Need more mouths to feed -- Suggestions for new pet lizard?

[Jayme]

I have an excess of food.. mealworms, hornworms, silkworms, waxworms. A lot of food goes to waste as I only have one leopard gecko. So the obvious solution is to get more lizards! If I get another leo, I was thinking about a SHTCTB or Eclipse.. But I think it would be interesting to explore keeping some other species.

I'm looking primarily to keep species that can eat the food mentioned above (primarily mealworms as a staple), doesn't outgrow a 10 to 20 gallon tank, and preferably is from an arid climate and can tolerate at least a minimal amount of handling without being stressed. The last two aren't as important though and I'd be willing to perhaps mess with humidity and would be fine with a 'look don't touch' reptile. Also they'd have to be able to handle a 5 hour drive on occasion for when I have to head home from college for longer breaks.

I'm looking into AFTs, brown anoles, and fire skinks at the moment, but do you guys have any suggestions? I would appreciate any you may have.
Also do you know of any smaller snakes that fit the criteria I'm looking for?

 

[marauderhex]

Fire skinks need a moderate amount of humidity, we keep ours in a 24x24x12" enclosure and have to mist daily. They need a few inches of diggable earth as substrate, as they like to burrow. They also do not tolerate handling very well. The best we have gotten is to pet him in his enclosure. They are very flighty lizards.

As for suggestions, I'd have to say just get another leo. If you were willing to increase the tank size, go to cypress mulch as substrate, and maintain a decent humidity, I'd say get a BTS and all of your food problems would disappear. They are little insect vacuums.

 

[Jayme]

Thanks for the info! I already have a 10 gallon tank so I might end up going with another leo, but the idea of an insect vacuum intrigues me.. Adult BTS are able to eat larged size hornworms too, aren't they? If I can find a larger sized tank for a good price I think I'll look in to getting one.

 

[marauderhex]

Ours does. He lives in a tank slightly larger than a 40 breeder (we have all plastic tanks, so the measurements aren't quite the same).

 

[Jayme]

I did a bit of reading and I really like that they are omnivorous.. I have problems with buying fruits and veggies and those going to waste too, since it's just me eating them, so a BTS is looking like a great idea. Out of curiosity, what are you plastic tanks called? Are they lighter than glass tanks?

 

[monitorlizard]

Blue tongue skinks don't need fruit. Fruit should make up no more than 10% of the diet.
Here is the best forum:
bluetongueskinks.org (same thing as Bluetongueskinks.net )
You can feed an all dog food diet.
Mealworms are ok to feed BTS's but would be bad to feed on a large scale.

I would get a bearded or rankins dragon for an "insect vacuum"

 

[monitorlizard]

And these are the previous poster's cages I believe:
http://pmherps.com/racks.html

 

[marauderhex]

Yep, Coomassie lives in one of the 36x24x16" enclosures. As for diet, I recommend "crunchies" made by Vetafarm supplemented with insects.

 

[Jayme]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'd love to get a beardie or rankin's dragon but unfortunately they can't really eat mealies or superworms. Also that BTS website's caresheet is amazingly thorough, love it.

I'll probably just end up getting another leo in a few months when I can afford the second vet bill, since there don't seem to be many other lizards who are good with the high chitin and fat of mealworms :/ Though it'd be nice to have a larger lizard to eat up the over-sized silks and hornworms, for sure.

 

[monitorlizard]

An ackie would eat all your insects in one sitting.