Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone tell me what kind of lizard this is?

I found it at a local strip mall - it ran in front of my car across the sidewalk. There wasn't any green areas nearby, so I thought maybe he was an escapee from the Petco in that mall, but they didn't have anything that looked like this.

He is about 8 inches long (at least half of that is his tail) and is rough textered all over. He has bright blue that seems to change shade at times (sometimes lighter, sometimes darker)under his chin and also in a half moon shape on both sides of his underbelly. He also has some tiny blue dots on his back.

I have him in my Dumpy frog tank and he seems to be doing well in there. He spends most of his time basking under the light.

We have lots of local lizards, but I've never seen one like this before.

Mysterious Lizard

Could this be it?

I checked the lizard this morning, and the blue areas are much smaller and lighter than they have been. Not sure what triggers it, but the blueness definately varies from time to time.

I found this info on the web on something called a Colorado River tree lizard - looks pretty close to him except the blue under his chin turns really dark blue - kinda like a bearded dragon will, and also the blue on the belly is in a definate half moon shape and is a darker shade of blue than this shows.

Maybe it's a sub-species?
Link

The lizard in question is in the genus Sceleporus. Your pics don't show great detail so I don't know your geographic origin. I cannot help further at this time.

FWIW Sceleporus are common in dry areas nationwide.
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AMAZON REPTILE CENTER

You guys are local to me, and I've bought many animals from you. If I bring this little guy in, could you maybe identify him more specifically? I'm mostly concerned about giving him proper care, and I need to find out what he is to do that. I found him locally in Mira Loma, at a little shopping plaza of all places!

I did a little more looking on the web after you identified the genus, please look at the link and see if this is what he might be...thanks
Link

>>You guys are local to me, and I've bought many animals from you. If I bring this little guy in, could you maybe identify him more specifically?

Yeah, I'll be here most of today and my staff is here every day! In Mira Loma I expect you to have Sceleporus occidentalis

I'm mostly concerned about giving him proper care, and I need to find out what he is to do that. I found him locally in Mira Loma, at a little shopping plaza of all places!

They are super common, we catch them in the store sometimes. They visit from the vacant field behind our biz.

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>>I did a little more looking on the web after you identified the genus, please look at the link and see if this is what he might be...thanks
>>Link

The link is for the Sagebrush lizard. It is "possible" but not likely. Sagebrish lizards are mostly found at high elevation. Like up in the Lake Arrowhead region. Bring it in we'll get specific.

Care is the same as for bearded dragons for the entire genus no matter the species.
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AMAZON REPTILE CENTER