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In addition to working with reptiles, we also have have small mammals and birds turned over to us frequently. We are about to release a young cotton-tail this week that was saved from a house cat attack.
I'm glad you brought up the point about the crickets.
Yes, I have never seen one example yet of a seller of Horned Lizards, who knew about their proper care. This goes for every classified ad I have ever seen on numerous websites. All respectable authorities I know in the Phrynosoma "community", who distribute them at all, are adopters. Some may have lower standards for who they distribute them too than I would, but they do not advertise for sale to the general public, and generally they only ask for expenses, not a for profit sale.
90+% of these lizards that are offered in the pet trade are wild caught. Every seller of them I have ever seen or heard of, misrepresents their true dietary requirements, whether intentional or through ignorance. Of course, many of them cannot be truthful and disclose that Horned Lizards mainly eat a certain genus of ants in the wild, otherwise they risk losing a sale. Ordering harvester ants and feeding a Horned Lizard can be more expensive than feeding the dog. Horned Lizard peddlers don't want people to know that, therefore they tell the public, they will be "fine on crickets". It is a lie. Phrynosoma are not adapted to eat crickets as a primary diet. They are too high in fats and sugars ( polysaccharide from chitin breakdown ). The harvester ants provide free fatty acids from the plant matter they harvest, which is a lean and easily metabolized fuel for the Horned Lizard.
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