Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i always see your posts of the lizards you caught, and they are always extremely fast desert lizards. do you use a lizard nuise to catch them? if so, how is is made? also, what time of day/ temp is it when you get them, and where is it you go to catch them? the terrain i was working on had thousands of huge granite boulders that were hollow underneith and even at 4 in the morning i couldnt even nuise a collard. thanks in advance, nick.
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re-edited
1.1 Western redback chuckwallas(philbert & unnamed)
5 green sunfish
Striped raphale catfish
Common Plecaustomouse
3 coyfish
0.1.1-sandiego gopher snakes
1.3-coturnix quail
0.1-cockatiel( R.I.P)ironic she was named casper...
1.1(fixed) cats-eddie/buzz
Where the heck would a cali. kingsnake run off to?!?!?!

Run and sneak up on them. It is any time of day. My husband or I bring both hands from far in the air closer to the lizard. One hand's fingers will be wiggling in front of the lizards face while the other hand is sneaky. Eventually bringing both hands down at once usually pressing any part of the lizards body into soil/rock except its tail. Lizards are fast, but reaction time is slower. The lizards assess the situation unlike insects. Insects must be caught with a net. It is very exciting.

Our old room mate said he would net lizards or have them run into cups. I haven't tryed that, or noosing.

This lizard I caught on a slick scree slope. My husband and friend were betting on whether I would be able to with the method and whether or not I'll get bit. I wasn't bit. My husband and I hunt them in a lot of different terrain.

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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

n/p

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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

My last trip I took I caught well over 10 collareds by hand, but this is normally done in an area where there are "liftable" boulders or flat rocks.

A noose would be very beneficial for the area you were in more than likely. To noose, all you need is a fishing pole 3-6' long and some waxed dental floss. Start with a 10" piece of line...tie one end around a pencil in a tight not, the the other end gets tied to the end of your fishing pole (or long stick etc)

Slide the pencil from the knot, and you should have a short length of line hanging from your rod (shut-up Eve)...

Next, you just form a slip knot from the loop end, by pushing some of the hanging line back through the loop...open it up, give it a pinch to hold the loop open and viola...

The waxed line works rather well since it has a slight tackiness that will allow the line to stick to itself. Approach your lizard slowly and just put the line of the neck and lift up. The weight of the lizard will be enough to close the loop. I lift them up then immediately grab them as to not cause them any injury. I have never cut or mamed any lizard in this fashion. It's a great way to get bit, since you do have to remove the loop. Don't worry, once their wieght is off the line, the line will not be tight enough to choke them. The tightness of the line and the closing of the slip knot onyl occur when the line is tight. This works great on lizards with large heads and small necks like collareds, and likely chuckwallas. The lizard first has to be approachable. I failed on several attempts to noose some African Red Headed Agama...they will simply not allow you to get within 20 feet, then they are extremely noose shy if you do. I learned another method for fishing for those, but there is a good risk of injury with the other method. Not my preference, but I did manage to catch three without injuring them.

Give it a try and post some pictures. If you need any more clarification, let me know!

John E.

Just dangle that big buggie, let the collared jump abroad, and drop the two in your picnic basket, ahahahhahahahahhaa

Just havign some FUN!
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PHEve/ Eve

Contact PHEve

Out in the desert noosing lizards and they do just that. I have had collareds jump up and grab the noose thinking it is a bug flying overhead. It is pretty comical. Most of the time they let loose when you pick them up off their rock though. The chucks try biting it when it gets in range. It is pretty funny to watch someone try to get a noose around a lizards neck when the lizard keeps trying to bite it. I have seen this go on for like 10 minutes. It's a laugh.

to manipulate a 10' very flimsly telescopic fly round out of my rear van door. I approaced a nice collared perched on a rock alongside the road. He was like a lot of lizards that bask roadside...as long as the car is moving, they feel secure...the car stops, and they get very nervous.

I decided to try to noose him from the van window...I was so nervous trying to get this dude the end of my fly rod was bouncing up and down from my hands shaking. I was literally thumping the lizard in the head (he said thumping the lizard) with the tip of this pole. I can't imagine what the poor guy was thinking. I use a short noose, as I typically snag my line of rocks and brush if it's too long, or the window blows the loop around, making it even more difficult to control.

i still dont see how you would approach them by foot, but then again this terrain didnt have very much flat area, and 3 times i almost caught banded rock lizards, so mabe by hand a different terrain, but i know ill catch some with a proper nuise. all i had last time was a copper wire, and they kept slippin thru it. and yeah, spiny-type lizards seem to be very alert. i couldnt get in 20 feet of the granite spinys before they were gone. heck, they would see me pull out the binoculars and be gone. i almost caught 1 tho, but the wire loop was too big... too bad, he was almost 9 inches long.
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re-edited
1.1 Western redback chuckwallas(philbert & unnamed)
5 green sunfish
Striped raphale catfish
Common Plecaustomouse
3 coyfish
0.1.1-sandiego gopher snakes
1.3-coturnix quail
0.1-cockatiel( R.I.P)ironic she was named casper...
1.1(fixed) cats-eddie/buzz
Where the heck would a cali. kingsnake run off to?!?!?!

I'll tell you a decent way to get granite spinies...I don't want to publicly announce it.

e-mail me at aqflame35@isp.com

John