Lizards of Note: Spiny Lizard, Fence Lizard, and Whiptail.

Sceloporus magister  shows how he got his name.

I caught this Desert Spiny Lizard trapped in a large round pipe sticking out of the ground near a cattle water tank. The pipe has a lid on it, which can trap lizards and is why I check it every time I am in the area.

These are common lizards here. Sometimes their heads are red and the males can have very blue throats. We found one recently that had a throat and stomach almost entirely blue.

A few weeks after I found a baby Spiny in an metal trash can outside our house.

Baby Spiny

Sceloporus tristichus

I found this Plateau Fence Lizard under some bricks near our house. These are very common around here and I see them almost daily on the trees. They are closely related to the Spiny Lizard, but much smaller. They both have spiny scales.

Fence lizards of various species are found as far east as Tennessee.

Aspidoscelis uniparens

This lizard was first spotted in mom's bedroom. We spied it a couple different places after that and finally caught it in our dining room. This is a Desert Grassland Whiptail. They are very common here. But this is the first I have caught because they are so fast.

These are an interesting lizard because they have one gender -- female. (Note the Latin name uniparens.) They fertilize their own eggs and all are clones of the mother.