If you’re a proud lizard owner, you may wonder how lizards feed their young. After all, a baby lizard’s needs differ from an adult’s. Fortunately, lizards have evolved over millions of years to meet these needs in various ways. So let’s explore the different strategies lizards use to nourish their offspring.
How do lizards feed their young?
Lizards are fascinating creatures that display a variety of parental behaviors.
One of the most interesting is how they feed their young.
In some species, such as skinks, the female lizard will lay infertile eggs, hatching into baby lizards she has already fed internally before laying them.
Other species rely on maternal feeding after birth, in the form of regurgitated food or special “milk” produced from their body glands.
All this evidence points to the fact that, like many other species, lizards care for their young through a range of intricate and diverse activities.
Oviparous Lizards
Some lizards lay eggs and do not provide parental care to their young.
These species, known as oviparous lizards, typically deposit their eggs in a warm and moist place where they can develop without too much interference from predators or the elements.
The offspring of oviparous lizards hatch with all the necessary skills and instincts needed to survive on their own—including what types of food they need to eat.
These lizards feed on insects such as crickets, mealworms, and wax worms.
Viviparous Lizards
Other species provide more direct parental care for their young by giving birth to live offspring rather than laying eggs.
Viviparous lizards will typically nurse their young until they are old enough to hunt for themselves and are then left to fend for themselves in the wild.
Sometimes, viviparous species will even share meals with their young until maturity.
For example, some iguanas bring dead prey items, such as small rodents or birds, for their babies to eat.
At the same time, other species may regurgitate partially digested food into the mouths of their offspring when they’re hungry.
In general, viviparous lizards tend to feed on smaller prey items like insects and invertebrates rather than larger animals like mammals or reptiles hunted by adult members of the same species.
Will Lizards eat their young
Contrary to popular opinion, the answer to whether or not lizards eat their young is no.
While there have been cases of sibling cannibalism amongst some species of lizards, there has yet to be confirmed evidence of adult females or males preying on their offspring.
Certain species of lizard are known to possess unusually high levels of parental investment, in which the parents will help raise their hatchlings until they become independent.
Conclusion
Lizard parents use a variety of strategies to ensure that they’re young get the nutrition they need to survive in the wild. Oviparous species generally lay eggs and leave them alone, while viviparous species often nurse or regurgitate food for their babies until they reach maturity.
As a lizard owner, it is essential to understand these differences to provide your pet with the proper diet at each stage of its life cycle. Then, your pet lizard can grow happy and healthy with good nutrition and care.
