Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi!
I'm Phil Clevinger, and I'm new to this board
so I wanted to introduce myself. I'm
21 and love all kinds of lizards, but mainly ones I can find near my home in the Mojave Desert. Alligator Lizards
have always held a special place in my heart, and
even though I don't have any right now, I'm starting to find more of them in my field trips, and I wanted to talk with people who love them too. Hope to have good discussions with all of you.

P/S Do Alligator Lizards eat Ensatinas? Does anyone know?
I'm setting up a pen in my backyard that will be cool enough
for Ensatinas, and thought that adding a couple of Elgaria would be neat. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The pen
is 6' x 12' with lots of logs and rocks, with plenty of plants and other cover.

Herpetologically,
Phil Clevinger

Hi!

It's always great to meet people who love alligator lizards.Oh, and about your question, I think as long as the ensatinas are over three and a half inches it would be fine to house them with alligator lizards.

(ACE)

Thanks a lot for the welcome,
and the insight. 3 1/2 inches
will probably be fine, because the Ensatinas
I've found so far are about that big.
Here's another question: Is there
an easy way to sex Alligator lizards
besides finding mature adults and
comparing head sizes? Thanks again for the
welcome.

May your herp days be sunny, or in this case
sunny and moist! =)

-Phil Clevinger

Hi again!

Sexing alligator lizards can be a hard thing. Besides going by head sizes you could try and grab one behind the head and let it wriggle around. This will usually cause it to poop on your hand, and if it is a male, it will probably avert a hemipenis. I know that this sounds gross, but it is usually very accurate.

Hope this helps,
(ACE)

Hey again.

Now that's an interesting way to do that.
Thats pretty funny, too. It does seem like the
guys I catch poop an awful lot, if they haven't
introduced their little jaws to my hand. Ouch!
I'll try it with the next one I find.
That's really cool. Thanks a lot.

yours,
Phil Clevinger