The night lizard (family Xantusiidae) is very unimportant in the scheme of things. It’s not the night lizard’s fault, in my opinion; it’s more the fault of the scheme. If it isn’t the scheme, then it’s gotta be the “things” that the scheme is of. Where ever the blame lies, the night lizard is innocent.
Did you Know: Despite accusations, night lizards had absolutely no involvement in China’s Boxer Uprising.
You can find night lizards in North, Central and South America, as well as Cuba. You can find them in other places if they have been mailed there. The genus Xantusia is found primarily in the Southwestern United States. Like a lumberjack, Xantusia is often found under fallen trees. They also can live in rock crevices. Lepidophyma infest Central and South America; they are larger and live under wetter trees, often with pleasant, rhythmic music playing within earshot. The genus Cricosaura are the Cuban night lizards, the smallest night lizards of all. They make up for it by being better boxers and baseball players. Circosaura live under communist trees, some fallen naturally and others as enemies of the state…
The night lizard can be from one and a half to about four inches long. Their heads are plated while their bodies have a granular skin that resembles chain mail in many cases. They tend to stick to earth tones, but have some pretty wacky designs, mostly spots. Some species lighten when frightened (and dash when smashed). If you are thinking about traveling to the habitat of the night lizard, catching one and putting false eyelashes on it, forget it! You’d look pretty stupid trying to glue eyelashes on a reptile that HAS NO EYELIDS. There, I’ve kept you from making a fool of yourself. You’re welcome…
Did you know: If every night lizard in the United States were laid out in a straight line, east to west, it would be nearly impossible to keep most of them from wandering off…
The night lizard is called a “night lizard” despite the fact that it mostly comes out in the daytime. Occasionally, one will come out at night, but it will be in its robe or underwear. Zoologists THOUGHT it was nocturnal at one time; however, when they found out it wasn’t, they continued calling newly discovered species “night lizards”. That is why I have a foundation in the hard sciences. If we found something that we thought was carbon tetra-fluoride and it turned out to contain neither carbon nor fluorine NOR tetras, we’d start calling it something else and blame our mistake on the kid in the lab who doesn’t speak much English.
The Xantusiidae was thought to be nocturnal because it is very reclusive. It might live its entire life under the same log; in fact, its eyes are large because it spends much of its time in darkness. The night lizard eats mostly insects and other invertebrates and the occasionally invertebrate-shaped plant by mistake. Boy, is it funny when THAT happens.
It is a miracle that there are still night lizards. They take years to become sexually mature; and, once they are, they only give birth to one to three live young a year. At first, herpetologists assumed that it was just the Cuban night lizard and that the low birth rate was due to an edict by Castro; however, it holds true for all night lizards. Their secret is that they keep under cover, thereby minimizing eatage; and, they live for ten to fifteen years. They aren’t destined to overwhelm the world with their numbers; but, if you call out “Hey, night lizard!” somewhere within their habitat, at least six of them should turn around.
Some species of Lepidophyma have no males. The females of the species reproduce asexually. It’s their loss, in my opinion…
Potatoes and the Promise of More Potatoes 