How Long Can Lizards Live Without Food: Keep Your Reptiles Healthy!

How long can lizards live without food? Considering the age, type, and size, lizards can live 2 weeks to 1.5 months without food.

While starving for days, lizards use fat storage in the body as an energy source. Due to such survival abilities, they can live up to months without supplies. But lizards require a continuous water supply as they only go 3 to 4 days without it. Even these reptiles can die due to dehydration before feeling hungry for food.

Confused about lizard survival abilities? Scroll through our guide to ensure proper feeding patterns and keep your lizards healthy.

How Long Can Lizards Live Without Food

Baby or young lizards are primarily dependent on the food supply. If any dietary pattern changes or stops, physical issues arise quickly. Hence, baby lizards can’t go more than a few days without food. 

On the contrary, adult lizards include developed fat storage in the body and tail. Now, these fats of lizards break down to give energy while starving. As a result, these adults can go weeks to months without supplies.

Also, species of lizard comes with different abilities for survival. Species like bearded dragons can go only 3-4 weeks without food. But, species like leopard geckos can survive up to 1.5 months when starving.

Further, smaller species drop the body temperature and lose water faster than the bigger ones. That’s why small lizards can’t handle starvation and die within a few weeks.

How Long Can Lizards Go Without Water?

Lizards can only go 3 days to 1 week without water. They require a good source of fresh water to maintain a healthy and active life. If lizards don’t have any access to water and food, they die due to dehydration before feeling hungry.

Only the dryer habitat species, like bearded dragons, deal with no water situation for weeks. Otherwise, most species struggle to regulate their body temperature while starving.

While facing hydration, reptile shows symptoms like sunken eyes, wrinkled skin, and lack of appetite. If you inspect such issues. We suggest calling a veterinarian for proper advice and care. 

How Often Should I Feed My Lizard?

Baby lizards require feeding once daily, whereas adults require feeding once in 2-3 days.

Baby or young lizards are hungry and primarily dependent on the food supply. For growth and development, baby lizards require a diet of nutritious food. Besides, the changes in dietary patterns cause serious physical issues. So, it is better to feed your baby lizards once daily to ensure proper growth.

On the other hand, adults can eat veggies, plants, and insects, depending on the species. If it’s cold weather, small meals every 2 days are enough for lizards. But feed your lizard meals every 2 days when it’s dealing with warm weather. Even changes in temperature level affect the digestion of lizards.

What Can I Feed My Lizard?

Depending on the species, lizards are carnivorous, insectivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous. Hence, the dietary habits of lizards are different and vary from species to species.

If your lizard is a carnivore, Oddlypets suggests feeding dead lean rodents, worms, and crickets. Besides, the calcium supplements with these live food can keep them healthy. Conversely, herbivorous lizards eat vegetables like broccoli, celery, okra, green bean, and tomatoes. It is wise to offer a mix of chopped veggies to ensure a nutritious diet.

But, few lizard species are omnivorous, taking both veggies and meat. Due to such broad dietary options, they are easy to feed with any options. Only species like leopard geckos survive on insects like crickets, fruit flies, morio worms, blowfly larvae, and roaches. So, always maintain a proper diet to keep your lizard healthy.

Why Is My Lizard Not Eating?

Lizards can starve due to potential illness, stress, environmental changes, and mouth problems. Let’s dig into these factors in detail.

Potential Illnesses

Most reasons for losing the appetite of lizards relate to the potential illness. First, inspect any limping, bleeding, or bruising to confirm the physical injuries. Next, examine the defecate or urine to understand the issues. 

In addition, the color of the lizard changes with the physical issues. Even the increase in wrinkling gives a hint of illness. If you inspect any injuries or changes in behavior, we suggest calling a vet for quick solutions.

Stressed Out

Changes in location, diet, or cages can stress out lizards. If the lizards aren’t happy with a new diet, it is better to return to the old one. Otherwise, changes in diet cause extreme stress to the pets. As a result, lizards lose their appetite for food. 

When you’re getting a new cage or adding lizards in the cage, these incidents can cause stress to old ones. Even new lizards can prevent old ones from eating food. Hence, inspect the issues and consult to vet for recovery.

Change In Environment

While going to a new place, the unknown environment impacts the mental condition of lizards. It may take a few days to weeks to adjust to the new changes. If it’s not adjusting in a couple of weeks, we suggest contacting a vet.

Keep enough hiding places for lizards in the new environment. It helps to keep your lizard comfortable and adjust quickly to the new habitat. Further, keep the temperature and humidity in desired range to keep lizards in their comfort zone.

Mouth Problems

Due to infection, injury, or tooth problems, lizards lose their appetite. Infections can cause severe damage to the lizard’s mouth parts. If you inspect any mouth problems, call the vet immediately.

Warp Up

Lizards can survive 2 weeks to 1.5 months without food, depending on age, species, and size. Adults stay alive using fats to get energy while starving for months without supplies.

But lizards can only go 3 days to 1 week without water and die due to dehydration before feeling hungry. So, maintain a proper dieting plan and freshwater sources to keep lizards healthy and active.

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