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Posted by kev on May 07, 2003 at 07:28:35:
In Reply to: How do you keep your colors??? posted by Aesear on May 05, 2003 at 17:33:07:
It seems your collareds may have been unhappy due to their surroundings. The colouring, or intensity of colour, is affected directly by the way you house them.
The first thing that you should have done was get a larger tank. A 20-gallon tank is WAY to small for even a single collared lizard. And the fact that your collareds were wild caught means they need even more space than captive bred collareds. I would say a minimum 50-gallon tank is required for a pair of WC collareds. Larger is always better.
Second, were the temperatures in the tank correct? I found temperature plays the largest roll in reptile colouring. If your tank is cooler than it's supposed to be, your collareds will be duller in colour. For collareds, the tank should have a proper temperature gradient of 90 degrees to 75 degrees with an elevated basking area in the 'hot' end of 105 to 115 degrees.
Although diet is also a factor in colour I've notice as long as you properly supplement with calcium and the occasional vitamin powder colours, and health, of your collared will be optimum. I've experimented with different foods and supplements and didn't notice any considerable differences between them when it came to the colour of my collareds.
One last note, wild caught lizards (animals in general) never do as well as captive bred lizards. If you do plan to keep collareds in the future, insure they are captive bred.
Hope this helps.
