Desert Horned Lizard Facts

July 30, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Here are a few facts about Desert Horned lizards–probably the most unique-looking lizards in the country. The Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos) is also known as the Horny Toad lizard or the Short-horned lizard and is native to desert terrains. These interesting-looking lizards are short, round, flat, and as their name suggests, horned. They have an array of spikey scales on their bellies and heads which make them appear quite fierce, although as pets they are pretty laid-back.

horned lizard facts — Horned lizards are one of the most unique-looking reptiles in the United States. Their primary diet is ants, but they will accept other food items.

Horned lizards can be tough to keep in captivity due to the fact that their main diet in the wild consists of ants, which are not necessarily easy to come by in the pet food trade. Horned lizards can and will eat other normal feeder insects such as crickets, but they need ants in their diet in order to thrive, so we recommend making sure you can acquire ants or live near an ant hill before you commit to a horned lizard as a pet.

The primary reason ants are an important part of their diet is because ants contain formic acid. Fortunately, there is a product produced by Repashy called Formic-Cal Plus, which is a supplement powder you can dust feeder insects with (such as crickets), so that the horned lizards are getting proper amounts of formic acid.

Certain horned lizards, such as the Phrynosoma asio (Giant Mexican Horned lizard) can be fed crickets and other insects exclusively.

horned toad facts — Horned lizards are also known as “horned toads.”

The most bizarre thing about these amazing lizards is their primary defense mechanism against predators. Not only can they puff themselves up and make themselves hard to swallow, but they can squirt blood out of the corners of their eyes with fairly decent accuracy! It’s assumed that they aim for predators’ eyes and only use this tactic as a last resort.

horned lizard squirting blood — This is how the Horned Lizard shoots blood from its eyes. Photo from www.discovery.com.

These flat little lizards are excellent burrowers and camouflagers. They like to remain very still and blend in with their surroundings or submerge themselves in desert sand to hide out from potential threats. In captivity, this means you should provide them with a substrate that accommodates their burrowing, such as a compacted sand and soil mix, as well as provide plenty of hide spaces. Remember, substrate that is too dry will not properly hold a burrow.

Backwater Reptiles regularly offers Horned Lizards for sale. They are not necessarily the best pet reptiles for beginners due to their somewhat specialized diet, but experienced herp hobbyists should have no trouble keeping these squat little critters happy.

What Do Pixie Frogs Eat?

July 27, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Are you wondering what Pixie frogs eat? If you’ve ever seen a Pixie Frog (Pyxicephalus adspersus), we bet you couldn’t help but fall in love. These frogs are adorable when they’re babies and as they grow older and pudgier, they’re quite possibly even cuter!

Pixie Frogs are great pet amphibians because they are extremely hardy and they are pretty docile overall, which means they don’t mind being handled and held. Oh, and another thing we should mention that probably contributes to their popularity is that these frogs are fatties and will eat pretty much anything you allow them to, making feeding time fun for both frog and owner.

That brings us to the discussion of what you should actually feed your pet Pixie Frog. What do they eat in captivity?

Pixie frog pet — Pixie frogs eat just about anything that moves, so be careful because they do have teeth!

What we feed our Pixie frogs

At the Backwater facility, we feed our Pixies dusted, gut-loaded crickets on a regular basis and supplement with other types of insects such as wax worms, meal worms, and even roaches. It’s important to note that the size of insect you are feeding your Pixie should be appropriate to their body size. Mid-size Pixies should eat mid-size insects, babies should eat small insects, and full-grown frogs weighing from three and a half to five pounds can eat large insects (i.e.locusts, large night crawlers, and big beetles). Full-grown Pixies can also eat frozen/thawed mice in moderation. Overall, no matter what size your Pixie is, be sure that it has a varied diet as this helps to ensure it receives all the nutrients it requires to be a happy, healthy, amphibian.

https://youtu.be/tos1if8tLxQ

Because Pixies are prone to obesity (especially in captivity), you must be careful of how often you feed your froggie friend. Babies will of course need to eat more frequently than adults. It’s recommended to feed your baby frog twice a day and your adult frog once per day. Adult frogs also need their insects dusted less frequently than babies do.

Pyxicephalus adspersus — Here’s a fat Pixie frog, which was fed crickets and roaches.

Lots of Pixie parents have trained their frogs to eat from tongs. If this is the case, you can feed your frog canned insects too. This is helpful for some people who might have an aversion to live, wriggling feeder insects.

Backwater reptiles has both captive bred hatchling Pixie Frogs for sale as well as slightly larger frogs in the two to four inch range. You can also purchase a range of feeder insects of varying sizes for your own hungry Pixie.

Drosophila melanogaster vs. Drosophila hydei

July 22, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

In this blog post we compare and contrast Drosophila melanogaster vs. Drosophila hydei. Tiny reptiles and amphibians eat tiny food – makes sense right? But what, you might ask, is tiny enough to feed to a hatchling pygmy chameleon or a baby dart frog (both of which can measure only a half inch long)? The answer is fruit flies.

Backwater Reptiles sells two different kinds of feeder fruit flies – Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila hydei. This article will detail the differences and similarities between the two. Hopefully it will help you decide which type of fruit fly to feed to your tiny critter.

When you place an order with Backwater Reptiles for a vial, jar, or fruit fly culture kit, you will receive the product via overnight delivery, which helps insure live arrival. Shipping these delicate insects via 2-4 day delivery is a risk.

Any fruit fly kit, jar, or vial from Backwater Reptiles comes equipped with food and egg laying material –everything the flies need to reproduce for at least three weeks. We recommend letting them breed and lay eggs for a few days before beginning to feed flies to your reptile, amphibian, or invertebrate. If you feed them off too quickly, the colony won’t reach it’s full potential.

melanogaster-vs-hydei — A close up of the jar of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies. The jar contains a food source and everything the flies need to reproduce for several weeks. The inside of this jar is a bit too wet–this happens when there isn’t adequate ventilation (usually a screen top will suffice).

The main difference between the two species of fruit flies is size. D. melanogaster are generally 1/16th of an inch long, whereas D. hydei are approximately 1/8th of an inch long. D. hydei are therefore quite a bit “meatier” and larger of the two species.

fruit fly comparison — Notice how Drosophila melanogaster is smaller than Drosophila hydei. Both are flightless, but melanogaster can jump.

D. melanogaster are not only great feeder insects, but they are very commonly used in scientific experiments. Different genetic varieties exist and there are even wingless variations which make good feeders because they obviously can’t fly away to escape predators. D. hydei can also be bred and purchased as flightless insects, however they will usually still retain their wings. None of the fruit flies we sell can fly.

As far as regeneration of fruit fly specimens goes, D. melanogaster has a quicker life cycle than D. hydei. Starting from scratch, it usually takes around 14 days for a new bunch of D. melanogaster to emerge and from day 14 through 30, new feeder flies are available consistently on a daily basis as new flies are constantly emerging. D. hydei on the other hand, has a regeneration cycle that begins around 21 days when the culture is started from scratch. D. hydei also have population “booms” – every five to seven days after the initial 21 day mark, the culture will go from seemingly empty to bursting with flies overnight. Each culture will produce approximately two to three booms.

A vial of D. hydei fruit flies. The blue at the bottom of the vial is the fly food, and the place where eggs are laid. The little white worms you see on the side of the container are eating the substance and will eventually form a cocoon.

Flightless cultures of both species of flies are capable of regenerating their ability to fly. Because flightlessness is a recessive gene, both parents have to possess this trait. If a wild fruit fly that can physically fly introduces its DNA into the gene pool, you will have flies born that can “magically” fly again. So if you don’t want to deal with pesky little fruit flies escaping and flying all over your home or your reptile’s enclosure, be sure to keep your culture safe from foreign fly DNA.

Both species of fruit flies are perfectly acceptable food for very small reptiles and amphibians. We recommend them for dart frogs, baby chameleons, tree frogs, salamanders, small scorpions, and spiderlings. Backwater Reptiles currently offers both varieties of feeder fruit flies for sale on our website.

This is what your jar of D. melanogaster fruit flies will look like. Notice the jar contains food, a ventilation screen, and everything needed for the flies to reproduce.

Five Things We Love About Toad Head Agamas

July 16, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Toad Head Agamas are fairly new to the reptile pet industry, but they are currently exploding in popularity. These lizards are very interesting and make super cool pets. In this blog, we decided we’d mention five things we really love about them.

1. Toad Head Agamas are unique in appearance. Not only do they have flaps on the sides of their heads that open up and create a Predator-esque mouth, but these lizards also look quirky when those flaps are relaxed. Their pug noses and eye ridges give them sort of a sleepy bulldog face and we’re definitely digging it. They’ve also got some crazy-long fingers and toes. They use them to dig, burrow, and shimmy into the sand.

toad head agama facts — When these agamas get upset or threatened, they flare their mouth flaps out and look like the “Predator.” Get to da’ choppuh!!

2. They have very friendly dispositions. When we handled our agamas for our photo shoot, these guys were calm, collected, and super chill. They definitely don’t mind being handled and their demeanor reminded us of bearded dragons – just so laid back.

phrynocephalus mystaceus agama — Check out how friendly these lizards are. They definitely don’t object to being handled. Their favorite food seems to be waxworms.

3. They have little black “bibs” at their neck. These agamas are true gentleman and the black bow ties or bibs underneath their necks prove it! Oh, and did we mention what sweet, gentle temperaments these guys have? :-)

toad head agama male — Check out this guys’ little bow tie! That’s how you can tell the males–they have a dark patch under their chin.

4. Toad Head Agamas grow to a very manageable size. In general, these guys won’t grow to exceed twelve inches, which means their enclosures also need not be excessively large. A 20 gallon terrarium should suffice. The ones pictured in the blog photos are medium-sized animals and are approximately seven inches long.

handling toad head agamas — Check out this Toad Head’s smile! Such a little sweetheart!

5. Feeding time is fun! Like bearded dragons, Toad Head Agamas are pretty much always down to eat. They are insectivores and will consume everything from crickets to roaches readily. Just make sure to vary their diet and they’ll happily chow down.

pet toad head agama — A full body shot of the Toad Head Agama.

Backwater Reptiles has Toad Head Agamas for sale. These lizards are selling out fast though, so be sure to snag yours before they’re gone!

10 Facts About the Argentine Black & White Tegu

July 15, 2015November 19, 2015 ~ BackwaterReptiles

Here’s a listing of the top 10 facts about the Argentine Black & White tegu, one of our favorite species of reptile. Backwater Reptiles just received a shipment of adorable hatchling Argentine black and white tegus. The little guys were so tame and we really enjoyed playing with them during our photo shoot, so naturally we wanted to shine the spotlight on these great little lizards. Read on to learn some facts about the Argentine black and white tegu.

1. The Argentine black and white tegu reaches a moderately large size. Adult males can exceed four feet in length and females will be slightly smaller, usually around three and a half feet in length. Hatchlings are generally not longer than eight inches.

argentine tegu facts — This hatchling tegu is in his “trailer” preparing for his photo shoot. What a diva. :)

2. Tegus make great pets for people prepared to keep a lizard of their size. They become tame and don’t mind being handled and their personalities are often likened to that of a cat.

3. Due to their size at adulthood, Argentine tegus will require a large enclosure. The more walking space they have, the better. Adult males should have enclosures that are no smaller than six feet long by two feet high.

4. Argentine black and white tegus can be housed together, provided you have a space large enough for them. They will need to be monitored closely however as breeding aggression can occur during their mating season.

5. These tegus need a daytime ambient temperature of 80 to 90 degrees to thrive. Night time temps can be anywhere from five to ten degrees cooler. They will also require a full spectrum UV light basking source in captivity, despite the fact that they burrow often.

6. Due to their burrowing habits, Argentine tegus should have a substrate in their enclosure that supports this habit. Coconut husks, orchid bark, and cypress mulch are all acceptable options.

7. Argentine black and white tegus are interior designers – they tend to rearrange the furniture in their enclosures to their liking, so it’s generally wiser to keep fewer decorative items (plants, large rocks, etc) in their homes. This will ensure they don’t harm themselves while burrowing underneath or pushing these items around the cage.

8. These tegus are omnivores and will eat lots of different types of food. Their staples are generally insects and protein items, but they should be offered fruit from time to time. Some tegus will enjoy the fruit while others will ignore it, but either way, variety in their diet is important.

9. Argentine tegus rarely bite, but hatchlings can be squirrelly and squirmy! Make sure to handle yours frequently to get it used to you. Be sure to never offer food with your hands as this could lead to improper association between food and your hand and therefore unintentional biting and aggression.

pet tegu facts — Handling one of our captive bred baby Argentine Black & White tegus.

10. It’s not unheard of for this species of tegu to live beyond fifteen years provided they are given proper care.

Backwater Reptiles has hatchling Argentine black and white tegus for sale.

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