I went rock hounding in Northern Utah today and found 3 baby dinosaurs 🦕 😍

[xp29]

As the title says, I drove up into Utah today to the Dugway geode beds. As I was kicking around for cool rocks I found several little spotted lizards of some sort. They were much to small to get a good look at, and MUCH to fast to get pictures of.
BUUTTTT I also found 3 baby dinosaurs a.k.a. Horned lizards . I'm not sure which variety they are yet there are like 8 or 10 varieties in this area, but they are insanely cute, and all three were hatchlings. They would fit on a quarter with no problem. 1-1/2 inch snout to tip at most.
I only got pictures of one of them but all three looked to be the same type. The one in the pictures was right beside my Jeep and in the edge of the road so I caught him (not really hard, he wasn't very skiddish) and relocated him further out into the desert where he would be safe from being ran over.
It's probably a good thing Christina wasn't with me or I'm guessing we would have three pet horned lizards tonight lmao.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow, horned toads or horny toad lizards. I didn't realize that they were up in Utah. They are very
cute & tiny for sure. Did they try to run off?
Wow, hatchlings, that is so amazing!
Thanks for the great pictures of the tiny dinosaurs!

Tracie

 

[xp29]

Hello,

Wow, horned toads or horny toad lizards. I didn't realize that they were up in Utah. They are very
cute & tiny for sure. Did they try to run off?
Wow, hatchlings, that is so amazing!
Thanks for the great pictures of the tiny dinosaurs!

Tracie

If I got to close they moved some but they really didn't run off. I think maybe they were relying on their camouflage to keep them safe. As long as I didn't move to fast they sat amazingly still.

 

[NickAVD]

How cute they all are! Their little tails won our hearts. I showed all the photos to my wife and daughter, there were so many emotions and exclamations of affection! I think if we were in this desert, it would be very difficult to refuse to take these beautiful lizards with us.
PS: judging by the lack of photographs of the rocks, the rocks have ceased to be the purpose of the trip... lol

 

[xp29]

How cute they all are! Their little tails won our hearts. I showed all the photos to my wife and daughter, there were so many emotions and exclamations of affection! I think if we were in this desert, it would be very difficult to refuse to take these beautiful lizards with us.
PS: judging by the lack of photographs of the rocks, the rocks have ceased to be the purpose of the trip... lol

Very good insight there as a matter of fact I DID spend more time herping than hounding
(I did pick up a few decent geodes, I hope, I haven't cut them yet) but after I started seeing lizards all over it was all over lol. I forgot all about the geodes I was hoping for an adult horned or an adult whatever the spotted lizards were but I didn't find either.
I'm going to research the Horned lizards, if I can realistically provide a suitable habitat and can source a captive bread one, I might give it a go. I know I could talk Christina into keeping one of those. If I find good info on them I'll post links in case anyone else (errr your wife and daughter ) is interested in them.

 

[NickAVD]

Thank you! It would be very interesting to know about their maintenance. I read in the neighboring topic that they are very attached to their food object in the wild and this is a problem with their maintenance. I wonder how they solve this problem in zoos?

 

[xp29]

Thank you! It would be very interesting to know about their maintenance. I read in the neighboring topic that they are very attached to their food object in the wild and this is a problem with their maintenance. I wonder how they solve this problem in zoos?

The eat 90 something percent Carpenter Ants in the wild. The ants contain an acid they require for the digestion of food. If I understand correctly they can't survive without it.
I have seen the acid in reptile shops so I know it is sourcable, but I don't know in what quantities to offer it. I also don't know yet about setting up a habitat.
They live in the desert so I would assume it will be similar to a beardie but assuming isn't good enough. I want to know for sure. It would break my heart to get it wrong and cause stress or health issues to one I was trying to keep.
But after interacting with a second hatching I think I would really enjoy one as a pet.
They also don't get as big as a beardie, I suspect a 40 gallon might be large enough to house one. ...... oh boy I think I might have fallen into a rabbit hole again

 

[NickAVD]

Btw are they prefer to live alone like bearded dragons? Maybe they can be kept in pairs or small groups?
I read they are about 8 inches so maybe you are right about 40 gallons

 

[NickAVD]

I read that they also produce vitamin D by basking in the desert sun, and at night they prefer to bury themselves in the sand.

 

[xp29]

I'm not sure if they are social it would be cool if they are.

 

[xp29]

I'm not sure if they are social it would be cool if they are.

Looks like they shouldn't be cohabed. Or really even handled much. They will tolerate it but don't like it. Setup is similar to a beardie but they need the loose substrate to feel safe. They can live for 10 years or so.
The downside is the ants. It looks like it can be hard to get them to eat other insects like crickets so even with the acid powder they might not survive.
Some species eat up to 2000 ants per day. I dunno how anyone could keep even several ant colonies that could sustain that much predation and survive.
Keeping them isn't impossible but I think it could be very challenging.
On the other hand, the Chuckwalla is a vegetarian, leafy greens, some veggies and occasional fruit. And you can handle them. The one in Clint's Reptiles video actually seemed to kind of enjoy his chin being petted. I'll link the video. They need a bigger habitat though. At least 4x2x2 minimum. They also need basking even hotter than beardies, up in the 120 degrees range. Cool side is about the same as a beardie at 75 to 80 degrees. I think they would be much easier than the horned lizards.
The Chuckwalla at the reptile store had a red band around his midriff and was even prettier than the one in the video.

 

[SunnyThunder]

As the title says, I drove up into Utah today to the Dugway geode beds. As I was kicking around for cool rocks I found several little spotted lizards of some sort. They were much to small to get a good look at, and MUCH to fast to get pictures of.
BUUTTTT I also found 3 baby dinosaurs a.k.a. Horned lizards . I'm not sure which variety they are yet there are like 8 or 10 varieties in this area, but they are insanely cute, and all three were hatchlings. They would fit on a quarter with no problem. 1-1/2 inch snout to tip at most.
I only got pictures of one of them but all three looked to be the same type. The one in the pictures was right beside my Jeep and in the edge of the road so I caught him (not really hard, he wasn't very skiddish) and relocated him further out into the desert where he would be safe from being ran over.
It's probably a good thing Christina wasn't with me or I'm guessing we would have three pet horned lizards tonight lmao.

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[xp29]

Yup that was me () chasing lizards all over Utah yesterday lmao

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

There are so many pretty lizards in the wild. It makes it hard to decide which one you would like to research or consider taking in.
I have also heard keeping horned toad lizards is definitely challenging. There are some who do keep them, but not too many.

Tracie

 

[NickAVD]

Looks like they shouldn't be cohabed. Or really even handled much. They will tolerate it but don't like it. Setup is similar to a beardie but they need the loose substrate to feel safe. They can live for 10 years or so.
The downside is the ants. It looks like it can be hard to get them to eat other insects like crickets so even with the acid powder they might not survive.
Some species eat up to 2000 ants per day. I dunno how anyone could keep even several ant colonies that could sustain that much predation and survive.
Keeping them isn't impossible but I think it could be very challenging.

You did the right thing by studying the possibility of keeping them. I completely agree with you that it is better to give preference to those lizards that are easier to keep and that do not mind interacting with people.
Bearded dragons are also not easy to keep, if there were no insect shops and UV lamps, how would they live with us? People just solved these big problems. Unfortunately, horned lizards are not so popular and it so happened that no one tried to solve the problem of keeping them.
In addition, I read that horned lizards are an endangered species in many states. The main reason for this is the decrease in the number of ants due to human activity and their displacement by red Mexican ants. In Texas, they definitely cannot be taken from the wild. But I am not sure about Nevada.
I have hope that this problem can lead to studying and simplifying their maintenance in captivity for the purpose of breeding to restore the population.