Armadillo Girdled Lizard — Fact Sheet

Ouroborus cataphractus · Armadillo Girdled Lizard

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Practical minimum: 120 x 60 x 60 cm for one or a proven compatible pair
• Groups need more floor area, more crevices than animals, and duplicate heat and feeding sites
• Quarantine alone and keep a separate enclosure ready for conflict

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Securely bonded narrow rock crevices, several per animal
• A focused basking rock plus shaded cool retreats
• Firm soil/sand/clay or fixed rock; test every structure against collapse

💡 Lighting

• Strong visible light and linear T5 UVB over the warm end
• Ferguson Zone 3 with measured basking exposure and deep shade nearby
• 10-14 h seasonally adjusted photoperiod; no night light

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking surface: 35-38°C
• Warm zone: 26-28°C
• Cool retreat: 22-25°C
• Night: 18-24°C

💧 Humidity & water

• Target 40-60% with one slightly more humid shedding crevice
• Very shallow stable water dish; keep rocks from trapping an animal in it
• Light misting once or twice weekly in many rooms; allow drying

🍽️ Diet

Offer regularly:

• Gut-loaded crickets, roaches, locusts, black soldier fly larvae, and silkworms
• Adults every 2-4 days; juveniles daily or nearly daily in small portions

Use in moderation:

• Waxworms, superworms, and occasional safe plant material

Avoid:

• Wild insects, large fatty meals, loose prey left in crevices, forced defensive displays

Supplements:

• Calcium on feeders and a controlled multivitamin according to UVB

🍂 Seasonal rhythm

• Optional winter cooling is gradual and only for healthy, fully digested animals
• Methods vary; non-breeding animals do not require severe cooling

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Soft jaw or tremors → UVB/calcium problem
• Swollen limbs or femoral pores → infection or blockage
• Pus in the mouth or chasing prey without biting → mouth disease
• Chasing, blocking or weight loss → group incompatibility
• Failure to emerge beyond seasonal expectations → temperature or illness

Persistent or severe signs require a reptile- or exotic-animal veterinarian.