Feeding Burton's Legless Lizard (Lialis burtonis) - also know as Burton's Snake-Lizard
Question
I have a friend (really this is about a friend, not ME! - LOL) She impulsively purchased a "Burton's Legless Lizard" ( Lialis burtonis ) and now is not finding any helpful information about it's care and feeding.
The only feeding info she found was that it eats skinks and that the temps should be in the low 80's ( 26 C) and basking spot of 86*F (30 C)
Can you help track down more info? -- Give me some leads I can send her? As this appears to be an Australian animal, do you know ANYONE who might be able to shed some light on this subject? She's hoping they also would eat other prey such as the ever-convenient crickets, meal worms, various larvae etc. and still remain healthy.
Thanks for any help you might offer.
Michelle
Answer
Hi Michelle
Burtons legless lizards are notoriously stubborn at eating anything else but live skinks.
I wrote to a breeder and vet with this (slightly cut down)......
All of the information I have says it will only eat live skinks. Some have
suggested ways to get it excited by having a skink in a glass container and
when it is excited throw in a cricket and hope that it takes it. Others have
suggested that they may in fact take pinkies.
No-one seems to know for sure and in fact no-one seems to know whether they
are sight or smell feeders (the consensus seems to be sight).
......and this is the reply I received.
"They are tricky at best. They are certainly mainly sight feeders. If
it doesn't look like a live lizard (gecko or skink) then it does not exist.
I can get mine to easily swallow mouse tails if you insert the tail base into
the jaws. That bit is just a reflex response. One skink per week has kept
mine going for years. Mine are too small to accommodate a pinkie but I'm sure
with initial assist feeding it can be achieved. I am yet to hear reliable
reports of Lialis burtonis eating insects but have a dubious report of a PNG
species eating crickets."
So I think she might have to get used to the idea and start breeding or buying skinks. I did read of one owner who sed to set traps for skinks around his property but I would think you would impact on the local population fairly quickly. The temperatures are right from what I could find. The other thing is that in the wild they hide in grasses etc. so a desert type of viv with grasses would be ideal.
I'm quite impulsive myself so I can understand were she's coming from. She just happened to pick a tricky beastie.
It made be do a bit of a look-up on what I can keep and Burton's Snake-Lizard (as it was listed) is an allowed species. However, locally we are not allowed to feed our animals skinks or frogs. So in theory I could buy a Burton's Snake-Lizard but I could not feed it as it is illegal to feed it what it eats. There is probably an exception to this if I investigated further but it did make me wonder about how much time the lawmakers put into such things.
Regards
Mark Chapple
Mark Chapple is the Author of "How to build enclosures
for reptiles"
Find out how to build these terrestrial and arboreal cages for snakes and lizards.
Full color pictures, detailed diagrams and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com
Back to Questions and Answers Index