Collared Lizard Eating a mouse!

[concinnusman]

This was an incredibly rare thing to witness let alone be able to photograph well. After several days of attempts to photograph lizards in their natural habitat I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Now, collared lizards are fairly easy to photograph/approach. If you move rather slowly or just sit and wait, they will let you get very close before fleeing unlike some smaller more wary lizards and then they just go a few feet away and stop again instead of diving for the nearest cover. I found them to be very easy to catch compared to say, fence lizards. Makes them incredibly easy to photograph due to their habit of staying in sight atop boulders.

This is a full grown male a great basin collard lizard, about a foot long (this is no tiny lizard) eating an adult mouse. Photo taken in March of 2011 just off of Sparks Blvd. in Sparks, NV. It was in the low 60's (F) with high clouds and hazy/weak sunshine and a rare day when the wind wasn't blowing. They tend to disappear when it's too windy. I just saw him out of the corner of my eye as he climbed a rock with his meal then he sat there perched just a few feet away, keeping one eye on me at all times. He was quite aware of my presence but didn't seem disturbed by it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img231/4739/dsc00377large.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img577/121/dsc00375large.jpg

[nick654377]

Awesome!!!!

[jarich]

Very interesting. You didnt happen to see if it was a dead mouse or if he caught and killed it himself, did you?

[concinnusman]

I didn't see him catch it but I did see other lizards chasing mice around. There was a drainage area teeming with mice and when I walk up they would scatter, often with lizards right on their tail. I'm reasonably sure he caught it live. If you've ever caught one of these lizards and been bitten... ouch! they have very strong jaws. Strong enough to crush a mouse easily.

[jarich]

Very cool, I had no idea they hunted mice in the wild.

[concinnusman]

I think they'll pretty much eat anything they can catch including smaller lizards and snakes. If it moves, they'll chase it and try to eat it LoL

[beardeds4life]

That is awesome! I have a lot of fence lizards in my area and they are hard to catch because they run as soon as you get within about 5 feet.

[infernalis]

very awesome photos...

[Desert]

Now that is a meal to grow on!

[concinnusman]

That is awesome! I have a lot of fence lizards in my area and they are hard to catch because they run as soon as you get within about 5 feet.

Yeah, I'm actually pretty good at catching those after years of experience (I've been known to catch 5 - 10 in an hour to feed them to my WC king snakes) but it definitely isn't easy and requires a completely different strategy. Their habit of staying on the opposite side of a tree or boulder is their downfall. If they go straight for a crevice or under a rock they get away. But if they just stay on the other side of a rock or tree, I just get within arms reach and wiggle my foot. They'll look straight down at my foot and not even see my hand coming to scoop them up. It's the old "oh hey, what's that over there?" trick. :D

The collared lizards are way too easy. I did do a few catch and releases while I was there (totally by hand, no noose stick) Doesn't even seem like much of a challenge which is half the fun when dealing with fence lizards but man those collared lizards bite viciously when caught, and it hurts! They're solid muscle and surprisingly strong strugglers too. Hard to hold onto.

[UwabamiReptiles]

Those are some awesome shots! I didn't know collard lizards would even go after an adult mouse. Very interesting.

[Ivanator]

That's pretty cool! How does it not choke on it? Do they also have the breathing tube (I forgot what they're called) that snakes and monitors have?

[concinnusman]

I don't know anything about collared lizard anatomy. All I know is that he didn't "choke" but it did take quite a while and a bit of effort to swallow the mouse and he was successful.

I guess I should have taken video but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get the photos. I was afraid he would run off before I had a chance.