Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus
occidentalis
 The Western Fence
lizard is a very common lizard
in California. They can often be seen on logs and rocks sunning
themselves and doing pushup displays.
The Western Fence Lizard and Lyme
disease
It has been discovered that when
ticks caring Lyme disease feed on the western fence lizard the bacteria
that cause Lyme disease are killed. In areas where western fence
lizards occur the incidents of Lyme disease are lower. There are often
many ticks, near the ear, on the western Fence lizard.
Read
more
about Lyme disease and the western fence lizard in the Berkeleyan.
Diet of the Western Fence Lizard
The Western Fence Lizard eats
insects and spiders.
Habitat requirements of the Wester
Fence Lizards
The Western Fence Lizard likes
boulders or logs to sun bathe on. They also use these to hide under
when predators get to close. They also crawl around in oaks, probably
searching for ants or other arthropods. They need open ground and have
trouble when there are to many weeds.
 Behavior of the
Western Fence Lizard
Thermal regulation
The Western Fence Lizard being a
reptile is cold blooded and regulates its body temperature by moving in
and out of the sun depending on whether they are too cold or too hot.
This is called thermalregulation.
 Territory
defense
The Male Western Fence lizard is
territorial. They will fight of other males when they enter their
territory. They do rapid pushups, to show their blue bellies to other
males or to show off for females.
Survival tactics of the Western
Fence Lizard
Like most lizards, when the Western
Fence Lizard is being attacked by a predator, it will drop its tail.
The muscles in the tail continue contracting causing the tail to flop
around. This is to distract the predator from the lizard. However, this
is a last ditch effort. It is very stressful for the lizard. It takes a
lot of energy to regrow their tail, and they lose a lot of stored food.
This is often a tactic they use with domestic and feral cats. As they
are a formidable predator where they occur and the Western Fence Lizard
is usually perched in high visibility locations where they are easy to
catch.
 Color
variations of the Western Fence Lizard
As shown in these pictures the
western fence lizard varies in color. They are able to change color to
blend with their surroundings. They vary from a mottled brown to black.
Males have blue on their ventral sides and these two males on the left
are exhibiting blue on their dorsal side in an altercation. Because of
their ventral coloration, they are often called blue bellies.
Predation of the Western Fence
Lizard
The Western Fence Lizard is eaten
by snakes and birds. They are very susceptible to predation as they
like to perch in highly visible locations.
Last edited on 2012-01-08 18:09:28.
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