Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Collected this morning shortly after dawn.
She was on a trail, cold - I presume she had recently crawled out there to bask in the sun as it came up.

The only reason I collected her is because of her color, which is a yellowish green, somewhat uncommon (at least around here) for southern alligator lizards, which usually have a reddish tone to them.

She's definitely Elgaria multicarinata - I suspect she is Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata.

According to the field guide map, I may live in the southern area of integrade with E. m. scincicauda - but I think I'm south of that (Redding, CA). Anyway, that's all academic.

Beautiful lizard.
She has made no attempt at all to bite, unusual in my experience with Alligator Lizards that have just been captured.

Beautiful Lizard you have there. I also believe that is Elgaria Multicarinata. I've captured and cared for these types of Alligator Lizards many times in the past, and they still remain my favorite of all the wild lizards I've kept so far.

I believe the one you have there appears to be gravid. The shape of her belly and the fact that she didn't bite you are both signs of this. Here is a picture of a gravid female I caught that laid eggs several weeks later. She also didn't bite until after she laid the eggs.

Notice the similarity in the shape of the belly to the second picture you posted. The female Alligator lizard I caught had 15 eggs. All of them hatched into nice healthy lizards, which I kept for a while (before giving them to JasonW, who also posts on these forums.) I kept 2 for myself, which I still have today. They are about 10 inches long now.

Just thought you might be interested to hear this.

You know what - I was thinking the same thing about her being gravid.

I use to breed them, I also use to breed California Kings - as a teenager.

Recently when getting back into herps, I caught a wild kingsnake which I thought was female from the tail - sex probes said otherwise.

I also caught in 2004 two baby kings, which I still have - from the tail, I thought they were a pair - but sex probe (I just bought a set) said otherwise.

So I seem to have lost my knack at being right 95% of the time, maybe allowing wishful thinking to sway me.

Thus - I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

I will give her a nesting box and watch her (and the box) for eggs.

btw - the first reptile I ever had, when I was 9, was a southern alligator lizard (Walnut Creek, CA). She was gravid when caught, bit me when caught, laid 10 eggs a week later.

So sometimes they do bite when gravid. I never thought about it at the time, but I never noticed them being more docile when gravid.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this one after she lays, assuming she is in fact gravid.

She has suddenly become rather active - I suspect she will be laying soon.
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (gravid)

I found a nice male on my way home from the grocery store (on foot). I saw his wide head, and thus suspected he was a male - when I picked him up, he defecated on me and his hemipenises stuck out - confirming his sex. Then he managed to wriggle his body forward enough to get my pinky with his bite - reminding me of how powerful the jaws of a male can be. He did not draw any blood though, I don't think he gave me the full power.

I'm going to let him go now - sorry, no pictures. I contemplated keeping him to breed with my female next season (why I even brought him home), but I'm sure I can find a male next season if I do want to breed her next season.

The more I think about it, the more I don't think I will. If she lays this year I will have to care for the young until they are large enough that I can entrust them to others (eating large crickets), but baybe lizards are a lot more work than baby snakes, they are far more fragile and need vitamins and lighting etc. - I'll decide next season if I want to find her a mate. Otherwise, since they seem to be communal, I'll just find her a female for a cage mate.

I'd love to have another San Bernadino variety - the one I found in Crestline CA years ago was the most beautiful alligator lizard I had ever seen.

He's been released (same spot where I caught him).
When I found him - he was in the gutter of the street I live on right under a streat lamp - and rather than flee to the bushes on that side of the street, he headed across the street.

Interestingly - when I put him back down, he opted again to cross the street, even though I was between him and the target bush. I suspect that bush is home to him.