Why Harvester Ants?

Horned Lizard Food!

Feeder Ants for Horned Lizard (aka Horny Toad) or for Ant Farms

Pogonomyrmex barbatus spp.

These are fresh and live Harvester ants, from the same colonies I feed my own Horned Lizards (aka Horny Toads) every day. 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 sale of these ants helps to fund the preservation, rescue, and rehabilitation efforts of wild horned lizards and other native reptiles through The Society for Horned Lizard Preservation and WF Reptile Rescue! 

Order from the people who actually keep and understand horned lizards!

The P. barbatus species of harvester ant is the most abundant harvester ant species within the Horned Lizard's natural range; from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and into northern Mexico. The majority of Horned Lizards recognize this species of harvester ant as their primary food source. Other species of harvester ant sold by other suppliers (such as P. californicus), have a smaller relative distribution and may be rejected or not favored by some species of Horned Lizard.

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 Phrynosoma platyrhinos (Desert Horned Lizard), which are on the higher end of the scale, probably second only to the P. solare (Regal Horned Lizard) or P. mcallii (Flat Tail Horned Lizard) 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 lower pH may provide anti-infective protection from certain gram negative bacteria (which cause common illnesses in reptiles), and is believed may also keep gastric parasites in check by providing a less hospitable pH environment.

Formic acid is 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 for the lizards. 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 high in fat and chitin, and which require more metabolic energy to digest. Overuse of cricket or mealworm prey items in the Horned Lizards' diet requires extra water in the bowels to digest, and often leads to a slowing of digestion and metabolism. This may lead to gastric impactions. For desert dwelling Horned Lizard species, water stores are better put to use elsewhere in the body, rather than being used to break down chitin or excessively fatty meals.

For many years rumors have circulated of formic acid supplements which can be sprayed or dusted onto crickets or other items, in order to provide Horned Lizards with formic acid, without giving them harvester ants in the diet. This is simply not sound husbandry or a safe practice. There are numerous other reasons why horned lizards have evolved their specialization on these ants, and which do not include formic acid as the primary reason for the specialization. These reasons include the nutrient dense seed diet of the harvester ant in the wild, as well as the digestive processes of the horned lizard itself; which derives the miscible nutrients from the gaster of the ant, without the need to digest the dense chitin of the exoskeleton. In this way the horned lizard (most of whom dwell in arid environments) efficiently conserves its hydration. Additionally, many commercially produced formic acid preparations are not originally intended as a food supplement for small animals, and the concentrations of formate are alarmingly high. This may lead to hypercalcemia, formate accumulation, formate intoxication, nerve damage, and optic nerve damage (blindness resulting). In the cases where this product is being used as a supplement for administration to lizards, take note of the warning that this product is admittedly experimental by the seller, and is also acknowledged as a known eye and respiratory irritant! 

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 live Red Harvester Ants.