Yellow-throated Plated Lizard

Yellow-throated Plated Lizard

Scientific name: Gerrhosaurus flavigularis
Family: Gerrhosauridae
Order: Squamata
Class: Reptilia

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

The Yellow-Throated Plated lizards ranges from 16 to 28 inches in length and from 2 to 4 inches in width. They have flattened bodies and small, weak looking legs. The lizards have no noticeable neck and the tail is usually twice the length of the body. Their colors are many different shades of brown with two yellow stripes down their back. Gerrhosaurus flavigularis have white undersides and they have a boxy body with a deep fold of skin, which permits growth. The lizards are covered with rectangular scales and their tongues are forked and wide.

DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT:

Yellow-Throated Plated Lizards are usually found in rocky and mountainous grass country. They usually prefer dry, open places. The majority of these lizards live in Southern Africa. They are ground dwellers who live in burrows and termite mounds. The plated lizard is an excellent swimmer and diver. G. flavigularis like to lounge in the sun. They have to in order to get the body temperature to a certain level or else they cant carry through with day activities.

BEHAVIOR:

Plated lizards are timid by nature, which makes them easy to tame. They are calm and composed lizards but, if threatened, they may bite though it doesnt cause much damage. They make good pets and with as little as a dish of water, fruit, some insects, and a piece of wood to sit on the lizards will prosper.

DIET:

Their favorite foods are flies but they also eat crickets, mealworms, beetles, earthworms, caterpillars and many different kinds of fruit. Yellow-Throated Plated Lizards mate only once a year in the summer. During that time the males, the pursuers, head changes color. Their head changes color anywhere from a flaming red or to a blazing yellow or even to a pale blue.

The female lizards lay 2 to 6 eggs and place them underground. The eggs are ovular and leathery. When the eggs hatch the newly born lizards measure 100cm and are perfect copies of their parents.

Wild Population: Unknown.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT:

BEHAVIOR:

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