Wednesday, April 16th
April's meeting will focus on how to safely handle and present your reptile to the public. Please feel free to bring your own animal to show off.
Meetings start promptly at 8pm in the Alumni Room of Medaille College.
Annual Banquet
PLEASE NOTE: The annual banquet and recognition dinner will be rescheduled due to conflicts. The new date will likely be a Saturday in May, please contact a board member for more information.
Northern Fence Lizard
(Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus)
The northern fence lizard is about 5 to 6½ inches long. This lizard is sexually dimorphic. Males are light brown to light gray with bright blue or bluish-green spots on the underside and sides on the body as well as one or two throat patches of the same color. Male northern fence lizards ten to have a lightly colored underside with occasional dark spots. Females have a whitish underside with dark flecks. Occasional the underside may also have a bluish tint. Female northern fence lizards also have eight v-sapped horizontal stripes along their back and an orange colored patch at the back of the thighs near the tail.
Northern fence lizards are common in the southeastern United States from Texas and South Carolina north to Pennsylvania and southeastern New York State.
Unlike other members of the fence lizard family who are terrestrial, the northern fence lizard is arboreal and prefer sandy pinewood or mixed woodland areas. They can be found on rocks, trees, or even on wooded fences. They feed almost exclusively on insects.
Breeding for the northern fence lizard begins after winter hibernation with eggs being laid in the summer. Females will often lay several clutches of 5 to 12 eggs which hatch six to eight weeks later.
This species was originally deliberately introduced to Staten Island in 1942 to provide food for lizard-eating snakes at the Staten Island Zoo. By 1959 the northern fence lizard was considered "well established."
Remember that in many places it is illegal to take wildlife out of the wild without the proper permits from local, state, or federal authorities. Please do not release any captive reptiles or amphibians into the wild as this will disrupt the natural order of our environment. See our amphibian and reptile adoptions page for more information on what to do with unwanted herps.
Every purchase from Wormman.com helps support the WNY Herp Society!
Help further herpetology research and education by donating to the Marvin R. Aures Herpetological Grant