Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need your help. I had caught an alligator lizard 7 months ago and it is doing fine in captivity but I thought it was a skink! I caught a slightly larger "skink" that was really an alligator lizard today in my backyard and my dad tells me they are both alligator lizards! So I was feeding the one I've had for 7 months crickets and mealworms. What do I need to feed them both to ensure they have a healthy diet? The one I've had for 7 months is a lighter brown, and the one I caught today is a darker brown. They both have a pattern over their top back and the pattern stops halfway down along their sides. They are getting along in the aquarium cage. In fact the one I've had for 7 months climbed ontop of the one I caught today for awhile. The one I've had for 7 months has a pink thing protrude at its private area when I pick it up but the one I caught today does not have that. Can you guess their sex? I caught the new one in a wood pile along the side of my house. I live in the Sacramento area of CA so it is not a high elevation. The one I've had for 7 mos is 9 inches long and the new one I caught today is 12 inches long. What kind of alligator lizard do you think they are? Their pattern and look are similar so I believe they are the same type of alligator lizard. How big of a waterbowl should I offer them? Do they like to soak in water? What do you suggest to make their habitat nice? I got fake plants stringed in their for a covering, a wood thing to climb on, a buried heat rock, some rocks, and a heat lamp for the day. I have bark for the substrate. I'm thinking I need to put more bark in there for them to burrow since right now its an inch thick at the most. How much misting with water do I need to do for their humidity preference? Thank you for your replies my alligator lizards will be happier with me using your advice to make them comfortable.

The pink thing you saw protrude from your first al was probably a hemipene (one of the paired sex organs males have). This would indicate that your lizard is a boy. Not all males will evert hemipenes so look at head shape. Mature males will have larger broader heads while females will be more streamlined.

Your set up sounds fine. Mine have never shown any interest in burrowing but they do appreciate lots of places to hide. Slabs of bark work well.

I've never had als interested in soaking, but they do drink out of water dishes.

Make sure that you dust feeder insects with a good calcium supplement. I use Rep-cal with Vitamin D3. Make sure that the calcium supplement you decide to use does not contain phospherus. Predatory lizards get all the phospherus they need from their food and using a supplement containing it can interfere with calcium uptake since the lizards require a 2:1 ratio of calcium to phospherus in their diet.

-Alice

Thank you so much! How can you tell if they are getting along? My al I had for 7 mos. is hiding more, staying in one spot and not eating since I put the new al in the cage yesterday =s But its only been a day since the change so maybe he's still getting used to the new al. The new al ate today by the way =) I've seen the al's right next to eachother and they lay there clamly but my my al I've had for 7 mos. eventually leaves to go find hiding. In the possibility that the other al I just got is a male too, will they get along in the same cage? I don't know if the new al is a male but I'll try to get a pic on here!
Thank you,
EA

As long as you don't see any signs of aggression it is probably just a reaction to the change. Males can be a bit quarlsome, but I've never had them inflict serious injury on one another. Watch for bite marks in the tail region.

I attached a pic of a male / female pair of southerns.

-Alice

How cute.. thank you!
Love,
Erica Ann