Horned Lizard Food!
Feeder Ants for Horned Lizard ( aka Horny Toad ) or for use in Ant Farms
All profits from sales go directly to daily operations of WFRR.
Due to increasing cold weather please allow possibly 7-10 days for your order to be filled. Ant gathering season will soon close as winter approaches.
Fall Pricing:
500ct.: $9.00 + $5 Priority Shipping ( $14.00 )
1000ct.: $17.00 + $5 shipping ( $22.00)
( Our closest competition sells 1000ct for $24.95.)
Direct PayPal Payments To: Phrynosoma_Texas(at)yahoo or select your quantity from the drop down menu below.
Please Take Note of the Following:
If you reside in TX, CA, OK, or NM, be advised that these states have native species of horned lizards which are protected by wildlife laws, and which are unlawful to possess without protected species/scientific/zoological permits.
If you reside in one of these states, and are wanting to order ants, I require a digital picture be emailed along with your payment, in order to identify the species you have. If you fail to do so, your order will be cancelled after 48hrs, and your payment refunded, minus a $2 administrative fee for the hassle of cancelling an order because the instructions were not read.
If you have purchased a horned lizard at a reptile show, then chances are that it is a Desert Horned Lizard ( Phrynosoma platyrhinos ). Though objectionable to those of us involved in conservation, they are still unfortunately legal in the pet trade. These are mostly traded on the east coast. If you have purchased one, you may email a picture if you would like it identified and told what the sex is. Include a picture of the underside as well.
If you have captured a horned lizard from the wild, either to keep as a pet, or under the belief that you are "rescuing" it, then I would urge you to contact us for information on returning it to the wild before deciding to make a pet of it, "rescue it" and treat it as a needy case by keeping it at your home, or attempting to relocate it on your own. That is what wildlife rehabilitators and rescuers are for. Thank you. WFRR
Pogonomyrmex barbatus spp.
These are fresh and live Harvester ants, from the same colonies I feed my own Horned Lizards everyday. Our rescued Horned Lizards eat most of them, but we usually have enough on hand to sell and help fund our efforts. Whether as food for Horned Lizards, or for ants farms, these are the most popular genus of ant.
The P. barbatus species of harvester ant, is the most abundant harvester ant species within the Horned Lizard's natural range; from Texas, through Oklahoma and Kansas, and west to New Mexico and Arizona, and south into Mexico. The majority of Horned Lizard species are instinctually familiar with this species of harvester ant. Other species, such as P. californicus, have a smaller relative distribution and may be rejected or not favored by some species of Horned Lizard, particularly those not native to California or western AZ. and NV. The P. rugosus species, is a barbatus "complex" harvester ant, and is relatively smaller.
Why buy from us?
1. We are an animal rescue, and funds from the sale of these ants go to support our efforts in animal rescue, public education, and wildlife conservation; including the Horned Lizard.
2. We use sustainable methods to gather our harvester ants, which causes less impact to the local ecosystem.
Our biggest competitors use methods such as complete colony excavation with backhoe tractors, or digging deep trenches and then using compressed gas to evacuate the ants from their nest by blowing them out by the tens of thousands. These methods destroy the colony, which might have been there for a decade or more, and this results in the loss of a possible food source for wild Horned Lizards which live in the immediate area. Since these methods destroy colonies, which may take years for a harvester ant queen to build up, these methods are not sustainable in the long run.
We gather havester ants, using only vacuums on the ground surface. This ensures that not too many workers are taken from any one colony, and that the impact to the colony is minimal. The queen is quickly able to replace the lost workers without risking collapse of the colony, as would be the case with our competitor's methods.
When we discover a young winged queen or male drone in our vacuums, and we know where they came from, we make every effort to return them to their colony so that red harvester ants here will have the best chances of continuing on strong in the wild. These harvester ants not only serve as an important part of the ecosystem as a food source for "Horny Toads", but are one of the few natural deterrents to imported red fire ant invasion. Though they frequently lose to fire ants, harvester ants compete for resources with fire ants, and can help slow or stop the spread of that invasive pest species.
3. We are by far the most reasonably priced, whether you are looking for these ants as feeders or for an ant farm. We are routinely priced several dollars cheaper for the same quantity than our closest competition, and some suppliers even ask for the outrageous sum of $8 for a mere 30 ants!
4. We ship fast. Usually within 2-3 days of cleared payment, depending on weather and your location, and we use priority mail ( 2-3 days ConUS ). Some of our competitors use the slower first class option, and/or take up to 2 weeks to even fill your order for shipment. The slower mailing method also may likely result in you not getting all your ants alive.
Basic Life Cycle of the Harvester Ant:
The winged males and females gather at the entrance to their home colony where they were raised, awaiting spring and summer rain showers. After these showers, the winged ants take flight to mate. Once mated, the female flies off to become a new queen and start her own colony. The rain soaked ground helps her to dig just deep enough to lay her first eggs. She stays to keep guard, and survives on nothing but her own nutritional reserves until the new ants hatch. When the new young workers are born, they help to enlarge the colony for their queen and start gathering food for the colony as it grows. The workers are very industrious and spend all of their time digging tunnels, tending to the queen and the new young ant larvae, or foraging for food. The workers normally do not live very long, but the queen Harvester Ant and her colony itself may live for 12 or more years in the wild!
Horned Lizards:
Most Horned Lizard species are largely dependent on Harvester Ants as the main food item in their daily diet. The average adult Horned Lizard may eat 50-100 ants a day, or more, depending on size and species. The percentage of Harvester Ants in your Horned Lizard's natural wild diet varies with species. This could be anywhere from 60% to 90% of its natural diet. Most Horned Lizard species in captivity are P. platyrhinos, which are on the higher end of the scale, probably second only to the P. solare or P. mcallii in the amount of ants they eat.
Harvester Ants contain formic acid, which as harvesters of plant matter, is taken up from plants which produce it as a by-product of oxidation of CO2. Formic acid is believed by many Horned Lizard experts, such as Dr. Richard Montanucci ( Maintenance & Propagation of Horned Lizards in Captivity 1989 ), to aid in creating and maintaining proper pH levels and flora in the digestive tract of the lizard. This pH provides anti-infective protection from certain gram negative bacteria which cause common illnesses in reptiles, and may also help keep gastric parasites in check by providing a less hospitable pH environment.
Formic acid is a carboxylic acid, and a simple building block of amino acids which form more complex proteins; useful in the repair of damaged cells among other things. Horned Lizards also derive hydration from this acid, which when metabolized gives a small amount of water, salt, and carbon dioxide as by-products. These ants, being seed and plant harvesters, are additionally a great source of essential fatty acids and albuminoid proteins. This provides protein and energy the Horned Lizard needs without loading him down with heavy common feeder items ( such as crickets and mealworms ) which are usually high in fat and chitin, and which require more metabolic energy to digest. Overuse of such prey items in the Horned Lizards' diet requires extra water in the bowels to digest these components properly. Insufficient hydration may result over the long term and lead to impaction. For the Horned Lizard species which are desert dwelling, water stores are better put to use elsewhere in the body than being used to break down excessively fatty meals, or chitin; which is a polysaccharide polymer, and causes slow down in digestive function.
Horned Lizards are generally difficult to keep in captivity and not recommended for the beginning reptile keeper. To ensure optimum health of your Horned Lizard and encourage full growth, feed him/her a varied diet that also includes a generous daily amount of Harvester ants.
Customer Please Read Completely!
Payments, Shipping, and Contact Policies
Accepted Forms of Payment:
* PayPal
* Credit/Debit card payments thru PayPal
* USPS Money order
Direct PayPal payments to Phrynosoma_Texas@yahoo.com or click on the PayPal button below.
Please ensure your correct shipping address and first and last name appear on your account when making your payment.
I require your order to be addressed in the name of a person, not a business.
If you are paying by money order, I ONLY accept United States Postal Service money orders. Send email to request the mailing address.
If the PayPal buttons are out of service, visit paypal.com and direct your payment to the email address above.
Shipping Policy
* Most orders shipped within 2-3 business days. This does not mean you will receive your order in 2-3 days. Orders received Tue or later, may be shipped the following Mon.
* Live orders shipped Mon-Wed. ONLY, unless you live within 1 day transit zone, or request and pay for Express mail service. Express mail option carries a minimum $25 charge.
* Priority Mail is generally 2-3 business days to most locations. This is not a guarantee of the delivery day.
* Tracking is not offered for basic priority mail service. If you want tracking, then request express mail.
* Allow at least 7-10 days before making inquiries about your order. Take note that my processing time is normally 2-3 days, and priority mail is 2-3 days to most locations. That equals as little as 4 days, and as much as 6 days, but this is assuming we don't have bad weather, etc. Also, take note that I do not make live shipments after Wed to most locations, so if you place an order on Tue or Wed., it is probably not going to go out until the following week. Live ants cannot sit in a postal sorting center over the weekend. Most of my regular customers place their orders the previous week or over the weekend.
* I do not sell queens
* I do not sell Horned Lizards, and will not recommend places to buy them
Ships to N. America or anywhere you are able to import them. Shipping charges listed are for US only. Please do not email me asking if I can ship to your country. I will ship where ever you want to pay for them to go, but it's up to you to check your own importation laws.
Return Policy:
If your shipment does not arrive, or arrives DOA, and you have not paid for insurance on the shipment, then I am not responsible. The post office losses things sometimes. I will no longer take the hit to replace an order lost in the mail, or one that was not picked up in a timely manner from a mailbox if you have nor paid insurance on the order.
If your shipment arrives DOA and you have paid insurance, the only way for me to confirm and issue a refund or send a new shipment, is if you return them for my verification. Due to people attempting for too long to get a free shipment, a return now means you must return them to get credit.
Delivery confirmation is now required on all new customer orders and I will have confirmation if you never received your order. In case of non arrival after a reasonable time, I will resend the order or issue a refund.
By placing this order, you are accepting the terms of the shipping and return policy.
Cactus Pads and Fruits
Limited Offering!
These Prickly Pear cactus pads and fruits are enjoyed by tortoises, box turtles, iguanas, cotton-tails and jack rabbits, birds, squirrels, ants, and most other type of critter around here. Additionally, the pads and fruit are traditionally used in Hispanic cuisine, and the fruits are often used to make margaritas, fruit juice, jelly and jams. They are very high in calcium and are also noted for helping to stabilize blood sugar.
Shipping will be combined for mixed orders where possible.
* Pads and fruit are sold with quills or without. Quills on the fruit are fine and can be gently scraped off with a knife, or burned off easily with an open flame. Cactus pad quills can be pulled free or cut with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. Pads w/o quills are a spineless variety and are more costly because they are harder to find.
http://healthycooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_benefits_of_cooking_with_prickly_pears
http://www.wikihow.com/How-to-Eat-Prickly-Pear-Cactus