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Page 3
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All Heloderma: After mateing lay eggs, this happens from the end of May until August. The male lizards leave the burrows first after the winter. All the lizards that i observed in Arizona in April on the firstpaet of May were males. I have noticed that the breeding and egg laying of the Heloderma suspectum happen earlier in captivity than in the wild. The female lizard digs many holes befor she finds a good spot to lay her eggs. Then the hole is filled in and she will lay on top of the mound, sometimes for days. Not 24 hours a day, but she keeps returning to it. She is in fact defending the eggs from predators, male lizard and other aggresive femals. If the Heloderma suspectum are held in a vary large terrarium you can observe the same behavior. Once i found a mound were a femal layed her eggs in July, unfortunitely the next spring i could not find it again. I wanted to see if they had hatched or not. I hope i get another chance one day. In captivity hatch the egg between 130 - 150 days. As soon as they hatch the young lizards are robust and hungery. They grow vary fast, and in three years will start mateing. In the wild the young lizards have many enemies, Hawks, Owls, Snakes, other lizards and other predators. I think that it is probabul that in the wild there are many more lizards then we suspect. Because of the fact that they live in burrows, mosty night active, and are well camouflaged. The most time are not even noticed. I have uisited over the years the same areas were the Heloderma suspectum are know to live. Some years i have seen one or more lizards everyday, and other years i went week without a sighting. It is always sad to see a dead Heloderma on the road, that has been run over. But on the other hand it is proof that the lizards are to be found in other aeras where they were before not suspected. |
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Systematic Heloderma
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Class: Reptilia
Order: Sqamata
Suborder: Autarchoglossa
Family: Helodermatidae
Genus: Heloderma
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