparous. Surprisingly enough, there are lizards that can lay eggs and also give birth to a situation known as a bimodal reproduction source.

Of all more than 6500 lizards globally only three species of lizards can give birth and lay eggs at the same time.

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Two of these species are located in Australia, strange enough scientists were able to find a three-toed skink lizard that laid eggs and gave birth in the same litter.

When the bimodal reproducing lizards lay eggs, they do not do it like their absolute egg-laying relatives.

Normally eggs are retained in their mother for a long time, they are then incubated by the mother for about 35 days.

However, egg-laying three-toed skinks eggs can hatch in as little as 5 days after being laid.

Egg-laying lizard babies normally feed on the egg yolk until they hatch and the egg yolk reserve can serve them for some time as they grow strong enough to forage for themselves.

For other lizards that give birth, the mother lizards normally either incubate the eggs in her belly feeding them through the placenta source.

Do lizards take care of their young ones?

Lizards demonstrate varied parental care to their young ones. There are four strategies that lizards offer parental care.

Selective strategies

Every species of lizards has a different way of caring for their young ones. Some species offer some parental care while others do not offer any parental care at all.

It is uncommon for predatory species to eat their species and for such species, it is better for the young ones to disperse as soon as they hatch. Some do not even leave long enough to offer any parental care.

Abandonment strategy

Instead of taking care of their young ones, these lizards will lay eggs in a safe secluded place where temperatures are stable enough for the eggs to hatch. Then they will leave them to hatch and take care of themselves.

These baby lizards suffer from predation, diseases some do not even hatch, due to these factors abandonment lizards lay soo many eggs. This way at least some lizards will survive.

Protective parents

Some lizards on the other hand will provide some protective care to their young ones. As a result of offering some degree of parental care, these lizards do not have a lot of babies, as the survival rate can be high.

Parental care is most common among the skink’s lizard. For instance, the five-lined skink lizards lay about 10 eggs and protect them till they hatch.

Long-tailed skinks on the other hand will even protect their eggs from predators such as snakes.

This form of parental care is very common among the viviparity and viviparity lizards. They will protect their young ones with optimal temperatures in the uterus plus food until they are born. Then babies are left to feed for themselves.

Prehensile Parents

These species of lizards offer the most and elaborate form of parental care. Again this species of lizards is composed of the skink lizard for example the Prehensile-tailed skinks.

Once born, Prehensile-tailed skinks babies remain with their mother for about six months to a year.

During this period, the mother and the father lizards will offer protection and care to the baby lizards. Additionally, baby lizards will eat their parent’s feces that go along to boost their guts bacteria that help to digest their food.

What do baby lizards eat in the wild?

What Do Baby Lizards Eat

Baby lizard’s diet in the wild will be determined by whether it is herbivore, carnivore, insectivore, or omnivore.

For herbivore baby lizards they will start with plant materials right away. And since most herbivorous lizards will be found near where their diet is.

These baby lizards will not have a hard time finding what to eat, their diet will range from, flowers to tender plant stems and leaves.

For insectivorous baby lizards, their diet will compose mostly of small insects that come their way, remember these lizards are not as good foragers as their parents.

In some instances, they may even become food for the same insects they are hunting. Some of the insects that insectivorous baby lizards can eat in the wild include but are not limited to small spiders, flies, worms, crickets, roaches, and grasshoppers among others.

For carnivorous wild baby lizards in the wild, their diets will be composed of small animals that come their way, some of these carnivorous may even eat other smaller lizards.

But their diet will range from small birds, insects, smaller mammals, and so on. Examples of carnivorous lizards include the komodo lizards when mature komodo lizards can even eat a buffalo.

For omnivorous wild baby lizards, their diet is varied, these lizards will easily adapt to the new environment, this is so because they can either be carnivorous, insectivorous, or herbivorous.

Most of the omnivorous lizards are insectivorous /carnivorous when young and transition to herbivorous as they grow old such as the bearded dragons.

These lizards will make some of the best pet lizards since they can be offered a wide range of food, some of which are readily available.

Omnivorous wild baby lizards will eat plant materials such as young stems and leaves and flowers plus any insects that come their way.

How do you take care of a wild baby lizard?

Most baby lizards can take care of themselves right from the word go in the wild. When they hatch, baby lizards are self-sufficient, they can walk, run and forage for themselves.

While in the wild these lizards do not anyone to feed them the right diet and do so on their own. At home, you may be wondering what your baby lizards need to survive.

Humidity

The first step when taking care of your pet baby lizards is to understand the humidity requirements. If these baby lizards come from your pet lizards then you must be familiar with the humidity requirements of your lizard’s species.

Setting the right humidity for your baby pet lizards is very important for their survival.

Temperature

Different species of lizards require different temperature settings. Given that lizards are cold-blooded animals means that they get their warmth and heat from their surroundings.

Lizards that come from the deserts may be accustomed to high temperatures as opposed to lizards that come from forest floors.

Understanding the temperature ranges for your lizard species is very important for its survival.

Food

As mentioned earlier, most lizards will have a substantial food reserve from the egg yolk.

Unlike in the wild, captive lizards rely on their owners to provide them with food. Each species of lizards needs a specific type of food for growth and development.

It is your duty to make sure that the food your offer to your lizards contains all the nutrients that it needs, for nutrients that cannot be provided through feeding, you will need to offer them as supplements.

Young and mature lizards need calcium for bone development, therefore ensuring they get calcium in their diet or through supplementation lays squarely on you.

A baby lizard without enough calcium in their diet will suffer from metabolic bone disease which can be life-threatening especially for young lizards.

Ensure they receive a balanced diet each and every day.

Light (UVB light)

In the wild lizard’s access sunlight which their bodies use to synthesize vitamin D3, which is very important in their bodies as it helps in the absorption of calcium and strengthening of bones.

Lack of enough vitamin D3 can affect their growth and development, while vitamin D3 can be offered through supplementation. The best way is to provide it by having a special UVB light in the baby lizard’s enclosure.

With this special light, they will be able to synthesize vitamin D3 on their own.

Water

Always ensure your lizard is well hydrated at all times. While some lizards can take water without being forced to or without much effort from your end. Some lizards have trouble drinking water due to the fact that they cannot see water such as bearded dragons.

For such lizards, you should find strategies to give them water. One of the ways to make sure your lizard is hydrated is to give them food that has a high water content for lizards that do not like drinking from the bowl.

Remember, some lizards such as bearded dragons cannot see still water, misting is another way to hydrate your lizards, some lizards will enjoy swimming and can take water via their vent.

How to handle baby lizards

In the wild baby, lizards are born being self-sufficient, they can walk run and forage for themselves right from the word go.

However, captive baby lizards need your care and it may involve handling to move them from the incubator to their enclosures or generally from one point to another.

Generally avoid moving your baby lizards from one place to another, as they are delicate.

Secondly, and most importantly ensure your hands are clean and disinfected, for safety measures wear some gloves.

Never, handle any lizard mature or young by holding their tails. Most lizards are adapted to “dropping” their tails when held by their predators in the wild, for those that do not ‘drop’ their tail they can aggressively bite.

Although their bites are not harmful, no one likes being bitten right?.

Conclusion

The diet of a baby lizard will largely be determined by whether it is an omnivore, a herbivore, a carnivore, or an insectivore. Carefully consult a vet if you are unsure before starting to breed your pet lizards. Some lizards can be carnivores when young and herbivores when old.