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#2235862 Nchntrman View Profile	Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? Many years ago I had a rather large terrarium which was populated with about 8-10 Western Fence Lizards, 2-3 males and 4-6 females. After a few months in captivity and a nearly perfect environment, my happy lizards became very social. They were easily handled and despite the territorial characteristics of the males, everyone got alone fine. So I have been designing another terrarium to build and I wanted to populate it Western Fence Lizards, originally they were not indigenous to the area I was from (Tampa Bay, FL) and they were very unique despite them coming from a mere 150 miles north. Now they are very abundant in the area I am living, none the less, I still find them to be my reptile of choice. Now that the internet exists, I have been able to find many resources of information for these lizards. But I cannot seem to find anything that discusses the color patterns on the males. In my experience, the females had faint blue patches on their throat, none on their belly. The males had vivid blue bordered by black on their throats and bellies. All of this is commonly documented. But there is no speak of the rainbow colors the males can throw when mating or being territorial. My males would remain as a normal colored, however when I would mist the cage and give them spot light (heat) the males would do their "pushups" but they would also change the dark colored band along their sides to a RGB rainbow stripes. The color was very vivid and "primary" in tone similar to the blue on the belly. These were definable color stripes from behind the front leg to the rear leg along the ribcage area. These were only shown during courting which happened often in the terrarium.. So often that that is what i remember most about this Lizard species. I have read just about everything Google serves up about these lizards and have never seen a reference to this color display in Males. I presume it is because most of the people writing the tech. papers, have not had the Lizards in captivity and thus never noticed. So I call out to the people who happily keep these beautiful creatures in captivity... have you noticed this as well. Is it a common thing for the Male Western Fence Lizard Sceloporus undulatus undulatus to display a rainbow of colors when courting? The species I had came from Central Florida, anyone keeping those notice this effect?
09/06/11  06:31pm
#2235927 ThesaurusRex View Profile	Message To: Nchntrman   In reference to Message Id: 2235862  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? Rainbow colors? What? I honestly have never heard of such a thing. I know that some have greenish bellies when cold, though. Could you please post pictures/videos? Also, Western Fence Lizards are S. occidentalis, not S. undulatus. That’s the Eastern fencie, and Western fence lizards defintely are not found naturally 150 miles north of Florida. That being said you may have the wrong species altogether. I know one person who found a particularly strange bluebelly only to find out it was an Ornate Tree Lizard.
09/07/11  06:00am
#2236069 Kelso reptiles View Profile	Message To: ThesaurusRex   In reference to Message Id: 2235927  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? sounds like a male side blotched lizard but they are not found in florida the males have bright blue black and green and somtimes ornge and red on their back and blue to black on their chin
09/07/11  11:58pm
#2236137 Nchntrman View Profile	Message To: Kelso reptiles   In reference to Message Id: 2236069  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? My bad, I meant Eastern Fence lizard. Definately the undulatus undulatus variety. They were colored as expected, females were black/white, males were black/white & slightly brown/orange on back and sides also. No pictures, as this was many years ago. The coloration only appeared during "pushups" when they were courting/mating and was definately a color change (ala chameleon or green anole) from the rust colored portion along the side of the males. This was the main reason for my interest in these fencies as the area I grew up in (Tampa Bay, FL) has brown/cuban anoles almost exclusively. So this does not appear to be a common characteristic of the breed, I will acquire a few locally and observe and report. I may also take a ride (1.5 hrs) to the same place I acquired 15 years ago and see if they remain the same. Also FWIW possibly the multiple males in one terrarium instigated a flare in their courting, akin to how beta fishes are? Not sure of the reasons, but I am positive of the coloration and appearance. The coloration went from blue belly to green, yellow, orange and red (at the top).
09/08/11  05:40pm
#2236140 Nchntrman View Profile	Message To: Nchntrman   In reference to Message Id: 2235862  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? Ok anyone questioning the species, I have found a link to an online photograph that is most certainly the same species as I used to have. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brcfla/2925225593/in/photostream/ The area on the side of the lizard (which is currently a rust/orange color) was able to be changed to from a dark brown, to the rust/orange color in the picture to clearly defined bands of color. Also I remember the males had shorter and taller heads than the females. Where I work there are 2 males and about 2 females and about 6 youths (cant determine the sex from a distance) along the sidewalks only one of the males appears to have the dark sides which I recall mine had. I guess I am going to have to double-time the building of my terrarium.
09/08/11  06:09pm
#2236249 ThesaurusRex View Profile	Message To: Nchntrman   In reference to Message Id: 2236140  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? Ah. Okay. I thought you meant the colors were just as bright as the blue on their belly. With that in mind, I think it is possible. Spiny lizards can give some pretty interesting morphs in certain localities. One of them I found is a Western fence lizard with blue on not only his belly, but on his thighs and shoulders as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spikemouse/443024150/
09/09/11  06:55pm
#2268426 Nchntrman View Profile	Message To: ThesaurusRex   In reference to Message Id: 2236249  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? The color bands did become as bright as the blue, but they would also turn a dark color (almost black). This was definitely controlled by the lizard, ala a chameleon or Green Anole. I presumed that it was a naturally occurring trait, however; I just watched 2 males court a female in the parking lot.. they actually tangled up and scrapped for a few mins. No throwing of colors though. I wonder if this was an effect of the lighting i used. It was a full spectrum vita-light and a flood light. IDK, but I definitely need to get a terrarium built to repeat, with some local ones and the ones from the region i got them from before. lol although 15 years later.. hope evolution hasnt taken the trait from them.
06/01/12  03:25pm
#2268519 ThesaurusRex View Profile	Message To: Nchntrman   In reference to Message Id: 2268426  Male Eastern Fence Lizard / Sceloporus undulatus has colored sides? Didja fall asleep there? :P
06/02/12  04:04am

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