(Western green lizard)

Green lizard male

One of the Old World Lacertidae is the western green lizard that has been seperated from the common green lizard Lacerta viridis. The western green lizard is found from Northern Portugal and down in Italy. It lives all the way around the Alpes. To the east it is replaced with Lacerta viridis. The differences are not so easy seen  but the  western green lizard has a more unicolored green back and the other has more dark spots on the back. Both reaches about 35-40 cm in length and is as adults grassgreen and males has a blue throat and chicks. The belly is yellowish or green. In Europe the green lizard is protected bye the Bern Convention, but captive bred animals are often for sale on shows. Green lizards prey on large insects and small mammels. They are normally very shy and difficult to tame. Indoor they have proven to be difficult to keep. After some time they recieve skin problems that looks like black wounds and kills the animals in the end. It can be prevented with the use of UV-light, but outdoor keeping is far better. The are very agressive towards each other and should be kept in pairs or many males together to remove the posibility of making territorial areas.

Green lizard male

We keep ours outdoors in 4 square meter terraria from April to September together with our turtle babies and hibernate them indoors. On 4 square meter there is enough natural suplies of food for a pair but we fed them occaisionally with earth worms or pinckies to reduce their shy behaviour.

Green lizard couple in hibernation