How to Care for a Blue Belly Lizard

Ah, the Blue Belly lizard. Probably one of the most beautiful lizards I know of (and I know of a lot)! I have two adorable Blue Bellies named Jumpy and Lumpy. They are my little babies. Today I'm going to be telling you what you need, how to put together the cage, and daily care. So let's get started and jump right in!

Here is what you are going to need for your Blue Belly:

• A 10 gallon tank
• A 10 gallon screen top
• A substrate (If you don't want sand you can get a reptile carpet)
• A hiding place (If you don't want to buy one click HERE to see an instructable to make one)
• A basking rock or branch
• A water dish
• A treat dish
• A sand sifter (This is to sift out the lizard poo if you have sand)
• Another small cage (To put your lizard in when you're cleaning)
• Climbing things (Such as reptile vines, lizard ladders, or reptile hammocks)
• A heat lamp
• A UV lamp (Please read all the way through before buying this)
• A heat bulb
• A UV bulb (Again please read through!)
• A thermometer (You can get special reptile thermometers)
• A cricket keeper
• Waxworms
• Mealworms
• Crickets

All of these items can be found on this website: https://zoomed.com

Before you get a 10 gallon tank I need to tell you a bit about it. If you are planning to get two lizards you need a 20 gallon tank. (I have two lizards and a 10 gallon tank. I need to get them a 20 gallon tank.) Also, I don't have one of those fancy-schmancy reptile tanks. I actually have a fish tank. Fish tanks are much cheaper then reptile tanks. If you have a budget, you probably want a fish tank. You will also want to get a screen top that fits your tank.

Now once you have your tank you will want to put your substrate in. Substrate is something that keeps the lizard off the glass. There are tons of different types of substrate. There is sand and reptile carpets. And this natural mulch stuff I don't like. I’ve got a later section about mites and ticks and how to stay away from them. If you are doing sand, you will want a sand sifter for cleaning the sand. Sand may be more work to clean, but if you have sand you will be able to watch your lizard’s natural digging habits. Another option is reptile carpet, which is basically a carpet for reptiles. In my opinion, they are a bit easier to clean than sand, but you don't get to watch their natural digging habits.

The next step is to get your lizard a hiding place. There isn't much to this other than going to the pet store and getting your lizard a tunnel or in my case a dino skull and a tunnel. Now there are two sides to your tank, a warm end and a cool end. The warm end is whichever side you plan to put the heat lamp on. My dino skull is on the cool end (You are supposed to put your hiding place on the cool end), and my log is on the warm end (I'm kind of using that as my basking rock). You don't want to go outside and get a piece of bark unless you clean it really, really, really well.

All reptiles are cold-blooded. Which is why this is such an important part. The basking rock or branch will go on the warm end (The end you plan to put the heat lamp on). Right now I'm using my tunnel as a basking rock. I've also added a basking Branch. I do have a basking rock but it takes up too much space. A basking rock can be just an everyday rock you find in your yard and wash and scrub well. My basking branch is a Manzanita branch I found and cleaned super good.

The water and treat dishes are very important. Even though lizards get most of their water through the food they eat, if they haven't eaten in a few days they will drink water. So the water dish just goes in there as another option. You can buy a water dish at your local pet store.

The treat dish is exactly what it sounds like. It's for treats! Most lizard treats are mealworms and waxworms. so that is what you would be putting in there. I will have a later section on food. Again you can get a treat dish at your local pet store.

Now we put in some fun things. These are basically the equivalent of lizard toys. Your lizards will play and have fun on them. There are many different types of things lizards can climb on such as: reptile vines, lizard ladders, reptile hammocks, and more. I have added a lizard ladder and a reptile vine that was actually meant for chameleons but I'm giving it to my lizards. If you get a lizard ladder or a reptile hammock, these would usually go on the warm end. That way they can get up higher and closer to the heat lamp if they need to.

The heat lamp is the most important part to having your pet lizard. That is how they will be getting their warmth. Actual reptile heat lamps can get a little expensive so we use a work lamp. It works just fine. Get it? It’s a work lamp and it works fine? No? Oh well.

Now I'm actually going into a little bit of what I will be explaining in the next step but we don't actually use a UV lamp we just have a heat lamp and the reason for that is that we actually have a special bulb I will tell you a bit more about in that the next step.

Now I'm telling you about that special bulb we use so you don't have to have things get crazy with having a heat and UV lamp and having to buy extra bulbs and such. You can find the bulb on that Zoo Med link I gave you in the first step. It provides heat and UV so you don't have to have two lamps and extra bulbs.

You can get a special reptile thermometer, but I don't have one of those fancy ones. I just have a regular everyday thermometer with a cord that I have sticking into the lizard cage. The reason you need a thermometer is so that the cool end doesn't get too hot. And yeah, the thermometer goes in the cool end of the cage. That way you can make sure it doesn't get too warm. The temperature you're supposed to keep the cool end is under 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And it's fine to let the temperature drop at night because at night, well, the night gets cooler so it would be natural for them.

Now I'm going to list the different food you can get for blue bellies. I feed my blue bellies waxworms, mealworms and crickets. If you are going to have crickets you need a cricket keeper which can be just as easy as getting one of those cheap little critter keepers. You just go to the front desk of your local pet store and ask for crickets that is literally as easy as it is. Now in the reptile section of your pet store is where you are going to find the mealworms and waxworms, they will be in a little refrigerator. You are supposed to refrigerate them to slow down their growth because, if you do not slow down their growth they will turn into beetles and moths. (That's still a treat for the lizards too though.)

To clean your lizard's cage the first thing you need to do is take out your lizard and put it in your smaller cage. Then, take out all the things. If you have a reptile carpet, you will want to take that outside and hose it off and then let it dry in the sun. If you have sand, you will want to sift it as I'm doing in the picture shown. You should probably replace your sand every 6 months.

I'm not sure where you can buy blue belly lizards. I've seen them in the pet store once. I got mine for free by catching them wild. If you catch a lizard wild and you intend to keep it as a pet you must make sure they don't have mites by checking their ear holes and behind their ear holes. That is the most common place for mites to hide. Also, it is best to catch your lizard as a baby so they can adapt easily. If you catch them as adults they will not adapt at all. (I know from experience.)

There isn't much you need to do for your lizard everyday other than checking to make sure their water dish is still full. You should feed the babies everyday, and the adults every few days. Also make sure to give them a treat once in a while. Waxworms are highly nutritious while Mealworms are like candy and are not good for them (hard on their digestive systems).

Mites and ticks are not fun. Thats why I try to stay away from natural stuff, so my lizards don't get mites. If your lizard gets mites you need to get rid of the substrate, buy mite spray, follow the instructions on your mite spray to wash your lizards things, and follow the instructions on your mite spray to clean your lizard. Not fun.

Well there you go! You now have a pet blue belly lizard! Make sure to take good care of it!