looduskalender.ee

 

Adult common lizard

 

I last saw my acquaintance the common lizard “mum“ about three weeks ago, basking in the sun. It was quite hefty. On Sunday I met the dark-coloured and unpatterned offspring, warming itself in the sunshine after a cold night. The dark brown lizard chit was a little above two centimetres in body length, but the tail length was nearly twice that of the body.

 

Towards the end of July the females begin to give birth, and before that they often get out in the sunshine to warm themselves. Our most often seen and common lizard gives birth but for the majority of reptiles the offspring comes from eggs. The number of young may be ten, but more commonly seven to eight, and they start their independent life at once after birth. A few months are left until wintering, on the menu are small invertebrates, spiders that occur in great numbers in autumn and smaller insects.