A Little Lizard Told Me...

...summer has arrived!

And with it, the emergence of our favorite lizards/iguanas, the desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis). These critters don't even emerge from hibernation until temperatures reach the mid-90's. According to my Peterson Field Guide, the desert iguana has a normal activity range at 107 F, and a max voluntary tolerance of 115 F. They are native to our area, and occur naturally in our yard. There used to be many more iguanas in our neighborhood, but development of new homes and removal of native shrubs has diminished the local populations. We don't think that peoples' pets disrupt the iguanas since their active temperature is so high, most domestic animals are seeking shade by that time of day.

To help themselves deal with the heat (because 115 air temperature is often over 125 F surface soil temp out here in the desert), the lizards will climb up into shrubs. This also helps them to get to their food, as desert iguanas are herbivores and eat leaves and flowers.

This, however does not stop them from enjoying a tasty meal worm or two. I buy meal worms from our local pet store and, once the temp gets good and hot, go outside in search of iguanas to feed. They recognize me now, and even run up to me the very first time I see them each summer, remembering tasty meals from the previous year.

In this photo, you can see me with 4 iguanas.








Here the hubby is feeding one particularly enthusiastic male that I have named Stumpy Joe. This is another photo of that same male with a juvenile iguana in the back.
You'll notice that this male doesn't have all his back toes. Normally, lizards have very elongated toes on their back feet. Either he lost them fighting with other males or evading some sort of predator (such as a road runner gopher snake or coachwhip snake).

This is a very pregnant female. She's loaded up with eggs, which she'll be laying any day now... leading to more and more iguanas in our yard. Yay!

Lastly, we have one of my favorites, an iguana I named Half-tail Willie. You can see that he lost his tail and has grown it back. In this photo you can also see his very long toes. You can also see the ridge of keeled scales down his back, an identifying mark for desert iguanas.