Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He's getting orange spots! And a little greener than yesterday...

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1.3 Collared Lizards
90 Gal Aquarium
Minneapolis, MN

I had a picture with the same name so the wrong one was coming up... This one is from today...

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1.3 Collared Lizards
90 Gal Aquarium
Minneapolis, MN

This guy gets more colorful everytime I see him, very nice Eve

DuH ! Eve

Eli Lilly
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1.3 Collared Lizards
90 Gal Aquarium
Minneapolis, MN

Prettier than the "flower" ! LOL Your babies are all so pretty get a pic of them all , Eve

Don't worry, those bright orange spots are showing that she is gravid. I do not know if she has parasites or not, but those big spots are not Parasites.
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Let there be Lizardz.
- Scott

They are typical "female impersonator" bands that juvenile males get. I think the evolutionary strategy is meant to fool the local dominant males into thinking "Hey, I'm a chick, don't kill me" so they have a better chance of making it into adulthood and establishing their own territory. Or maybe they are just teenagers and like the lizard version of spiked hairdoos LOL.

DC

but they're kind of cute
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1.3 Collared Lizards
90 Gal Aquarium
Minneapolis, MN

Are you keeping more than one male in the same cage? (Otherwise I don't see why HE would be displaying female gravid coloration.)
I dind't even know that they would do that. Thats weird.
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Let there be Lizardz.
- Scott

Males do that automatically while they are growing...just natural.

J

Small males must have nightmares about being eaten by big, scary, territorial males. Thats what makes them wear dresses.
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Let there be Lizardz.
- Scott

and no, I don't mean the spiked hairdoos! LOL Subadult male Crotaphytus develop a unique pattern of orange or red banding that likely is an evolved characteristic intended to mimic the pigmentation of gravid females. As DC suggested, such coloration would allow juvenile males to safely occupy the territory of a larger, more dominant adult male collared lizard - until the younger males mature and can establish their own ranges. I have noticed that subadult male Crotaphytus in captivity will retain this particular coloration for quite some time if housed in view of adult male collared lizards. Once provided a location of their own with only females present, the oranges and reds quickly fade...

Brock

You may recall I posted vent pictures about a week ago, 6/24 or so. I could be wrong on the sexes of my lizards, but the story I'm currently going with is that:

1. Sunbeam is the only male.
2. I got the group from Paul McIntosh as 1.3 group
3. Sunbeam is probably the second smallest of the 4 lizards.
4. One lizard, Dino, is significantly larger than the rest, but was the same size when I got them all at two months of age.

Also, recently I introduced superworms. For about a week, nobody would eat them. I tried to present them to each individual lizard on several occasions, but no go.

Finally Chomper just up and ate one. I posted about that. The other lizards gathered around to watch her munch it down. Then, not to be outdone, Dino devoured the next one I presented. Clearly a case of observational learning, since she had just recently ignored it as "not food."

The other day, Dino actually pulled a mostly-gobbled superworm from Chomper's mouth, quite aggressively.

For the pair that are not eating superworms, I'm trying to get them to at least eat a mealworm, to try to get that shaped insect associated as food for these two lizards.

They're still mostly eating crickets, and I'm all out of the small cup of Superworms I had bought.
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1.3 Collared Lizards
90 Gal Aquarium
Minneapolis, MN