San Diego Alligator Lizard

The San Diego alligator lizard has a slim body, short legs and a very long tail. The tail can be up to twice the length of the body. They can be from 3 to 7 inches in length, from the snout to the vent, and up to 16 inches overall, including the tail. They are brown, gray or yellowish above and can have reddish or orange coloring on the middle of the back. There are usually 9 to 13 dark bands along the back, sides and tail with adjacent white spots. The scales are keeled on the back, sides and legs and this subspecies is more heavily keeled than others. The eyes are a light yellow. This particular alligator lizard was caught in our yard on our back hill in a pile of tree limbs.

A closer look at the body reveals the keeled scales and the fold along the side of the body that allows them to expand when necessary.

I caught this alligator lizard on a backpacking trip in Mission Creek Canyon at about 5,900 feet, much higher than the high range of 5,000 feet stated on an on-line herp guide. Note the dramatically different coloration. It is very gray, compared to the brown we find in Redlands. The combination of their large head, elongated body and powerful jaws are where it gets the name "alligator" from. I have been bitten by them several times and they tend to hold on and not let go. They also tend to let go the contents of their cloaca when caught. As a consequence, many people that are familiar with them are afraid of them.

A closer look at the keeled scales of the gray alligator lizard.

A view of the yellow eyes.

These two, contrasting colored, alligator lizards are on our front lawn. They move with the undulating motion of a snake, but are more awkward in their motion and are very funky to watch.

A side view of the gray lizard. The San Diego alligator lizard is found in southwestern Southern California, northeastern Baja California and the center of central California.

The first time I saw an alligator lizard was when we first moved to Redlands in 1986. I got a call from Judy saying that they had found a large mean lizard in our garage and didn't know what it was. I came home and didn't have a clue what kind of lizard it was. I caught it and it bit me good. In fact I ended up having to pry its mouth off my finger and it left a nice indentation. Then it wasn't until we moved into our home off of Live Oak Canyon that we encountered alot more. We had the large brown and large gray alligator lizards in a terrarium at home for about a year, along with some other lizards and a snake or two. The large brown lizard, in particular, ate a pretty healthy diet of crickets.

Look at his enormous fat tail compared to what it was when we first caught it.

Another view of its long, fat tail.

A little view of the belly, while it stares at a spiny lizard which was also sharing space in the terrarium.

Young alligator lizards lack the dark barring that the adults have. This young lizard was found in Redlands.

Finally, a photo of four alligator lizards in the terrarium. These were caught by Sam in our yard in April 1993.

Updated April 10, 2010:

A week or so ago Judy found an alligator lizard on our back porch. Its tail was much longer than its body (the picture is of it climbing our outdoor wall and the picture has been turned)

and it had a red coloring

I've never seen in an alligator lizard.

That makes a brown, gray and red phase we've seen locally, in addition to the yellow phase I found in the Sierras.