Jewelled Lacertas are very beautiful, colorful lizards that reach a maximum total length of 2 feet. These lizards live in S.W. Europe (Lacerta lepida) and N.W. Africa (Lacerta pater). They live there in a climate with dry and warm summers, and cool and rainy winters. During winter they go in hibernation and mating takes place in the springtime. They live in various habitats, but prefer habitats with open space mixed with bushes and trees. They hide under big rocks, in hollow trees, rabbit burrows, or self dug burrows.

These lizards can be kept outdoors in a large part of the USA, roughly south of a line through Washington DC, Oklahoma City, and Southern Oregon. The outdoor terrarium can contain some rocks, a small brush, and rock-garden-flowers, so it looks naturally.

They can be kept indoors in terraria of about 3 x 2 feet or larger. The terrarium should have a warm basking area at one end. The rest of the terrarium may be slightly moist with hiding places under hollow/flat rocks or under pieces of bark. Just like other sunloving lizards, UVB light is mandatory. Please follow the instructions on the UVB lamp of your choice. It is important to adjust the height above the basking spot as exactly as possible, as can be read from the lamps instructions.

They do not need hibernation to stay healthy. Hibernation, like in other lizards, is optional and convenient if you want to keep them outside.

These lizards eat superworms, crickets, pinkie mice, pinkie rats, snails, grasshoppers, hairless caterpillars, grubs, and sweet fruits like peeled bananas and peaches.

I began breeding Lacertas in small numbers during the early 1970's in enclosures behind my house in the small town of Waspik, the Netherlands, a country better known to Americans as Holland. As a result of the cool, wet climate there for most of the year, I maintained these and my other lizards in outdoor greenhouses of varied sizes made of wood, brick, and glass. Many of these materials I salvaged from houses severely damaged during the last weeks of World War II, which had been torn down and replaced.

During that early 1970's period nothing was really known as to lizards' needs for UVB light or vitamin D3. However, that soon was to change. Once I realized that window glass filters out UV light, I started supplementing vitamin D3. Right away my Jewelled lacerta breeding program took off. As a result of this new success with UVB and vitamin D3, I was invited to give presentations to herp societies and conferences in both western and eastern Europe.

In August of 1982 I was asked to give a slideshow at the 25^th Annual Meeting of SSAR in Raleigh, NC. I brought my wife Hester and we had a wonderful time visiting with many herpetoculturists and exchanging ideas. One of the highlights was meeting Joe Laszlo in person, as I had corresponded with Joe many years on the subject of vitamin D3. He also was advocating UV lights to help solve diurnal reptile management and breeding problems. Hester and I also enjoyed going into the field to observe American reptiles first hand with Sean McKeown (now a well known author, publishing articles monthly in many reptile magazines and also writing many books on geckos and such) and Julie Hishioka of the Honolulu Zoo and their spouses. We also discussed ways of designing enclosures to allow for natural sunlight. It became clear while attending the 1982 captive breeding conference that most of the top Zoo and private herpetoculturists were recognizing the need to either provide some natural unfiltered sunlight, use UVB lighting or supplement vitamin D3 as part of their lizard management programs.

Presently, two subspecies of Lacerta lepida are recognized, the nominate form and L. lepida nevadensis, a form which is largely unknown to American lizard breeders. This subspecies lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain and is much larger than Lacerta l. lepida. It is also more gray in coloration. Lacerta pater, wrongly considered a subspecies of Lacerta lepida up to 1982, lives in the mountain regions of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

My colony of this species increased rapidly and in 1979 I hatched already 215 babies, but one of all those babies was black! In nature melanistic Lacerta pater have never been found, so I realized I had something very rare and started to breed lots of melanistic Lacerta pater. It was so exiting and by 1983-1984 I was breeding hundreds of melanistic Lacerta pater. There were so many black Lacerta pater around that people started to believe that L. pater was black and L. lepida was green. After several years of breeding black lacertas, people believed that melanistic Lacerta pater were very common and I could not sell them anymore for a reasonable price. In 1985 I left the Netherlands, leaving hundreds of melanistic L. pater with terrarium keepers in Western Europe. Today, 1998, it is impossible to find one live melanistic L. pater back. Apparently people neglected this "common" form to such an extend that now this form has vanished totally.
Please read the article in Vivarium Magazine for much more info and unique photos (one of the Fall 1998 issues).

MANAGEMENT IN CAPTIVITY

Please read the article in Vivarium Magazine for much more info and unique photos (one of the Fall 1998 issues).

FOOD

Please read the article in Vivarium Magazine for much more info and unique photos (one of the Fall 1998 issues).

HABITAT

Please read the article in Vivarium Magazine for much more info and unique photos (one of the Fall 1998 issues).

REPRODUCTION

Please read the article in Vivarium Magazine for much more info and unique photos (one of the Fall 1998 issues).

REFERENCES

Bischoff, W.(1982): Zur Frage der taxonomischen Stellung europaeischer und nordwestafrikanischer Perleidechsen (Sauria, Lacertidae, Lacerta lepida -Gruppe).

Amphibia-Reptilia, Wiesbaden, 2,357-367

Langerwerf, B. (1981): Nigrinos bei der Nachzucht von Lacerta lepida pater, Herpetofauna : Ludwigsburg, 3, 12: 21-22

Langerwerf, B. (1997) Outdoorvivaria, The Vivarium 8(4)

Mellado, J. Amores, F., Parreno, F.F. & F. Hiraldo (1975): The structure of a Mediterranean lizard-community. Donana. Acta Vert., Sevilla, 2,2: 145-160

Valverde, J. (1976): Estructura de una communidad mediterranea de vertebrados terrestres. Madrid (CSIC), 218 pp.

With a snout to vent length (SVL) of 4.25 inches (for males) to 4.40 inches (for females), a Grozny lacerta is a moderately large lacertid. Adult males are clear bright green over the first two-thirds of the body, while the hindquarters, including the rear legs and tail, are olive brown. Female coloration is similar, but the green is not as intense and the body retains some of the spots and a trace of juvenile coloring. An adult male's belly is greenish or greenish-yellow; a female's white. During the breeding season, the colors of both sexes intensify. The male's head, throat and sides of the neck turn deep blue; the throat of the female is greenish-yellow.

This species is found in the Eastern Caucasus Mountains and around the Caspian sea, a relatively small area. The climate throughout much of the Grozny lizard's range is much like that of Salt Lake City, Utah. When comparing the climate of Yerevan, Armenia (which is in the middle of the lizard's range) with the climate of Salt Lake City, I see only a few slight differences. Both areas have cold winters, hot summers and moderate rainfall. Because of its tolerance, I believe that if properly housed, the Grozny lizard is an ideal species for outdoor terraria over much of the United States. However, while the Grozny lizard is tolerant of winter cold, it is intolerant of excessive rain and ground moisture. Because of this, I am able to keep them outdoors here in Alabama only if I provide them with dry shelters. Otherwise, they die of pneumonia. But if kept indoors, L. strigata needs a slightly moist place to hide. Lacking this, shedding problems will occur.

Lacerta strigata occupies a wide variety of habitats within its range. It is found in the steppes and mountain-steppes in areas of semi-desert; by the banks of rivers, small streams and canals; in meadows; along the borders of steppe-forest; in fallow cultivated lands; the margins of vineyards and gardens; and along roadsides. Within this area the lizards avoid barren places or low vegetation, preferring to live around small bushes, brambles, wild rose or dense weeds. Cover is sought in rodent holes or within rock piles. The lizards sometimes dig burrows that can measure 20 to 26 inches in length. This species has been recorded at altitudes of 3,000 meters in some regions.

These lizard mate in May, and between 6 and 11 eggs are laid around June-July. Most females lay two clutches of eggs each year, during the above mentioned months, thus giving a total of 12-22 eggs for each female per year. Incubation of the eggs is only six weeks. And hatchlings have a SVL of 1.2 to 1.28 inches. Maturity is reached after 22 to 23 months.

Local lizards, such as Anolis carolinensis, Sceleporus undulatus, or Eumeces fasciatus occasionally take up residence inside a L. strigata enclosure. I never noticed any aggressive interference between L. strigata and these local lizards.

Lacerta strigata are beautiful, hardy, and relatively inexpensive lizards that are ideal for beginner hobbyist. They can be kept in outdoor terraria in many areas of the U.S., and should do particularly will in areas with low rainfall and low humidity.

This Care Sheet was Supplied By Agama International

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