| Emerald Swift |
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| Emerald Swift Scientific Name: Sceloporus malachiticus Range: Mexico to Panama Size: 6" - 8" Housing The Emerald swift is a habitant of mountain forest and woodland habitats. In captivity, one adult can be housed in a 10 gallon enclosure. For a pair of swifts, it is recommended that you have at least a 20 gallon tank. Never house two males together, they will fight, causing harm and maybe even death to one. There should be plenty of branches and hiding places for the lizard in the tank. Behavior Many will become tame with regular handling. Most are docile and friendly, easy to handle. At first, like all lizards they might be a little skittish, but with a bit of patients they will get used to being handled. In order to train your lizard to like to be held, or at least that your not going to hurt them, pick it up for a couple of minutes each day, holding it inside of the cage to prevent escape, do this for about a week. When you are picking them up, do not come up from behind, this will startle the lizard and he may bite, to pick him up you should do is put one had in front of him and gently nudge it in to your hand. Heating and Lighting Day temperatures should be around 80-92 degrees F. Night temperature should be around 70-75 degrees F. It is recommended that you use a reptile heating pad as an under tank heater for 24-hour heat. UV lighting in addition to a heat lamp is required in order to raise a healthy lizard. A UV bulb (not ones made for plants, but specially for reptiles) can be purchased at most pet stores and should be on for 12-14 hours per day. The light however should not be more then 12 inches away from the basking area, the light looses its power and will be useless after 12 inches away. One of the best sources of UV light however is sunlight. If it is warm out, taking your lizard out for around a half an hour each day is the best way to go. Do not put the tank in the sun, the glass will magnify the light and bake the lizard, the glass also filters out he UV rays, making it pointless to set the tank out side. Water There should be a water dish in the tank at all times, the dish needs to be changed daily. You should also mist the tank once every three days. Feeding All food should be no larger then the space between the lizards eyes, or no larger then 1/2 the size of their head If the prey is to large then it will get caught in the digestive tracks, witch could be very deadly. Crickets should be the main part of their diet. They should be feed as many crickets as they will eat in a 15 minute time frame, once a day. The crickets should be gut loaded and dusted with a calcium supplement for proper nutrition. To gut load a cricket, all you need to do is put some fruit and some commercial cricket feed (availably at most pet stores) in the tank with the crickets. They will also eat a variety of larger worms (earthworms, meal/wax worms) and many other insects that are the correct size. Be careful about feeding them insects from the yard because they may carry parasites that could transfer to your lizard. All food items should be removed from the tank at night, because they can keep your lizard up, disturbing its sleep cycle and cause loads of stress that may even kill your lizard. Back |
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