Plated lizard

[lillyorchid]

Any one here have one of these?

[Smulkin]

I have 1.1 Sudanese Plateds (gherrosaurus major)

[lillyorchid]

Very cute!

We have one here at MARS that is adorable. Do they make go "first time" pet lizards? Do you know of any good care sheets out there on these guys? Also I've read that they don't get that big, is that true?

[Smulkin]

They are very mellow lizards seldom displaying aggression (though they do seem to have that hair-trigger tail-WHIP but that reaction seems almost autonomic).

If I had to go back knowing what I do now and find a different first lizard for our kids (who went with water dragon / iggy, respectively) I would definitely go with one of these guys in a heartbeat. Being accustomed to fairly arid climates they are easily maintainable and indeed don't get very big at all (compared to monitors, iguanas etc).

I've got to bolt home from work now but will pick this thread up again this evening - if we can't track down a good caresheet we might have to write up one of our own since it is not some of the most readily available on the net . . . (google mavens get crackin' in the meantime).

[lillyorchid]

I've looked on google, and well there really isn't any good good ones with a lot of info on them out there - well at least from what I can find.

[Smulkin]

Looks like I have more work to do hehe.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%2B%2...&start=10&sa=N

Needless to say I have not had the chance to go through all of those and see them. It may take me a while to be able to create a caresheet but I'd be happy to answer any questions you have (within my somewhat limited experience and ability) - in fact doing that may very well help the process!

I love these lizards but see them so very rarely! I am hoping we can get ours to breed again (and not eat the resulting eggs this time).

[lillyorchid]

Well what do you know, that link you posted links to the little guy/gal that I really like at MARS....

So far I've found these few sites to be I guess the "best".
(not sure if they are correct in info or not)

http://www.anapsid.org/plated.html

http://www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/plated.html

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/great_plated_lizard.htm

[Smulkin]

Cool deal.

I dont think the one pictured form MARS is a Sudanese (i think the one you have pictured gets a bit longer then ours) - but basic care should not deviate too much.

We've kept ours on desert blend and provided the kitty litter-box hides (rabernet recently posted some pics of them in another thread) as substitute "burrows".

We have UV on a timer and a basking area (light suspended over flat rock) - the temps range from mid 70's to ~90 right under the basking area. We feed them a varied diet of greens, crickets, dubia roaches and rat pinkies). By now they recognize the look of the inflated cricket bags from the pet store and begin to "stutter" (don;t know how else to explain their pop-n-lock movements) around when they see you approaching with it - often arching up in a "feed me" pose (see above).

They're not very fast and not good climbers - but if you have a long sleeve shirt on when handling them both will almost always crawl up your arm and hang out on your shoulder - makes for odd pirating

[lillyorchid]

What size tank would you say is a good size for one to live in?

[Smulkin]

I have ours in 30 gallon tanks (18x36x15h) with the sliding lids. If you use glass mask off 3 sides to give them a less "exposed" feeling. You can use plain cardboard or cut up some paper grocery bags or for something fancier buy those by-the-foot rolls of aquarium backgrounds.