Podarcis muralis (common European wall lizard)

[sandrachameleon]

This afternoon I was given three of these lizards. Anyone know anything whatsoever about their care needs?


2 More pictures: https://www.chameleonforums.com/mem...picture4530-podarcis-muralis-common-wall.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/mem...picture4529-podarcis-muralis-common-wall.htmlhttps://www.chameleonforums.com/mem...picture4530-podarcis-muralis-common-wall.html

 

[chameleonman57]

Love the colors on them, heres a link for you hope it helps you http://www.herpfrance.com/reptile/common_wall_lizard_podarcis_muralis.php

 

[sandrachameleon]

Thanks for the link.
Hoping to hear also from anyone who actually keeps these lizards captive.....

 

[jojackson]

none whatsoever but I did find this

http://www.crislis.co.uk/thatcher/reptiles/caresheet.php?csID=2&ID=20

 

[sandrachameleon]

BUMP! Can anyone recommend a non-chameleon lizard website/forum where I might find more info on captive keeping of these pretty little lizards?

 

[hallenhe]

This is an old thread, but might be of some use:
http://terrariummorbidum.se/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=415
I see a lot (skimming through it) about housing them, but little on food and water. They're invasives in BC, so presumably something in your local conditions serves to support them?

 

[sandrachameleon]

hallenhe thanks for the link. Thats one I hadnt already found for myself, and was right on topic, if short.

I'm finding my little Italians (where they orginiated from, though these particular ones were caught in a dogs bowl here on the island) to be quite easy to keep. Im using a small fish tank (will use a larger one once I do a clean up and make space), with bark used to cover two sides of the tank. There's also a few pieces of bark, several rocks, moss, and a small plant in there, with gravel, sand, dirt and peat as a substrate (one side is primarily sand and gravel, the other peat and dirt). They like the bark walls to run along, the rocks and bark to bask on, and they burrow. They seem to like it hot. using a temp gun, Ive determined they prefer to bask in upwards of 90F+ but they do use the cooler side of the tank (75Fish) as well. They eat almost anything: earth worms, mealworms, spiders, moths, butterworms, silkworms roaches, crickets, terrestrial isopods, etc. It hasnt taken them all that long to cease being afraid of me. I'll enjoy having them for awhile, though I'll likely release them back where they came from eventually.

 

[lizard lover]

can you help me?

i just got two european wall lizards, two adult females and need some help on how to care for them. thanks!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Well, what I described above worked well for mine.

I used a Large aquarium with screen topper (they do like to run about, and climb, so both horizontal and vertical space is a must).
I used sand and gravel substrate on one end, and on the other end dirt and peat with moss on top. Deep enough to allow them to burrow if desired.
Lots of bark and a couple logs (including a hollow) to run on, several hides, a few big rocks (espcially at the warm basking end). I put bark vertically on one side wall, and they liked that.
Kept it hot at about 85-90F / 30/32C (max95 on hot days) on one end, and the other end was naturally cooler (75-77F 23/25Cish) during the day, good temperature drop at night (no lower than 68F/20C). In the coldest part of the winter I did drop all temps down a fair bit, so that 80F was the hottest for almost a month, and the lights were on less long. I believed that they should be given opportunity to bermate if kept long term.
I sprayed the cool end daily, had a small shallow dish with standing water (changed daily) as well.
They are active hunters and they eat and thus deficate a lot so cleaned the tank monthly and employed terrestrial isopods as clean-up assistants (some of which got eaten). They are smart enough to associate a food dish with easy hunting (I used a feeding cup primarily for the roaches and free-ranged the other food most of the time)