What Do Lizards Eat?

There are over 5,000 species of lizards populating the Earth. As with any animal, reptile, bird or fish their diet is dependent on their environment. Lizards will adapt themselves to the food sources that are available in their habitat. With this many species of lizards, they break down into a few broad categories of diets.

Lizards eat diets based on the type of foods their metabolisms can handle. They are either herbivores (plant eaters) omnivores plant and meat eaters) or carnivores (meat eaters).

Herbivores

If your lizard is an herbivore, it exists on the vegetation that fills their habitat. This will normally include fruits of the plants. They obtain their nutrition by munching on the leaves of the various vegetation in their habitat.

Some plants can be poisonous to lizards and are normally avoided. If you are keeping a pet lizard and it is an herbivore, some excellent choices for food include:

• Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Green leafy vegetables

As special treats, you can supplement these with bits of fruit. They especially like bits of apples, grapes and melons. If you are keeping a lizard as a pet, there are also special pelletized foods available at the pet store that will provide the proper nutrition for your lizard. There is a chance, however, that your lizard may not take to the dry pellet type food and you may have to resort to prepping fresh greens for them each day.

Omnivores

Lizards that are omnivores have a much wider diet to choose from. Omnivores will eat virtually everything. They will eat greens, fruits and vegetables like the herbivores, but will also eat meat like carnivores. They will also feed on worms and small insects such as crickets. These lizards are very opportunistic feeders: if it’s available, then that’s what they will eat.

If you are providing for your pet lizard and need to acquire protein laden insects for their diet, the insects can be found both in bait shops and in pet stores. It is always a good idea to purchase your insects rather than catch them in the wild. Wild insects may run the risk of being exposed to pesticides and chemicals that would not be good for your lizard to eat. To enhance the nutritional value of your insects, you can sprinkle powdered vitamin supplements on them before you feed them to your lizard.

While your lizard will have a wider range of foods to choose from, if you have tried the pelletized feed found in pet shops and your lizard won’t eat it, the daily method of making food for them is not that time consuming. Just remember that if your lizard is an omnivore, don’t neglect to provide the live insect portion of their diet.

Carnivores

The final category of lizards is carnivores. Carnivores prefer their food to be alive and moving. They are not interested in eating rabbit food. They want the worms and insects to give them a chase for dinner. Providing crickets and mealworms will not only supply the nutrition for your lizard but also give them the exercise of having to catch their dinner.

Feeding a Lizard

When feeding your lizard, you should remember to shred their food into bite size pieces. The food for a gecko is not going to be the same size as for an iguana. A good rule of thumb is to make the pieces no larger than the distance between their eyes. This will help their digestion and keep them from becoming sick.

Be sure to keep their food dish clean and free from decomposed food and mold. The food dish should be heavy, as your lizard may climb in it to eat. In addition, you must supply a container of clean water, but place it a bit away from the food to help keep it from being contaminated with the food particles. As some lizards are very small, placing cotton balls in the water container will help to keep them from drowning.

You should be able to provide a healthy diet for your pet lizard. Remember, take good care of your pet and they will thank you for it.