Your Reptile and Amphibian Resource and Information Site

Back to Alligator Lizards Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area  

Alligator Lizards Forum

Lightning Hunter   T-UNIT   Lizardman01   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Lightning Hunter   Reptigirl   Teef   Aymee   Joeboy   Joeboy   Albinoboy29   Aliceinwl   Algator226   William kimmy   PrinceSushi   William kimmy   PrinceSushi   William kimmy  
 Member  Message

 #361029


Lightning Hunter
View Profile

 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I was out hiking today with a few friends when we found this beautiful Alligator Lizard. It took us about 15 minutes to catch (I had no hunting tools with me, and he kept escaping into piles of rotted wood). I believe this is a female Southern. Can anyone here correct me if I’m wrong?




This Alligator Lizard has ticks around its ears and neck, so I’m keeping it for a few weeks or so in order to get rid of the ticks (they are actually nymphs, not full-grown ticks). The ticks can be seen in the following picture:



The dirt is stuck to the Alligator Lizard due to some Petroleum Jelly that I put on the ticks to suffocate them (usually they fall off and die quickly without me having to pull them off). I will be rinsing the Alligator Lizard off soon. I have the Alligator Lizard in this smaller cage temporarily, while it heals. The cage is being used as quarantine, since I lined the top of it with Petroleum Jelly (I don’t want ticks crawling around my room, so this way they will die trying to escape the cage).

This is my first post by the way. I’ve browsed these forums for quite a while, but finally had to register and post after catching this Alligator Lizard. :)
06/03/05  04:20am

 #363889


T-UNIT
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 361029


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

i cant give you any tips on what it is but it looks damn cool and props for catching it that was defiantly tough i had to catch an alligator lizard in the local reptile store and there quick little smarty pants ha ha good luck with the ticks sounds like you know what your doing!
06/06/05  02:19pm

 #364442


Lizardman01
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 361029


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

wow that thing is huge. how long is she?(I think its a she)
06/07/05  12:46am

 #364561


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Lizardman01   In reference to Message Id: 364442


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

She is slightly over a foot long, and I now believe that she is gravid. I’ve gotten all those ticks off now, and the lizard seems to be in good health. I’m moving her to a much larger cage tomorrow. :)
06/07/05  04:12am

 #365451


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 361029


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

She looks like she has a full belly. If it is a female hard to tell from pics are there going to be eggs or did you just feed her a lot?
06/08/05  12:27am

 #365929


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 365451


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Quote:

She looks like she has a full belly. If it is a female hard to tell from pics are there going to be eggs or did you just feed her a lot?



I just now said that I believe she is gravid. ;-)

It’s possible that she is just fat though; I guess I’ll find out. I have a little plastic container in the cage with moist dirt incase she is gravid.
06/08/05  03:52pm

 #366105


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 365929


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

That’s how my girl looked before she laid eggs :) Your doing a nice thing taking care of her and getting the ticks off and all.
06/08/05  06:57pm

 #366165


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 366105


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Thanks :)

It’s hard for me to pass up the opportunity to take care of an Alligator Lizard. It’s probably because they were the first type of lizards that I ever took care of (when I was still in high school, years back). They sure are fun to watch!
06/08/05  08:34pm

 #367286


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 366165


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I have three and one is blind and totally dependent on me feeding her but she is worth it. They are a lot of fun. I will post pics soon. Let me know if there are eggs soon.
06/09/05  11:43pm

 #367393


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 367286


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Sure, I’ll let you know if she lays eggs. :)
I might post some pics of my previous Alligator Lizards soon. In the meantime, I’ll link to some pictures at the bottom of this post of my Lizards new cage setup. She has been basking in the heat for the past few hours now.

I was reading about the blind Alligator Lizard in your other thread actually. That’s pretty amazing! Do you have to force-feed her, or does she grab whatever food you are holding? I have observed that Alligator Lizards have very acute senses other than just their sight. While hunting, one of my Alligator Lizards was able to follow a cricket with his head even though he couldn’t see it. It seems that he could either hear the cricket walking, or smelled it. Whatever it was, he seemed to know exactly where the cricket was walking. Hopefully your lizard won’t ever get boring, because you sure couldn’t let it go! On the plus side though, I’ll bet you can handle that lizard as much as you want. There isn’t any threat of it biting you (or very little anyway). Was she blind when you caught her, or did she become blind somehow?





06/10/05  01:38am

 #368571


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 367393


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I run a small rescue and she was given to me by another animal rescue that doesn’t do reptiles. right now I am the only one in my area that takes in injured reps. especially rattlers. She came to me blind. It looked like she had her eyes poked out by something or someone. They were all gooey and infected. They have healed but she will always be blind. I have to hand feed her with an eye dropper. She eats liquefied insects with vit powder mostly and sometimes liquefied canned cat food (kinda a treat) I will never get bored of her she is a sweetie. All of my Alligator lizards are friendly. They go with me to educate the public and the male loves to be pet. That is an awesome set up she has. She must be one happy lizard.



06/11/05  04:23pm

 #369866


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 368571


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Are you paid at all for taking in these reptiles? It sounds hard to do, but would be fun at the same time! How do you deal with the Rattlers without being bit? I know there are people like the crocodile hunter, who handle poisonous snakes all the time, but not in a cage in their homes (if you keep them inside that is).

I’m really pissed if someone poked your lizard’s eyes out purposely. Nothing justifies harming a reptile in that manner. I can understand harming reptiles if they are endangering the life of a human, but not if they are just minding their own business.
06/13/05  04:35am

 #370060


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 369866


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Some people donate money when they turn over a animal to us. The wild ones we take in from a local rescue and do not get money. I get paid to teach reptile education at schools and local parks it helps pay for the food and vet bills. A lot of people give us tanks but we buy most of the stuff our selves. As for the rattlers one would have had to be put to sleep if I didn’t take her and the other would have starved because the people that had her couldn’t get her to eat. They are easy to care for but I had to be trained before they were released to me. It is sad when people intentionally hurt animals I am just glad we have her(blind Alli) she is a real sweetie. Do you do a lot of rescuing?
06/13/05  01:16pm

 #370670


Lightning Hunter
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 370060


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I’ve helped a few lizards with ticks and mites that I’ve caught in the past, but I haven’t taken care of any injured reptiles yet. The last Alligator Lizard that I caught was incredibly skinny when I caught him though. He had a very bad case of ticks (much worse than the Alligator Lizard I currently have), and I believe he had stopped eating because of them. He quickly grew an appetite once I got rid of the ticks though, and became a fat lizard.

I wouldn’t be able to resist keeping and taking care of an injured reptile. I think it’s great that you are taking care of all yours so well.
06/13/05  10:19pm

 #370783


Reptigirl
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 370670


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

Thanks, I am glad there are people like you taking care of the lizards that most people overlook.



06/14/05  12:07am

 #401769


Teef
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 361029


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

do lizards usualy get ticks and mites? or is it usualy just wild ones that do?
07/14/05  03:58am

 #1332971


Aymee
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 370670


 Mites

hi - i’ve been reading all night about what to do about my new ally....... i found your old, old post, but wondered if you are still around.....please read below, and help me, if possible.....thank you soo much!!!

Hi - my husband and i recently have gotten back into raising alleys..... and our 5 year old son is really digging it..... We have recently found two out hiking in the mountains.... Little black/red bugs were discovered on one, and then he started to move pretty slowly, eventually stopped eating and later died.....we, and our son were, of course, heart-broken..... On the one which we have left, we have discovered the mites again..... we soaked him in olive oil and sprayed "mite off", cleaned the cage, etc...... it appears as if the visible mites are gone or at least are dead...... however, we recently noticed up close and almost microscopic, are tiny, tiny white bugs crawling over him..... i called a pet store and they said that they might be from the logs in the cage, (wood mites) and suggested that i take the lizard to a vet...... another pet store said that the white bugs won’t hurt him...... i have no idea what to do..... i don’t want another lizard to die in my care and i am trying to do everything in my power to save him..... , without an expensive vet bill...... any suggestions??? btw - we used to raise alleys and never had this problem.... in fact they live for 5 to six years in captivity..... can someone please give me some suggestions? we are located in northridge, ca....thank you soo much



06/25/07  06:36am

 #1372599


Joeboy
View Profile



   Message To: Reptigirl   In reference to Message Id: 370060


 Wow.

yeah see sorry if this insults you but my pd and a/c tell me to call the animal control or kill rattlers if i see them because they are VERY dangerous due to our community of dogs cats and other species of animals.
07/24/07  04:05pm

 #1379684


Joeboy
View Profile



   Message To: Joeboy   In reference to Message Id: 1372599


 Wow.

i dont know if thats southern the head is a bit more defined and southerns look like "snake lizards" which means they have slithery look i dont know it looks a bit northern to me i dont know where u caught it but sometimes northern migrate
07/29/07  08:10pm

 #1648429


Albinoboy29
View Profile



   Message To: Joeboy   In reference to Message Id: 1379684


 Wow.

I have had my northern alligator lizard since labor day (the day he was born) he is like 7 in now..is there anyway I can make him grow quicker..Also I do Have a UVA bulb
03/04/08  10:52pm

 #1655035


Aliceinwl
View Profile



   Message To: Albinoboy29   In reference to Message Id: 1648429


 Wow.

Since your al had problems with metabolic bone disease you really should have a UVB producing fluorescent in addition to the heat lamp (UVA). UVB enables your lizard to synthesize some of his own vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is necessary for the proper metabolism of calcium. You should also supplement with a calcium supplement like rep-cal with D3 (the ingested D3 is good, but not as good as that synthesized by the lizard). You should feed small prey items (about half the size of your lizard’s head). Smaller prey items will be digested more quickly. Before feeding the crickets to your lizard you should feed the crickets a high quality food like fish flakes with carrot or orange slices for 24 hours. This will ensure that your lizard is getting the most nutrition from his prey. Optimum care will help him achieve optimum growth.
03/10/08  01:22am

 #1709083


Algator226
View Profile



   Message To: Lightning Hunter   In reference to Message Id: 361029


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I think you got a northern because that lizard looks the same as mine. (which is a northern)
04/19/08  02:27pm

 #1723725


William kimmy
View Profile



   Message To: Algator226   In reference to Message Id: 1709083


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

no thats a southern alright cause it doesn’t look like mine cause imes a northern and southerns have that alligator spike thingy on their back
05/02/08  11:27pm

 #1724195


PrinceSushi
View Profile



   Message To: William kimmy   In reference to Message Id: 1723725


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

William- You must be thinking of a different species of lizard. I’ve never seen a southern with spikes.
05/03/08  04:47pm

 #1725492


William kimmy
View Profile



   Message To: PrinceSushi   In reference to Message Id: 1724195


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

No Prince Sushi i mean’t that the northern alligator lizard doesn’t have spikes the southern does though.soo yea he probally got that from the states cause in canada they dont have southern they have northern.i like both types of alligator lizards cause i think they are special creatures.
05/05/08  12:23am

 #1725496


PrinceSushi
View Profile



   Message To: William kimmy   In reference to Message Id: 1725492


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

I’m sorry. I read your other post wrong.
I thought you said that it wasn’t a southern, but now I see that you were agreeing that it was a southern.

I still wouldn’t call southerns spiky, but I do see what you are trying to say. They have a more prominent scale placement which makes them appear rough(they are actually just as smooth as northerns) while northerns look like they are as smooth as most snakes.
05/05/08  12:32am

 #1725530


William kimmy
View Profile



   Message To: PrinceSushi   In reference to Message Id: 1725496


 Caught a big (southern?) Alligator lizard

you are totally right on man



05/05/08  01:26am


Back to Alligator Lizards Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area