Lizards as Pets.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 68

Lizards as Pets.

, "If there is anything we need! to teach more than another, it is that numerous insects and reptiles which are held by many persons to be poisonous are perfectly harmless. This is especially so of the pine tree lizard, or,* as it often called, | the fence lizard. It is true that the lizard has teelb, bub they are almost too small to be seen, the finely serrated jaws feeling just like the) rough lips of a bass. Moreover^ these little saurians seldom attempt to bite, nnd make interesting pets (says A. R. M. Spaid 1 , in the Scientific American). - "I have a box 2ft long, lft high, and 6in wide, the sides being of glass, and the bottom covered with white sand to a depth of 2in. "With this on my study table I have a good opportunity for watching the live interesting inmates as they eat and sleep. ' Two are males and three are females, easUy distinguished' by their colour. Their colour j seems to be influenced by the conditions j of the atmosphere. After a rain or when they first come out of their hiding-places ii? the morning, many of them are very dark. By holding them in the hand a short time the colour changes very perceptibly.

"When my pets are ready to go to bed. they dive into the sand, where they remain covered) up until morning. Then here and there a head bobs up, and) gradually th* saurians either stretch out on the sand or prop themselves up on their forelegs in a most comical manner. They soon become alert, and show how keen their appetites are if flies, crickets, grasshoppers, or katydid's are thrown to them. Frequently, when ona has seized a particularly fat grasshopper, another will attempt to take it away. They are^also fond' of roaches, but care nethinjg for hard-shelled beetlgg. They

will not an insect unless it is moving, and one often knows when the attack is to be made, as the lizard opens its mouth just a little way before springing upon its prey. It uses its tongue with the same agility as does the frog or toad', and gorges a largo insect pretty much the same way as a snake swallows a toad. "In burrowing in the sand they make several strokes with the right or left forefoot, changing from one to the other ; but when this dirt is to be- worked out of the way they use their hind feet with alternate strokes with great rapidity. The female in this way evidently dig's into th-e ground, where she deposits a dozen or more white eggs, which she leaves for the warm earth to hatch. "I know of nothing else so easily iamed. When caught in the hand they seldom attempt to escape. A teamster who was not afraid to handle a snake could net be persuaded tc touch a lizard. Ignorance is hard' to banish, but it easily drives away the truth. "They ar© not only harmless, but beneficial. Lying on the fences which surround the field of growing crops, they devour many insects as these attempt to enter tho fields, thus benefiting the farmers, who have no appreciation of their value."