Metal Detecting discussions and finds

Garrett Apex just came out. I couldn't wait so I got a Nox 600 almost 3 months ago, but is anyone else going to get one?

 

Not MD related, but...

I caught this little guy yesterday that I saw run under my driver-side tire. It's an "alligator lizard". We had one as a pet when we were kids. It was shedding one time and the rock fell on his side. Damn we cried!!! He would literally sleep next to your head just underneath the pillow all "wound up" like a coil. So cool!!! But yeah, we were definitely sad when he died. Had him for maybe 5-6yrs or so.

Anyways, this little guy already ate 2x small crickets I got from PetCo today after work.

I THINK it might be a female because males tend to be a little fatter, if I remember right? It's been a while and I gotta redo my research. Right now, too young for me to be able to tell anyways?


Just finishing his first meal!!!

 

Hungry little thing

 

Yeah, I was quite surprised as it went after the 2nd one I dropped in just as he finished the first one!!! HAHAHAHA,

I caught him/her yesterday at around 6pm so it hasn't eat'n anything since then up until about an hour ago... basically 24hrs. Was probably pretty PI$$ED with me?

But yeah, I already got him/her/whatever it is right now... I already got a 5.5gal tank and reptile "bedding". I was going to get "wood chips"/bark, but I got more of a "sand", if you will, because I didn't want the crickets or anything else to easily "hide" at the moment. Until he gets bigger, I'm going to go with the "sand" for now so he can see his "food". The bedding is more of finely ground walnut or coconut?

Anyways, got a temp gauge and humidity (don't really need the humidity gauge, but it came in a package anyways).

But yeah, I'm pretty stoked and very familiar with these lizards although it has been a couple decades or more, but still... these little guys make good pets and I don't care what Googl_e says about them "not good pets".

Anyways... as kids we would go "spider hunting" around the house and the neighboring yards. I grew up near railroad tracks and we would hunt the crickets that would hide in the railroad ties. Let me tell you right now, those black crickets are some MEAN MrFrs and will BITE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,

 

What's the Apex all about? I haven't seen one...

 

Thats great! I see some kind of lizards on the concrete wall once in a while.

 

I don't know, but it's a nice looking detector for sure. I'll be doing some research on it.

 

I know "Blue Bellies" tend to crawl on walls and such, but I don't know if they're AZ "residents"? HAHAHAHA

I do know that Blue Bellies are hard to take care of though if one tries to keep one as a "pet".

Anyways, I've always liked Alligator Lizards and super easy to feed and take care of. No real special heat lamps required or anything... although, it's nice to give it to them anyways. We always kept our tank next to the window and let him actually "run around" every now and then and the dogs never bothered him, which, now looking back, was pretty frick'n cool!!!

It NEVER ran away if you can believe that? We named him Charlie. It was such a very sad day when we found the rock laying on his side and the shedding skin "stuck" on the rock.

Anyways, present day, this little guy, is hopefully going to be the same... hopefully very "tamed". I got to watch out though because of my cat. I don't want my cat to make alligator clothing wear out of him as that would SUCK!!!

 

Multi-freq like the Noxes but not waterproof. I think it can search in all freqs like the 800, but an additional freq iirc

 

I knew a park naturalist that would wear two live alligator lizards like earrings on his ears while doing nature programs with kids, his earlobes would be bloodied after he took them off. Little guys would clamp down and not let go! He was kind of a guy, but the kids thought he was cool.

Ever see a leopard lizard? Wow! They are neat lizards and all, but they ate my banded geckos, so I didn’t keep them for long. Google them, they look awesome.

 

@WileECoyote I use to breed reptiles and worked at a large scale reptile breeder/dealer shop for several years. Being that your alligator lizard is a diurnal lizard you should give it a UV light and coat its food in a calcium/multivitamin powder. Very common for people to raise diurnal lizards without them and the lizards getting a calcium deficiency. They need the UV to metabolize it. If not they'll take it from their bones and into their blood, google it and you'll see how bad it can get. I recommend going to a pet store and getting one. Putting next to a window doesn't work because the glass filters it out mostly. A heat lamp on one side with a dimmer and two thermoters to keep a 70-85 temp gradient too. Yes, a lot of times they will survive at room temps. However, being ectothermic its best to provide a temperature gradient for them to utilize as they see fit. Just my recommedation for what its worth coming from an experienced reptile breeder/keeper.

 

https://reptileslounge.com/blogs/blog/uvb-lighting-for-reptiles

 

i didnt know about this when I was taking care of my biology teacher’s reptile collection in high school, but his alligator lizard was a true mini alligator and ate pinkies... plenty of calcium there, I guess. Good info though, thanks!

 

well, got my lesson for the day. wow.

thanks!

 

Yeah, already on top of it. I have a UVA/B lamp setup, night heat, calcium & vitamin supplements, water/pool type dish for "cooling" and drinking.

Anyways, I'm still building on the setup accordingly per paycheck availability reasons.

I/we had one as kids YEARS ago and it lived a really good life I'm pretty sure as it never ran away and we would find him sleeping under our pillows quite a lot. It was just a sad day when we found him with the rock on his side because he was using the rock to "shed" and the rock fell over on to his side killing him. My brother and I were very sad that day because a very good pet was lost. Ours grew to just over a foot from what I remember.

This one, I believe it is female and I'm very cautious on how things will be arranged in the tank so as not to have things "topple over".

I'll take a picture of my setup that I have been building for the time being.

HAHAHA, funny I'm reading your post now because JUST last night, I was already imagining a 20gal long as she gets bigger and I am even thinking about a "bio tank setup"... maybe go that route.

Thanks for that info though.

If I have any questions later, if you don't mind?

Finally, the ONE THING I did not know about these particular lizards is that they can actually generate a little bit of their own heat if needed, but cannot cool themselves down. But generating their own heat if needed is pretty cool and I never knew that up until recently when I stumbled on some information.

Anyways, again thank you for the input brotha!!!

HH \_

 

Yeah, they will actually eat small mice and eggs if they can fit it into their mouths, they WILL attempt to eat it!!!

 

Right on. Of course you can tag me with any questions. Highly recommend a dimmer on the heat lamp so you can adjust as needed. In the summer you may just have to turn it off it gets too warm in the house. If you find it just staying on the cool side thats a good time to check the temp on that side.

If you want to go all out you can get a timer for your UV light and adjust it throughout the year to reflect our (CA) daylight schedule/seasonality. Versus manually turning it on and off.

You figure out the exact species you got? Up here we have two species. If you dont already know if you let me know where you found it I could look it up. If more than one species I can let you know how to ID which one.

I use to live and breath reptile husbandry. Paid rent selling baby chameleons, geckos, dragons, and snakes. It lead to me being a wildlife biologist and now I work mostly with endangered species. I credit my husbandry days to me figuring out my passion and career. Went to the hospital twice from 6 foot long big old lizard bites (monitors) .

You name it?

 

Also have a timer already. This is what I have...


Right now, it's only set to turn ON at 6am for the UVA/B lamp, shuts that OFF at 6pm and turns ON the heat lamp for night. I still monitor the temp in the tank though.

Right now, even without the heat lamp, the temp is approx 80*. It fell to about 75* about 2x days ago during the night.

 

Right now, I just know it's an Alligator Lizard for sure. Not tooooo sure of the "sub species".

I live in Huntington Beach, CA now.

The one we had as kids we lived in Oceanside, CA... my home town and old "stomping grounds"!!!

 

Typically, you run heat 24hrs a day, unless it was too warm inside. I recommend you do so too. You can spend even more and get a thermostat for the heat source. Typically put the probe on the cold side so if it gets too warm it turns off.