I have a trio of Uma scoparia and I have noticed some outstanding things that perhaps may not have been recorded in the past. This is a young female of which I am not going to breed until next year or the end of the year as she is still not mature. I have noticed that in this specie it is the female that is more colorful than the male. The female has a softer tone to her coloration and the ocilli do not stick out as much and the male has a much more white hugh than the female. Interstingly the female has a large dot on the sholder that is very clear, both my females have this dot but it is much more pronounced. The female seems to turn a salmon color when she is ovulating. Also the females have a much more pear shape body. I can now recognize a female from a male unless they are really young just on looks alone with excellent accuracy. The male while not having the discriminating dot sticking out like a sore thumb does have a dot but not as pronounced and the black between the ocili seems to be more prevelant and with the whiter color the ocili seem to stand out much more promounced in the male than the female. I suspect that this female is around 6 months old, but this is just a guess. Interstingly in the Uma Nota (Colorado desert specie) the male has an exceptional salmon color and the male that I have in capitiviy has come out of hibernation recently for a day or so and he was exceptionally orange. So I think these are interesting observations, I hope to write an article on these after I breed them. A little lizard triva to pass the day on. Cheers to you all!
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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]
