Maned lion lizard (Shinisaurus manatus)

The Maned Lion Lizard is a very popular pet lizard, here is a detailed description about it:

1. Basic Information:
   • Scientific name: Pogona vitticeps
   • Alias: vittatus spiny throat lizard, central bearded lizard
   • Size: body length 40 – 50 cm, tail length more than twice head length, weight 200 – 500 g
   • Lifespan: 5 – 10 years in the wild, up to 19 years and 5 months in captivity
   • Protection level: listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1 in 2018, with a rank of not critically endangered (LC)
2. Physical features:
   • Colour: the body is predominantly light grey, light fawn to reddish brown with a brown or black throat. After artificial breeding, the colour varieties have become more abundant, with various shades of primary colours, orange and white.
   • Scales: The sides of the body, the back and the back of the neck are covered with spiny scales, which are not only their defence weapons but also their unique appearance features.
   • Head: The head is wedge-shaped, with males having a larger head than females, a more developed beard, and large eye sockets.
3. Habits:
   • Activity pattern: active mainly during the day, sometimes after dark, especially in hot weather. In winter it is usually active only in the early morning and evening.
   • Habitat: Australia’s arid or semi-arid regions, a wide range of habitats, deserts, forests and bushes can be seen, semi-arboreal life, good at climbing, often on tree branches, under fallen logs, fence posts and picnic tables and other places.
   • Feeding: Omnivorous, feeding on plants, including fruits and leaves in the wild, but also eating catchable invertebrates (e.g., ants, beetles) and small vertebrates (e.g., lizards). The stomach is large and can hold a large amount of food.
   • Thermoregulation: when body temperature rises to high and potentially dangerous levels, the mouth is opened to varying degrees to cool the body by dissipating heat through evaporation from the mucosal surfaces of the mouth. During periods of extreme heat, may perch on the ground for extended periods of time.
   • Defensive Behaviour: usually perches on high ground to look out for potential danger, opens its mouth and inflates its spiny gullet as a demonstration when threatened, does not normally make a sound, but only makes a low hissing sound when threatened.
   • Communication: Communication is achieved through posture, body colour changes, head bobbing and arm waving. For example, it will stand with two hind limbs and one front limb and wave the other front limb; the head bobbing action conveys different messages for different genders.
4. Keeping Points:
   • Rearing environment:
     • Feeding box: Choose the right size of feeding box, such as 804040 white PVC material climbing box is good, easy to take care of and good heat preservation. Decorate the box with branches, stones and other decorations to provide it with a place to roost and hide.
     • Lighting: Maned lion lizards have a strong need for UVB light, requiring an average of 8-10 hours of UVB light per day, or 2-3 hours of direct sunlight. A UVA lamp is also provided for daytime heating to promote digestion, and a nightlight can be used in the winter when there is no heating to promote digestion without being detected.
     • Temperature: Keep the temperature under the sun spot around 38°C during the day and 20 – 30°C at night. Temperature control devices or smart boxes can be used to control the temperature.
     • Humidity: It belongs to desert animals and adapts to lower humidity environment, usually 20 – 79 humidity is enough, do not humidify artificially when the humidity is too high.
     • Padding: Individuals over 8 inches can use cleaned play sand, and individuals under 8 inches, including newborns, can use paper towels as padding.
   • Diet:
     • Food Type: Hatchlings can be fed more insect feed, such as dubia cockroaches, crickets, etc. (crickets can be fed occasionally, and breadworms with hard shells are not easy to digest, so it is not recommended to feed them more often), and gradually increase the feeding of vegetables; Adult Maned Lion Lizards can be fed mainly fruits and vegetables, and occasionally feed a small amount of insect feed. Food should be cut into appropriate sizes to avoid choking.
     • Nutritional Supplementation: Regular supplementation of calcium powder, vitamins and other nutrients, calcium powder is fed once every 2 – 3 days, vitamins twice a week, BAC (daily bowel conditioning) once a week.
   • Health Management: Regularly observe the physical condition of the Maned Lion Lizard, including the skin, eyes, mouth, tail and other parts to see if there is any abnormality. Pay attention to keeping the breeding environment clean and hygienic, and clean up faeces and food residues regularly.

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