The trick is to make them eat anything they kill.

"You kill it, you eat it!"

That'll work the cruelty right out of them and set them up for a promising life post nuclear apocalypse. Lizards will bioaccumulate less fallout from the food chain than larger animals so they'll be a safer source of protein.

Me and my brothers hunted horned toads for years without ever killing any of them. I don't exactly think we were special either.

Depends how the kids are raised I guess. My brothers and I never tortured and killed any of the skinks we’d catch as kids

Damn what kind of kids did you hang out around