Alligator Lizards!

[Marlene]

I was just wondering who else on here loves these little guys! I own two of them, one that I've had for about 11 years and she was an adult when I caught her, my guess is that she's close to 15 years old now. I have another little alligator lizard, full tail, and it shares the cage with my old girl and, amazingly enough, she doesn't try to eat it. My belief is that she keeps it around because it's a boy.

Here's a picture of my girl, Alli, with her winter colours (the top of her head turns emerald green in spring and fades away in fall).

She's the greatest little lizard in the world. She's very tame and I used to take her to school to show her off, and she loved it!

If anyone else has any alligator lizards, feel free to post your pictures and your experiences!

 

[TE GU-RU]

beautiful lizards man, i wouldnt mind picking me up one so if they breed...shoot me a pm, ill take great care of it.

very pretty girl you got there though

 

[Marlene]

I will definitely do so Te Gu-Ru! I hope she does have babies, I'd love to see what they look like. The younger alligator lizard that I have looks just like Alli, but smaller, of course!

 

[isdrake]

I'm pretty sure that she didn't love those trips to school. She probably just got stressed.

 

[skippy]

i used to take alligator lizards and gopher snakes to school in my pockets or my backpack. they never seemed all that stressed to me. especially when we would feed the lizards for fun

my buddy has a dream to breed high red alligator lizards out here that we might get around to someday. they eat like pigs and become amazingly tame... almost like little tegus :mrgreen:

 

[Marlene]

Isdrake: She ate in front of people, walked on them, sniffed them, and seemed to enjoy it all.

Skippy: If you ever get to doing that, please let me know! I would love one! When I go back to northern california I want to catch one of the green phased alligator lizards, they are beautiful!

 

[Marlene]

Here is a picture of the green alligator lizard. Apparently they're native to where I used to live, so I'll have to go bad!

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[skippy]

i've never seen one that looks like that, it's really nice :mrgreen:

this is what we usually find around here, the red may be a seasonal thing but i'm willing to try breeding for a red phase anyway

 

[Marlene]

I've caught a few of those before. They're very cool!

This is a very good site to see all of the different colours/morphs of alligator lizards. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/lizards.html#common" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/ ... tml#common</a><!-- m -->

 

[Jer723]

my uncle has 2 of them i would really love to pick one up also if they breed, they seem like great little animals you can shoot me a PM if they decide to breed.

 

[Jer723]

my uncle has 2 of them i would really love to pick one up also if they breed, they seem like great little animals you can shoot me a PM if they decide to breed.

 

[Jer723]

my uncle has 2 of them i would really love to pick one up also if they breed, they seem like great little animals you can shoot me a PM if they decide to breed.

 

[Jer723]

my uncle has 2 of them i would really love to pick one up also if they breed, they seem like great little animals you can shoot me a PM if they decide to breed.

 

[ashesc212]

Pretty lizards. I have never seen them before.

 

[Marlene]

Once my baby alligator lizard grows up, I'll definitely post here when they start to breed!

ashesc212: I love these lizards, they do make great pets, although I would advise getting them from a pet store or breeder, rather than wild caught, despite the fact that mine are wild caught. I plan on breeding them to release a few back into the wild and keep some of Alli's offspring.

 

[skippy]

it's generally frowned upon to release animals bred in captivity into the wild even if they are native to your area due to the chances of invasive parasites or pathogens from the farm raised insects or rodents that are fed to the parents and offspring. at least that's what i've been told

 

[Marlene]

Yeah, I've realized that and figured I could get away with doing some fecal and blood tests before releasing them... Although it is still just an idea in my head. I just wanted to make up for what I pulled out of nature.

 

[skippy]

i don't think you need to worry about depleting the population of alligator lizards

 

[ashesc212]

Once my baby alligator lizard grows up, I'll definitely post here when they start to breed!

ashesc212: I love these lizards, they do make great pets, although I would advise getting them from a pet store or breeder, rather than wild caught, despite the fact that mine are wild caught. I plan on breeding them to release a few back into the wild and keep some of Alli's offspring.

They may not make it if they are released back into the wild though. They will be used to you taking care of them and will not be able to fend for themselves.

 

[Marlene]

Skippy: So very very true, lol.

ashesc212: Yeah, that was my thought too.