Glass lizard Facts
Glass lizard Facts
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Interesting Glass lizard Facts: |
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Glass lizard can reach 2 to 4 feet in length and 11 to 21 ounces of weight. |
Glass lizard is usually brown, green, bronze, tan and yellowish colored and covered with various dark markings on dorsal and lateral sides of the body. Ventral side of the body is often pale and uniformly- colored (without markings). |
Glass lizard has long, slender body, usually without legs. Some species have very short (rudimentary) hind legs. Glass lizard has forked tongue and very long tail (2/3 of the body length). |
Unlike snakes, glass lizards have movable eyelids and external ear openings. |
Glass lizard detaches the tail from the body when it is faced with danger. Tail divides into several pieces (it breaks like a glass, hence the name) which continue to wriggle. This confuses the predator and offers glass lizard opportunity for escape. |
Glass lizard develops new tail during the next few months. New tail often lacks markings and it is much shorter than the original tail. |
Glass lizard is active during the day (diurnal) and early evening (crepuscular). It likes to bask in the sun during the warm, sunny days. |
Glass lizard has excellent sense of smell and eyesight which are used to facilitate detection of prey. |
Glass lizard is a carnivore (meat-eater). Its diet is based on insects, spiders, snails, frogs, rodents, birds and eggs. Glass lizard doesn't have flexible lower jaw and it cannot consume very large prey. |
Natural enemies of glass lizards are skunks, foxes, raccoons, birds of prey and snakes. |
Glass lizard hibernates during the winter hidden inside the underground burrow. |
Mating season of glass lizards takes place at the beginning of the summer. |
Some species of glass lizard give birth to live babies, while most species lay eggs. Females produce 7 to 16 eggs per season. Eggs are often laid in the nest under the logs or dense layer of leaves on the forest floor. Female guards the nest and often rolls eggs to prevent growth of fungi. |
Eggs hatch after incubation period of 50 to 60 days. Young glass lizards reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 3 years. |
Glass lizard has an average lifespan of 10 to 30 years in the wild. |
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