Texas spiny lizards: The best close-up video you will ever see
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Texas spiny lizards are quite common around here - though, as with many other species, we don’t see as many as we used to and, actually, we hear them more often than we see them. In the summer, when we’re outside, they will rustle away from us in the undergrowth or skitter up the nearest tree, their immensely long claws making little ticking sounds on the bark. Many people, locally, call them “tree lizards”.
The adult spiny lizards we see in our backyard are typically about 10” (25 cm) from nose to tail-tip, and a lot of that length is tail - they have very long, thin, tails. Their variegated gray, white, black, and brown scales are perfect camouflage against the live oaks and they can be hard to spot when they’re not moving. We have a video clip of a wren almost landing on a spiny lizard who was sunning herself on a live oak stump.
Spiny lizards eat bugs - insects, spiders, and any other creepy crawlies they can find. They are carnivores, like most lizard species.
Female spiny lizards lay up to 4 clutches of eggs each summer, as many as 30 eggs at a time, in holes that they dig out of soft earth and then invisibly cover over. The eggs hatch after about 60 days (our reference from the Texas Master Naturalists says 43 - 83 days; we don’t know what accounts for the surprisingly wide range).
This video is a compilation of lots of clips that we've recorded over the past month or so. Because spiny lizards often sit for a long time without moving we have been able to record some extraordinary close-ups. One of the things that we've found most interesting in watching the lizards like this is that their skin really is a little spiny. Geraldine F., one of our many scientifically minded live-stream observers, described them as "shaggy". We can't think of a better word.
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Fun fact: Texas Spiny Lizards' coloration will change over the hot summer. Their coloration gets lighter with the lightest parts becoming almost white. I watched a young male become two toned as his body changed faster than his tail.
Great video. A Spiny lizard encounter in my yard here in Austin, Texas, led me here. Glad I found the channel. Remarkable camera work.
Thank you, Spudboy!
This reminds me so much of my dearly-departed bearded dragon. He had similar mannerisms; he would see his reflection in the glass of his tank and would sometimes try to attack it and would do this hilarious head bob. While his coloration was obviously different, the scale patterns on these guys is very similar to my boy. I miss you, Vulcan! 🥹🦎
We will raise our glasses to Vulcan this evening.
my mom called these fence lizards. always a treat to see one. another quality video! thanks TBW
Yes, our neighbors call them fence lizards, too.
I think fence lizards are a different species of lizard that look very simisimilar to TX spiny
@@Cassasauresrex Yes, Fence Lizards are the same genus, but a different species. Texas Spiny Lizards are bigger than Fence Lizards.
That vibrating is so cool!
I have a girl spiny lizard she is the sweetest thing ever. She sleeps in our bed every night in her own blanket. I'm just amazed how this spoiled little wild lizard was found in a drain pipe and my husband tamed her.
Seriously? That's amazing! We are really surprised that you can tame a spiny lizard. Really interesting.
Could you share a video😢
Thank you.
Stunning! Thank you. Amazing contrast. We used to have horn toads up in West Texas, love those little guys.😊
Dan grew up in Wichita Falls and remembers horny toads. It's sad that they've all gone.
Very cool. Amazing photography and nice narration.
Thanks TinkerTailor. We are very pleased with the close-ups. Dan did a great job on this one.
You have the Sceloporus olivaceus in Texas, we here in California have the Sceloporus occidentalis. Both are blue belly lizards but Texas has slightly spinier scales but the same color patterns.
Interesting. Thank you very much.
It’s interesting that S. Occidentalis is commonly named Western Fence Lizard vs other of species of Sceloporus commonly named spiny lizards
They look exactly like jacky lizards we have in australia, but ours are grey only.
At first glance, these guys are gray, too. But we managed to get some good footage of the male's blue stripe.
I can vouch for their speed. As a child I was only able to catch one of these guys. They have a relatively strong bite and don’t like to let go
They move like lightning when they want to. Motionless for minutes on end, and then, in a flash, gone.
Great content. I subscribed 🥂
I wanted to provide you with a little feedback. Your video content and narration are amazing, don't change a thing. What worked well for you on this video is your title. It's a very clickable title and it earned my click today. It's clearly generating a high click through rate because RUclips decided to put this in my home feed even though I'm not subscribed or I wasn't when I clicked it. I would suggest to do a series of videos with the same title format on every creature which goes through your yard. Just swap out the name of the creature and keep making them until one hits the jackpot and brings in a lot of views. Make a Playlist with them all and link it at the end of the videos in a card thing. I think you've got a winner on your hands even though it may not seem like it. Now that you've got the kindling lit go ahead and put some more logs on.
Thank you, Jonno! You're probably right about the titles, but I hate to say that everything we publish is "The best...". In this case, I really believe that the video is the best, close-up footage of TX spiny lizards out there.
Dan and I may not be the best marketers of our content, when it comes right down to it. We think it's great, but we're not great at shouting about it. I'll definitely keep your advice in mind, because in my heart I feel you're probably right. And I'll read your comment to Dan.
Fantastic!
Excellent!
There is a young one outside by my work. Cool looking lizard for sure.
Amazing creatures and camera work! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, @58russ.
I love your edits Dan!
That is a cool video of the lizard.
Wow they are magnificent mini dragons 😊❤
Up close, they truly are.
Beautiful...😄
Imagine holding one
I have one 🤫
I had two but Leo died and Liz is still alive
I would love to hold one. They're interesting creatures.