One last #LizardReport before I leave for the season. I hadn't seen Bill in a couple days but this morning he was up on the porch. He even came in the house a couple times. I normally let them come in and wander around when the door is open, but I had to make sure to shoo him out because I don't want him to get stuck when I leave.

He and my little porch buddy got into this strange behavior multiple times this morning and I managed to catch it once on video. The little one squirms under Bill's belly. Any #herpetologist that can explain this behavior? Given the season, I'm guessing it's some kind of courtship. I'm also guessing that "little guy" who lives under the chair on the porch might actually be "little gal." She's looking kind of chubby. I assumed it was just fat from all the worms I've been feeding her but now I'm wondering if she's about to lay eggs.

#Lizard #Herpetology #Reptiles #herps

#LizardReport
Oh, and I see Bill just got up and is sitting in a little patch of sun over in his log pile. He's fine with dried mealworms so I'll go get him some. I have to leave in the next 48 hours or less, so I'm saving the last of the live mealworms for the iguana if I see it.

#LizardReport
This is my little porch lizard buddy who, after almost 5 months of hand feeding, is still skittish. They're kind of like cats in that they do the most adorable things to get comfortable sometimes, even when they look, to us, to be extremely uncomfortable. It's warming up in the sun. In a few minutes the porch will get too warm and it will start hanging out in the shade.

This is the finicky one who will eat live mealworms from my hand all day but turns up its nose at the freeze dried ones. (The baby one over on the wall is the same way.) For the last couple days, I've left a handful of dried ones behind the chair and they disappeared, but my suspicions were just confirmed when a thrasher (local bird) made repeat trips to the porch, sneaking around behind the chair to eat them.

#Lizard #reptiles

#LizardReport
Now the tiny baby spiny lizard that lives on top of the low wall is getting finicky and only wants live mealworms. Little brat, just like the one that lives under the chair on the porch.

I went out into the yard and put down my hand filled with dried mealworms and the whiptail came up and chowed down happily. That's the one that climbs on me. Meanwhile the zebra tail watched but seemed a little confused that someone else was getting all the food. Then Bill heard me whistle and came running across the yard and he and the zebra tail got into a puffing match for a few seconds. The whiptail just kept eating. The baby lizard on the wall saw all the commotion and ran up to the edge and sat there, probably expecting me to come up and hand feed it like usual.

Still haven't seen the iguana today.

Bill still has the stickers by his eye, so before I leave I may use the last of the live mealworms to lure him up onto the porch where I can grab him and remove the stickers with tweezers.

Their personalities are so funny. The tiny little baby spiny lizard that lives on the wall will run right up to me to take worms but there's a slightly bigger one, that at first I thought might be Harriet, at the far end of the wall that runs away when I get within 30 feet.

The whiptail is super friendly and will climb all over me, while Bill will hang out nearby and climb on me to get fed, but always jumps down and hangs out a few feet away.

I got the zebra tail lizard to climb up on my leg and take worms, but only very hesitantly and it would immediately jump down with the worm and runoff to eat it.

I really hope they're all here when I get back in August. Such an adorable little menagerie.

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#LizardReport
Bill, or at least the one I'm calling Bill because I'm not 100% sure it's the same one as last fall, came over and I made him climb up on my leg to get fed. I wanted to get a close look at his face. It turns out he seems to have some glochids stuck next to his eye. Look close at his left eye. Glochids are those tiny hair like micro thorns some cactus having an abundance. I have a patch of Opuntia microdasys and they are fuzzy with glochids, but no thorns.

I debated grabbing him and tweezering the spines out but I was afraid it would spook him and he would never be my friend again. If they're still there tomorrow, I may do it because I'm about to leave for a few months anyway.

Poor Bill!

#Lizards #Lizard #Herpetology

Today's #LizardReport
Everybody was present and fed well with mealworms that I brought from Tucson when I went there for the protest yesterday, except for the big iguana. He was nowhere to be seen today.

The little tiger whiptail saw me, came running across the yard, grabbed a couple worms, then jumped up on me. It was climbing around on my shoulders and my head and was quite content to let me hold it. Adorable little creature.

(I've tried to keep all these lizard posts as a thread, but it seems to have broken up.)

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#LizardSearch
Can you find Bill? He's a full-sized Sceloporus magister, Desert Spiny Lizard. If you find him, say so, but don't spill the beans yet. I'll post a close up later for those who can't find him. (I'm thinking I might have made it too easy. It'll be more difficult next time!)

#lizard #LizardReport #herps #LizardSearch

Some of you remember AfroHerper from Twitter. She used to do a fun Find That Lizard game. I just checked and she's doing it on her own website now, so you can play along there!

https://earynmcgee.com/findthatlizardchallenges

I got inspired to post my own just now when I saw Bill out in the yard. Unfortunately, the zebra-tailed lizard and iguana buddy ate the last mealworms, so I didn't call Bill over for lunch. In the next post I'll share a lizard challenge.

Since Eryn isn't on the fedi, I might do more of these, but do visit her site. Each challenge comes with lots of interesting information about the species.

#herps #lizard #LizardReport

Ohh, new buddy! Some lizards will never warm up like this, while others do it very quickly. I don't know if they actually like or tolerate being petted. I guess as long as they get lots of fat worms and bugs for the effort, they don't seem to care.

Bill came out and took a few worms, but the iguana had eaten most of them for the day, so Bill only got a few and sat there patiently for a while, I think expecting me to return with more.

#lizard #iguana #herps #LizardReport

I always whistle when feeding the lizards, at least when first training them. Some don't seem to care much and respond more to me kneeling down and putting my hand on the ground. Others will just come up to me looking for food. A couple of the spiny lizards (including the one I think is Bill from last fall) will run across the yard if I whistle. I think this iguana will eventually respond to whistling.

One thing I'm really curious about is whether they are making the humans=food association with me personally or with anyone. Once one of them gets really tame, I'll have someone else try to get close or call them over.

(hashtagging these with #LizardReport so you can mute them if you get tired of me posting lizard pictures and videos 😂)

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Just look at this handsome critter! These desert iguanas are my favorite of the yard lizards. I think today it was a little spooked by the bright blue Band-Aid on my thumb.

Unfortunately I have to leave for California soon so I won't be around to see how tame it will get. But this is the third year it's been around, so hopefully it'll still be here in August when I get back.

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Finally got a video of the zebra tailed lizard. It came back and took the mealworm a moment later. Flicking their tail like that is very characteristic of them. This one is still a bit skittish but eventually takes worms from my hand.

#Lizard #LizardReport #herps

While I was feeding this one, a neighbor woman walked by and it turns out she feeds the spiny lizards in her yard too. We had the same experience with the wild ones happily eating dried mealworms, but once they get tame they get finicky and only want the live ones.

We also both worry about them when the regulars don't show up for a while. But they are lizards and sometimes they just disappear for a week. Who knows where a lizard goes?

#LizardReport

The skittish spiny lizard finally figured out that I'm nice and a source for tasty mealworms. He also figured out quickly that whistling means food. I expect him to be following me up onto the porch soon.

This is very well maybe Bill from last year. He's hanging out in the same spot and is the same size. It may have just taken a while to remember me and that whistling means food. He looks different, but that's to be expected because I think they are in there mating season colors now.

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My desert iguana buddy this morning. It's shy. I think it'll really warm up to me once I have live mealworms.

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The same tiger whiptail in the previous post eating a dried meal worm. Note the little hula-wiggle it does near the beginning. I don't know what this is, but it seems unique to whiptails.

Out in the desert, even getting close enough to one to snap a photo is difficult. But with an open area where you can throw food that they can see, they'll tame up very quickly. I whistle when I feed them to get them used to that meaning food. It seems to work with some animals, but others ignore it.

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Today's lizard report:
got the iguana, the wee spiny lizard, the zebra-tailed lizard and this tiger whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris) to eat out of my hand. Oddly, the large spiny lizards (Sceloporus magister) that were so easy to tame last fall are all being skittish and my buddies haven't shown up at all.

This is the tiger whiptail taking a dried mealworm from my hand.

#lizards #herps #herpetology #LizardReport