Talk:Western fence lizard

Cannabilism?

Does anyone know if they eat their young? 76.246.235.134 (talk) 01:08, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

An article talk page is not a discussion forum. Questions should be asked at the reference desk rather than on article talk pages. --Walter Siegmund (talk) 18:38, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

So does anyone know if they eat their young? This is an encyclopedia and I came here to find out if they have cannabilistic tendencies. Where can I find out this information?76.246.234.58 (talk) 17:30, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

They will eat anything that is moving and small enough to fit in their mouth Connorlong90 (talk) 07:53, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

They will not anything moving and small enough to fit into their mouths. As an avid blue belly catcher since about age 7, I've spend quite a bit of time observing them. One insect I know for certain they dislike is earthworms. I once threw a red worm to a blue belly that was basking in my back yard. He jumped off his spot and inhaled it into his mouth and immediately spit it out and seemed to recoil at the foul taste. In another instance, I saw a blue belly hanging out on a wall near the pool in our backyard. A common honey bee landed on the ground a couple feet away. The lizard jumped off and went and inhaled the bee. The bee apparently immediately stung the lizard inside it's mouth and the lizard went into this bizarre sequence of wriggling and rolling around. This proceeded for about 3 minutes and I thought for sure the lizard had met it's demise. Out of the blue, the lizard snapped to and recovered and scampered away, seemingly fine. I have never observed a blue belly cannibalize one of their young, although I have seen an alligator lizard with a bluebelly in it's mouth. In my opinion, they clearly have a preferred range of forage and seem to know juvenile blue bellies are not part of it. From what I've seen, their favorite forage seems to be silverfish, crickets, ants, pincherbugs, mealworms and housefiles. I can say for a fact that I have witnessed them eat all of these. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.118.32.5 (talk) 23:20, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Range

It says in the article that these animals generally avoid the harsh desert. Well, weather you consider Gilbert, Arizona a harsh desert or not, it's living here. That should be fixed. OfficialBenMohler (talk) 22:27, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Article Importance

It seems to me like this article should be rated mid or high importance. Sceloporus occidentalis lives in eight US states and is the most common lizard within much of its range. This species lives around human habitation and into urban areas, and "Blue belly lizard" or "fence lizard" are common names known to almost everyone within its range. I remember having to do reports on this species when I was in grade school. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Connorlong90 (talk • contribs) 07:58, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

Lyme

Possible replacement for dead link:

http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/sceloporus.html

"Researchers suspect that a yet- to-be-identified protein in the lizard's blood destroys the microbes that would otherwise flourish in the tick's belly and can be later transmitted to human victims."

Kortoso (talk) 21:21, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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Blue belly

The article states that: "As the ventral abdomen of an adult is characteristically blue, it is also known as the blue-belly." I think the use of the anatomical term "ventral" and "abdomen" together is redundant. The abdomen is of course found on the ventral part of the body. Alexeykh (talk) 01:25, 12 February 2018 (UTC)