Western fence lizard

The arid landscape around Sacramento is perfect for reptiles. It was there, in the summer of 2008 that I came across a western fence lizard. We don't have them as a rule of thumb in Canada, although there have been two documented sightings here in British Columbia. No one knows if they are native to the area or how they managed to get here if they are not. I have found them in central Washington and northern California.

I admit to being overly zealous when it comes to finding lizards. Few things give me such pleasure as lifting a rock and discovering a lizard underneath. I grew up in Ontario and Alberta where lizards are rare if not absent altogether. I did not find my first wild lizard until I was around 40 years old, even though I have been turning rocks and boards over in search of such treasures for at least a quarter of a century by then. The very first lizard I ever caught was a western fence lizard.

Males have a strong dual blue band running parallel with the length of their body on their dorsal surface. You can see the image below that demonstrates this feature clearly. I am very careful to hold the creatures that I catch so that, after examining and photographing them, I can release them unharmed.

These are small to medium-sized lizards that reach a full length of about 8 inches from snout to tail. They eat small insects of all types and will also take spiders, woodlice (sowbugs), and any other small creatures they can successfully ingest. I fount this amazing fact from a website (click here) that I have included in the block below.

A protein in the western fence lizard’s blood can kill the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, the most common tick-carried disease in the northern hemisphere.

When disease-carrying ticks feed on the lizard’s blood, the disease-causing bacteria are killed and the ticks no longer carry the disease!

Such amazing creatures!

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen