Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two male als who are both about a year old (northwesterns) which i captured at my sisters house in nw oregon. i leave near enough to her that i can make a visit and release them. but is this the right thing to do. i have had them since april, and i want to make sure they will survive in the wild. have they possibly forgotten how to survive in the wild? or are they going to be fine?

i just can no longer stand to see them in captivity. i have never tamed them, because the thought always was that i would only keep them a short time to observe and then let them go, but now it is months later (longer than i planned.)

any thoughts?

Alligator lizards are creatures of instinct so they should not have a problem re-adapting to life in the wild. Releasing them where you found them will definately help as they are already familar with the area. My only recommendation would be to release them soon if that is what you are resolved to do. Winter is fast approaching and if you wait too long you will not leave them with sufficient time to find a good spot to hibernate. Being from southern California, I'm not sure what the weather is like in Oregon. If winter has already set in and temperatures have dropped bellow those needed for reptiles to remain active, I think it would be more humane to keep your als until spring and then release them.
-Alice

Would you mind sending one of your males to Southern California? I have a female and have yet to catch a male.

you have a female northwestern alligator lizard? did you catch it in oregon and take it to southern california? if you have a southern, then i don't think they will be a match (so to speak). either way, i think that i am not interested in sending one anywhere but back where it came from. i am not releasing them because i am tired of caring for them, but rather because i want them to live out a normal lizard life in the wild. not to say i think keeping lizards is wrong, it is just how i feel about these two lizards in particular. so, they will go back to the wild...although it is quite cold her already, so i might need to wait. thanks for the advice.

I would reccomend releasing them very soon or in the spring. Could you take a picture of them? I have a northwestern that has been with me for five years. I have alwas thought of it as a he. I know the description of males is they have a broad head. Mine has a broad head, but broad compared to what? What part of oregon do you live in? I am in the southwestern oregon. JonathanVP, can you take a picture of your female? I would like to see what a female looks like. jrbl

i'll try to take a photo. it is already so cold here, that i think i might have to wait for spring. maybe if we get a warm stretch i'll release them then, but for now it is COLD!

i live in the portland area, but the lizards were captured south of here in the country, a town called beavercreek. there are thousands of them all over my sisters property. i too am assuming mine are males. i know they must both be the same sex, as they have not reproduced, and they look exactly alike. like you, i am thinking they have a broader head, but since i have nothing to compare them with, it is only a guess. when i see the pics of the southerns, there is a stark difference between male and female, but i don't think it's the same with the northern or northwestern.

i'll see what i can do to get a picture posted.

I have already posted a picture of my alligator lizard. Its in the pictures section. I believe Alice posted a picture of her two alligator lizards, one male and one female and you can easily distinguish the difference between the two. Well, I guess you can't mix an Oregon alligator lizard and a Southern Cali one together(which is where I caught mine) so I have to continue my search for a male one. She is doing very well and is peeking out of her cave looking at me as I type this