Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I was behind a local grocery today. THere is a little stream and a patch of woods behind this grocery store. I was just walking around, looking under the occasional rock, piece of cardboard, or tire. I found a couple praying mantis egg cases, and a really cool piece of madrone(for my chameleon). THen I lifted up an old tire and found a praying mantis egg case and then I saw something move. I didn't even notice it before it moved, but it was a huge Alligator Lizard.
I already have a Northwestern Alligator Lizard that I found a few miles away, about 5 years ago. I am like 99% sure that it is a male. He has a very broad head in relation to his body.
The reason why I told you about my other alli is the one I found today is larger than mine. I am 100% sure this is a male as his head is very broad and when I caught him, his hemipenes were exposed. I am not sure why they were exposed though. He may have done that crap your guts out thing to deter a predator. Or he may have been mating with his lady when I interrupted them. If it is the latter case, I may just end up releasing him back in the tire I found him under.
He is about ten inches long. He is very dark brown, but still has some markings. His markings are rather southern alli like, but his body type looks rather northern. He has horizontal black bands along his body and tail every centimeter or so with some white splotches on his sides along the black stripes. His head is totally void of markings. What kind is he? I will try to take a picture tomorrow and post it. Oh, by the way, I live in Southwestern Oregon. I am less than a hundred miles from the coast and a couple hundred miles from the California border Thanks in advance for the help, Josh

Oh, by the way, does anyone know the life span of alligator lizards? In particular, Northwesterns? I have had my Nortwestern for 5 years and he has not really grown at all since I have had him, so I assume he is full grown. I am throughly surprised that he is still alive, since I figured the lifespan was 5 years tops for alligator lizards. Does anyone else have Northwestern Aliigator lizards? Josh

n/p

I have had this guy since I caught him in June of 1999. He was full grown when I cought him, so he is now an old man. Josh

The best way to tell the difference between northern and southern als is to flip them over. Northerns will appear to have lengthwise stripes running between the scale rows. In southerns, these stripes will seem to run down the center of the scale rows.

I read somewhere that the longevity for southern als is around 9 years, but I suspect that they can live longer. From what I've observed it takes southern als 2 yrs to reach sexual maturity and at least 3 yrs to reach adult size. I suspect that this would be about the same for northerns.

Great pics!
Alice